UM students work with online Montana Digital Academy

Room 315A of The University of Montana’s education building is quiet and stark. A mass of wires sits in the corner; a green chalkboard lines one wall.

Jack Pueringer sits behind two computer screens waiting for an e-mail, a Google Chat message or a Skype notification.

"It’s pretty slow. I usually just surf the web," Pueringer said, laughing. "They e-mail or chat, you answer the question and then go back to surfing the Web."

Pueringer is one of four UM students manning a new help desk for high school students taking courses from the fully online Montana Digital Academy http://www.montanadigitalacademy.org/ .

The help desk, Direct Academic Student Help, or DASH, started in November and averages about 10 to 20 help requests per week. Currie said he’s hopeful interest in the service will grow as more students hear about it. He plans to hire more UM students next semester to answer questions in other subjects. Eventually, the service could become more proactive and offer live tutoring along with answering basic questions.

By Heidi Groover

Full Story: http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/um-students-work-with-online-school-1.1967337