Sounds like a very interesting program.
My high school has
Blackboard, but it is nothing compared to this.
I have used Blackboard for some courses I've been in, but a lot of teachers do not utilize the potential of Blackboard, in my opinion. All that they use it for, if even, is to post assignments, links of educational interest, or notes up on their course page, not much more than that.
Most of my teachers don't even have a page on Blackboard set up, it's a shame that they aren't utilizing the power of the internet and IM.
Our school does have a distance learning room, which uses cameras, A/V, and faxes to send tests back and forth, etc...
I believe there will be much more IM and computer-based communication in the educational system in the future.