ACCESS

ACCESS is a program that provides classroom courses and teachers by using technology to do so. It is a program which uses videoconferencing for teaching purposes. There are definitely benefits and challenges to using access. I am not sure how I truly feel about this program. I honestly think that there are more benefits and resources with ACCESS for teachers rather than students. However, ultimately I think it may cause more problems than be helpful.
Two benefits that I think could be helpful are: 1. Students are able to take courses that are not offered at their own high school. This would be incredibly helpful. I know that there are certain courses that were not offered at my school but were at another high school that I would have loved to take. Secondly, it discusses that it would increase students responsibility for learning. While this could be true, I think students will be as responsible as they want to be. Some may take an online class more seriously than others. Perhaps using ACCESS for one course might be reasonable, but I do not think it is comparable or better than traditional teaching methods. If a student is taking a class online only to see this same teacher in person later, what is the point in the online activities?
I would say that in support of this program it is new and unique. Students may enjoy this as oppose to the traditional classroom experience. I also think it would be interesting to see how test scores might improve by using this. As far as faculty benefits I do agree that it would extend their resources. It would also help teachers own personal growth and development. In closing, I do not know that I would enjoy using ACCESS but I do think there are both problems and benefits that might come with this program.

Adding a Picture

This is a picture of Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile. It was taken in May of 2007.

Using ALEX in the Classroom

ALEX really seems like an amazing program. I had no idea that this even existed until reading about it today. I feel like it would be helpful for any teacher teaching at any grade level. ALEX shows teaching and learning tools and helps with showing the different concepts that students should learn. I think it would keep teachers on track when planning out lessons.
I think I will for sure use ALEX when I begin teaching. I could use it for my own personal lesson plans for sure. I would also use it as a resource. I know for my first couple of years of teaching I will be overwhelmed and seeing other teachers ideas and plans would be quite helpful. I have never heard of anyone using this but I think it could be great to try. I plan on using this site when I begin teaching.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange is a great resource for teachers to use. It is a place where teachers can view and post lesson plans in their own personal workspace. ALEX helps teachers to gather information about different topics and also see what other teachers ideas are. There are different areas of the website that teachers and administrators can explore.
The website is broken into different sections. These are courses of study, web links, lesson plans, search, personal workspace, professional learning, and distance learning. It really is extremely helpful. You can choose which grade you want to look at and see sample lesson plans. Everything is completely age appropriate. For example, I was able to access different plans for students from kindergarden all the way up to seniors in high school. I am able to see a variety of subject areas for all different grade levels. There is even a place where I can set up my own lesson plans in a personal workspace. This site is extremely helpful!

Did You Know?

I found all of the statistics absolutely fascinating. It is incredible how far we have come in such a short time. The children of 2007 and 2008 have the world at their fingertips. Technology has made some amazing advances, allowing for many more opportunities. I can only hope that people will take advantage of all that technology has to offer. My parents would be the first to tell you that I have more opportunities than they did at my age and they encourage me to take full advantage of all that I can learn and be during my life.

My First Post

Here is my first post!