ACCESS

For my ACCESS project I went to Satsuma High School and Satsuma, Alabama. They were really nice and helpful to me while I was there. The students actually showed me around the lab and filled me in on what they really do.

The students are not actually taking an ACCESS course via smartboard this semester. They said next semester they will begin the classes with another classroom over the monitor. In ACCESS courses it gives students a chance to take Advanced Placement classes. The ACCESS lab provides teachers with additional multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction.

The ACCESS lab in equipped with Codec. Codec is technology for compressing and decompressing data. It also has cameras, monitors, a smartboard, wireless internet, and laptops for all of the students. They are able to receive all of these things by a grant that provides 12 pilot high schools with all of the needed materials.

Some classes that ACCESS has are Latin, German, Mandarin Chinese, AP English, AP Calculus, and AP Statistics, to name a few. These courses are normally not available to high school students. ACCESS gives them a chance to expand their horizons and begin preparing for college.

For each class that the students take they spend a regular class time in the lab. If the students take 4 ACCESS courses then they could spend their whole day in the lab. The students I talked to really enjoy the lab and say it is their favorite part of the day. The students' teachers send their work to the lab and they complete it there. There was only about 5 or 6 students in the lab while I was there. They receive more hands on time there and have a quieter area to study.

The ACCESS lab definately promotes e-learning to the students. The technology they have in the labs in unbelievable. The students know how to work everything and are able to actually talk to other students at another school via computer. ACCESS labs look like a really good idea from my perspective. I would definately want to take ACCESS courses if it were at my high school.