ACCESS Visit

I chose to visit one of the first ACCESS labs in Mobile, Alma Bryant High School. The teacher for this course is Samantha Smith. She is over the English department as well as the collaborator for Spanish at Bryant.
The lab is small, however significant. Mrs. Smith informed me that although the lab looks advanced, it indeed has become outdated. She hopes the grant will continue to be provided.

She reconnected with the school she collaborates with, Chilton County, to show me how it worked. She has interacted with up to three schools within one semester. I was a little sad to not get to see interaction with the students. I went during lunch time. However, Mrs. Smith did get to sit down with me and log onto her computer.

It was amazing what kids can do with ACCESS. Teachers post assignments, much like a syllabus, and kids have to complete the assignments on the computer. There is NO PAPERWORK, which is amazing. The kids also take quizzes and test online. This makes it easy and convenient for a teacher to grade assignments and not get the excuse, “you lost my paper, I turned it in.”

Another neat thing she showed me is that the teacher can, through her account, imitate one of her students. This allows her to log into email and see if the students have been sending notes in class. She can even see if they erase the email. She can also see when assignments are submitted.

This is a really good program. Not only is it easy for teachers, but it gives students more than one perspective on learning. It also gets students involved and begins to prepare them for college. I really enjoyed my trip to the ACCESS lab.