I wish I had ACCESS when I was in high school!

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) is a great program that gives high school students in Alabama distance learning opportunities. ACCESS offers many online and blended courses, that cover many subject areas. This gives high school students access to AP courses and courses that their school may not offer. One of the greatest things about ACCESS in my opinion, is that the students have a greater responsibility for their learning. It is also great that all of the courses are ran by certified teachers, the best of the best. Also these courses benefit students with different learning styles. Video conferencing is also an important part of ACCESS. This is a two way system that can link two classrooms that are in different parts of the state. This way schools can help each other better serve their students.

I think ACCESS is very important, and I will definitely use it when I am a teacher. Even though the online courses are for high school students, the video conferencing could be very useful in an elementary school class. I think that after teaching them a concept it would be helpful for my students to watch how another teacher teaches the same concept. This will help them see the concept in a new way, and may help those who did not understand it the first time finally grasp it. It would also help me develop professionally to see how other teachers teach, they may have thought of a way to convey a concept that I never had. ACCESS helps to link schools so that teachers can all benefit from each other.