ACCESS Visit

At the MGM Lab


The Smartboard

Out of all the things I have done in this course the one I most enjoyed was the ACCESS lab visit. I went with a group to Mary G. Montgomery High School and met with Mr. Rose the lab director. I did not expect to be as impressed or as enthusiastic as I was by the end of the trip. After all we did go at 9 in the morning and it was rather cold outside! Mr. Rose was very kind and truly loves his job. The lab was also very well equipped. There was a large plasma TV along with a Smartboard (I REALLY wanted to play with it) about twenty laptop computers (one for EACH STUDENT) and a funny little microscope looking thing called/named ELMO. Mr. Rose explained that the point of ACCESS is to allow students from all over the state to take the classes they need and want. There is team work involved in doing the IVC courses. Mr. Rose will be teaching both his physical class and then one over a web cam in another part of the state. On the other end is a facilitator or a proctor who makes sure the students are on task. Mr. Rose told us that the success of a class really depends on how good of a facilitator you have. I asked him how a school went about getting an ACCESS lab and he said that MGM got theirs mostly through grants. All the equipment in the lab adds up to about $85,000! That made me step away from the ELMO and intimidated by the smartboard. My whole college education will, believe it or not, cost less than that lab! The equipment though is first rate. There is a microphone so sensitive that it can pick up a whisper. Mr. Rose also said that the students eventually settle in to "video conferencing" and are soon playing educational games like everyone was in one room. Apparently they even go so far as to accuse one another of cheating! One of Mr. Rose's students who stopped by to answer a question told us that some parts of the distance learning process were enjoyable and that others were kind of lonely. He said it is harder to develop a bond and stay motivated when all you are doing is emailing a teacher. Apparently some of the educational modules are also pretty boring but the ACCESS people are working on improving them. We also got to meet some other teachers who have worked with ACCESS labs. There number one complaint was that there were not enough teachers who knew enough about technology to do the classes properly. Apparently the people responsible for ACCESS have not made the training process easy and the few that do come out qualified are quickly and repeatedly asked to teach. Despite the extra money that goes along with a class like this it is still exhausting. If you get a bad proctor your whole class can be a battle instead of a good experience. All in all I REALLY enjoyed my trip and found everyone to be very welcoming and passionate about technology in the classroom. When I become certified I want to do the ACCESS training so that I can teach these courses as well...and play with the smartboard and ELMO!