ACCESS

The ACCESS program can be accessed through the ALEX portal we looked over in our Week 2 assignment. As we discovered last week on the ALEX site, the section on Long Distance Learning is a means for schools that do not have access to advanced placement (AP) programs locally, to implement advanced study programs in the areas of, for example, Physics, Calculus, and Trigonometry by means of Internet technology. The state of Alabama is dedicated to level the playing field for those rural schools that do not have access to the Advanced Placement courses. This is a great leap for Alabama, because, the state is currently in the lower rankings nationwide for access to these kinds of advanced placement classes.

The State of Alabama is dedicated to giving all students equal access to not only advanced placement courses, but also courses to other types of courses otherwise not available, as well as additional development material. These lists of available ACCESS Objectives are listed below:

• Provide access to advanced diploma courses

• Provide access to additional course offerings

• Provide access to advanced placement or dual enrollment courses

• Provide access to remediation and supplemental resources

• Leverage existing resources and distance learning offerings

• Provide teachers with additional multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction

The Strategies involved in creating this system will require a serious overhaul of the network between the schools (State Network) to allow faster downloads of course material; more bandwidth for streaming courses in real time; create more storage space online for a larger variety of down loadable material; develop courses that are a combination of real-time video conferencing with down loadable material for a blended approach; and a structured web portal for the coordination between the schools and online courses. The benefits of down loadable material allow:

1. Teachers and students to refer back to the downloaded material (online manuals/books and instructor lead video) as a study reference library.
2. Students can learn at their own pace if certain material is difficult to comprehend at first, additional material can be downloaded to augment their studies to get them up to speed.
3. E-Teachers (Certified Teachers who teach online) have the advantages of :
1. Hold a discussion forum on a topic
2. Hold a review session in real time chat
3. Hold a review session using a real time whiteboard
4. Hold a review session to be accessed any time any place
4. The down loadable resources on this site give class room teachers enormous amounts of additional resources at their fingertips to aid their instruction.

The ACCESS website is an exciting program that gives equal access to advanced placement education (AP College Standards) for all schools that are part of the Alabama Network. This program levels the playing field between rural schools and medium to large city schools which will give more children the opportunity to get an education that will earn their way into the colleges of their choice.