ACCESS LAB Visit

I visited the ACCESS LAB at Daphne High School. The teacher that introduced us to the new tech was Joe Roh. He expressed a great deal of excitement in the equipment, but stated the problems involved keep other schools from hardly using it. At Daphne, most of the classes offered in the lab are only counted as electives, so not many students sign up. Mr. Joe said they get the most out of the lab during summer school. Students are allowed to retake a failed class and have it counted. Something that was very neat is the ACCESS lab could connect through video to other labs in different schools or counties and teach classes simultaneously. Timing is a big problem with that as well as faculty, but it was very cool to see. Mr. Joe also introduced us to the Promethean board. That piece of equipment was my favorite. An electronical whiteboard, or "smartboard on steroids." It was all very interesting to learn about the new technology in classrooms. The negative thing is alot of schools dont even use the equipment they have, and State of Alabama have rules and regulations that need to be loosened. Mr. Joe believed Daphne and other surrounding schools were 2 years away from where they'd like to be with the involvement of technology in the classroom. When all the obstacles are out of the way, ACCESS will be a great alternative for the average classroom.