ACCESS Lab

I visited Robertsdale High School’s ACCESS lab. The ACCESS lab was created to provide students with opportunities that they might not have at their own schools. The ACCESS lab allows students from other schools to participate in classes that their schools may not offer such as advanced mathematics. ACCESS is a wonderful technology for schools and provides students with many opportunities.

Robertsdale High School’s ACCESS lab consists of technology which is called the Tanberg system. This system cost $85,000. While ACCESS is a great technology to have in the school the biggest problem is that many schools cannot afford to spend that much money. To have an ACCESS lab in the school it requires many special items for the system to work properly. The ACCESS lab calls for many special items, such as tables, lighting, chairs, paint, phone lines, a fax machine, copier, and printer. All of these things are needed for the system to perform to its best ability. All of the items must be purchased separately from the system.

Like many technologies there is always a technology problem that interrupts use of the system. One problem with having this technology is that no other schools have it, so it is hard to make use of the system. Another problem is that there are not enough teachers to teach using this system. Finally budget cuts are reducing extra funding that schools need to purchase the system.

Robertsdale High School’s ACCESS lab consists of an instructor camera, student camera, twenty four laptops, an Elmo (which is a document camera), and two televisions. The instructor camera is always pointed at the instructor and it is used when the instructor is teaching a class. This allows the instructor to teach at one school and be broadcasted to another school via television. The student camera is always pointed at the students and it used at all times when the teacher is not teaching. This allows the students to interact with one another while in different schools. The twenty four laptops are provided for the students to use in the classroom. Most of the class work is completed on the computers. The Elmo allows the teacher to show students small items and project them on the screen instead of passing them individually around the class. The Elmo makes it very easy for students in another classroom to see the document through broadcasting. There is a television placed in the front of the class and the back of the class; this makes it easy for the teacher and students to see others (from another school) or things that are projected through the Elmo.

The ACCESS lab was created to give students opportunities that they did not have in their own school. At this moment ACCESS is being used in other ways since there are not many schools with this new technology. The other ways that the technology at Robertsdale High School has been used is through virtual field trips and teacher in-services. A class at Robertsdale High School was able to go on a virtual field trip to the Museum of Natural Science. This museum is thousands of miles away from the school and without the ACCESS lab students may have not been able to have this experience. Teacher in-services are another great way to use the technology because it allows teachers to have an opportunity to communicate and learn from other teachers throughout the United States. I think that ACCESS is a great technology to use in the school because it allows many experiences that students and teachers may not otherwise be able to experience.

I personally think that ACCESS is a wonderful opportunity for teachers and students. I enjoyed visiting the lab and being able to see how everything worked. As more schools begin to purchase the labs it will give students and teachers a better opportunity to become involved with students and teachers from other schools and communities. I think that ACCESS is a great technology to use in schools using the new technologies helps to broaden our horizons.