The school lab I visited was in Mary G. Montgomery High school. When I walked into the class I saw maybe 9 students with laptops out. Mr. Rose (our guide) showed us (Pat and myself) the ins and outs of the lab room set up. He explained that their are two types of courses; web and IVC.
The web courses are not unlike the ones here at south. The IVC includes video casting of a lesson, which Mr. Rose does himself. The screens are set so the teacher can see the class ( or multiple classes) and they can see him. They can raise their hands to ask questions, and receive an answer through the video feed. Each class has a monitor.
The downside to all of this is that student interaction is lost, and communication is hindered. Any sort of tone or body language is lost by these courses. A teacher also losses the ability to reuse a test, as they have to fax or e-mail them to another school. Or the test can be online, but there is no way to prevent cheating. The teacher also has little control in what goes on in the class and has to rely on the monitor, who may be great, but might not be. Its not like the regular class room , but its the "next best thing".
Next Mr. Rose escorted us down the hall and got Ms. Stroud and Ms. LeGrone to give us their opinions and thoughts on ACCESS, has they also teach online.
The general consensus was that the program administrators were not organized and that communication among every one was poor. First a teacher would go to training in ACCESS, which I'm lead to believe isn't very educational. Then the administration picks out the teachers they need in a specific course. Some times the administration ( who are based in troy university) would tell teachers the day of that they are meant to teach a class, or add students to their class two weeks into the course.
Another issue is that this sort of internet interaction is new and communication needs practice. If a teacher sends a frustrated e-mail to ask the organizers at Troy a question,then the message can be interpreted as aggressive, instead of merely frustrated.
Another issue is teacher web sites. If a teacher goes through the ACCESS program to start a web site them they lose all control of it. It's actually to the benefit of the teacher and students to go around ACCESS to create a web site.
With all that said, ACCESS is a program in its infancy. It is a good program with a lot of bugs to be worked out. Hopefully, in a few semesters, the program will live up to its full potential.
The web courses are not unlike the ones here at south. The IVC includes video casting of a lesson, which Mr. Rose does himself. The screens are set so the teacher can see the class ( or multiple classes) and they can see him. They can raise their hands to ask questions, and receive an answer through the video feed. Each class has a monitor.
The downside to all of this is that student interaction is lost, and communication is hindered. Any sort of tone or body language is lost by these courses. A teacher also losses the ability to reuse a test, as they have to fax or e-mail them to another school. Or the test can be online, but there is no way to prevent cheating. The teacher also has little control in what goes on in the class and has to rely on the monitor, who may be great, but might not be. Its not like the regular class room , but its the "next best thing".
Next Mr. Rose escorted us down the hall and got Ms. Stroud and Ms. LeGrone to give us their opinions and thoughts on ACCESS, has they also teach online.
The general consensus was that the program administrators were not organized and that communication among every one was poor. First a teacher would go to training in ACCESS, which I'm lead to believe isn't very educational. Then the administration picks out the teachers they need in a specific course. Some times the administration ( who are based in troy university) would tell teachers the day of that they are meant to teach a class, or add students to their class two weeks into the course.
Another issue is that this sort of internet interaction is new and communication needs practice. If a teacher sends a frustrated e-mail to ask the organizers at Troy a question,then the message can be interpreted as aggressive, instead of merely frustrated.
Another issue is teacher web sites. If a teacher goes through the ACCESS program to start a web site them they lose all control of it. It's actually to the benefit of the teacher and students to go around ACCESS to create a web site.
With all that said, ACCESS is a program in its infancy. It is a good program with a lot of bugs to be worked out. Hopefully, in a few semesters, the program will live up to its full potential.
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