ACCESS lab connects students statewide

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News




Clarissa Finley is a teacher at Fultondale High School, but 10 of her students are 89 miles away and in a different county.

The 10 students at Akron High School in Hale County join 13 students at Fultondale High School in a forensic science class that Finley teaches in Fultondale’s ACCESS lab.

The ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) lab was funded by a $90,000 grant from the Alabama Department of Education.

Fultondale got the lab last year. It consists of two large-screen televisions, 30 Gateway laptop computers, headsets, microphones, video cameras, 30 flash drives, a high-tech projector and a Promethean Board.

The lab allows students at Fultondale to take classes being taught at other schools, or, like Finley’s class, to broadcast courses to other schools.

The program uses technology called IVC, or Interactive Video Conferencing.

“Every morning, I call them on the computer. They connect with us and we hold class,” said Finley, a biology teacher. “They’re my students and my class. All their instruction comes from me.”

The students either fax or mail their tests to Finley. They email their homework and other written work.

“This benefits students, especially in rural areas where they don’t have as many teachers,” Finley said. “This allows them to gain access to classes not taught in their area.”

Finley is “right in her element,” said Fultondale counselor Sheila Scott. “She loves teaching the ACCESS classes.”

Fultondale High School also uses ACCESS classes for students who need to recover credits because they’ve failed a course or need a credit to graduate.

“They’re using the ACCESS lab to help them get back on track,” said Scott.

In addition to the ACCESS lab, both Fultondale and Mortimer Jordan High School offer Web-based courses. Mortimer Jordan is also equipped with an ACCESS lab, but no students are taking ACCESS courses this semester.

With Web classes, students have an online curriculum and do their class work on modules, according to Mortimer Jordan High School media specialist Laurie Dunlap.

Mortimer Jordan offers French, Latin, German, marine biology, AP psychology and global studies through the Web-based program.

“Since we have only one foreign language teacher here, it’s really opened up the opportunity for students to take other foreign languages,” said Dunlap.

She said that 55 students at Mortimer Jordan are taking the courses.

Fultondale High School offers Latin, German, Spanish 2 and 3, statistics, AP U.S. history and AP psychology in the Web-based program.

Fultondale assistant principal Stephanie Robinson said Fultondale’s students were so excited about the Web-based program, they asked if they could take them at home on their own time.

“For a small school like us that can’t offer a huge variety of classes, it has worked really, really well,” said Scott.