ALEX is a website for teachers and other educators. It is available for their access to enhance the tools they have in the classroom. I think this website is great because, you have so many different ways to integrate new things in your classroom once the things your doing get old or you just want to try new things. Before we get into what exactly this website does, I would like to recognize all the wonderful awards this site has received. If you glance in the very top left hand corner of your screen on the homepage, you will see all the things ALEX has been awarded. First, in 2007 the Honorable mention, in 2008 the Digital Achievement Award, and lastly in 2009 they were awarded the Digital Achievement Award for the second time.
Now lets get into the usefulness of the site. I am going to start from the Courses of Study box and work my way through the rest. The first thing you will see when you click on this link, is the 11 courses you can chose from, along with a tab labeled "other courses of study." Once you chose your subject area you, you then chose your grade. The grades available on this website range from K-12th grade. Once you have chosen your grade level, a whole page is available for you to see, what your students should be learning in that subject area. The second link available is Web Resources. There are several things that you can do in this area as well. You can as a teacher or administrator, search web resources that are available to you through a tab. You can also recommend, search, report broken likes to web recourse's on this page. The third link we will cover, is Lesson Plans . The educator had the same 11 courses to chose from, as well as the same grade levels mentioned before. Once you have chosen the appropriate boxes, the page will fill will numerous lesson plans from the criteria that you have specified. There is also a Search link on the home page for any other specific needs that the educator may need. There are tabs available on this site that will help you narrow what you are searching for, as well as the Alabama Course of Study Content Standards. Then you can create your own account for ALEX under the Personal Workspace link. Under the Professional Learning link, you have many opportunities. There are tabs for almost anything you can think of in this category. There is a training session for ALEX, as well as "Grant Opportunities." You have many developmental opportunity tabs and lastly many tabs to help you increase you knowledge of technology as an educator. The Podcast Treasury is also a wonderful link that ALEX has provided. At this link, there a pre-made podcast that you can download and use to show your classroom. There are again, the subject areas to chose from. Therefore, you can coincide your lesson with your podcast to enhance the learning experience for your students. Lastly, you can visit the Alexville communities by clicking on the globe in the middle of your screen. Here you can see updates that others have posted. This is a wonderful site, and I actually plan on using it to help me write my lesson plans for upcoming assignments!
ACCESS Distance Learning was set into motion on November 1st 2004. It is available for public high schools in the state of Alabama. It is a lot like ALEX, and there is a link to the ALEX website under the resource tab on their page. It provides a virtual library, as well as curriculum. To put it in the words of the creators of this site, it is stated as follows:
It provides:
• Equal access to high quality instruction
• An infrastructure that delivers quality learning opportunities
• Greater equity for all Alabama public high school students through 21st century technology
• Equal access to high quality instruction
• An infrastructure that delivers quality learning opportunities
• Greater equity for all Alabama public high school students through 21st century technology
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