Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a portal, if you will, through which educators, parents, and students can access a wide variety of educational materials. The website homepage is very simple and features links for Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Personal Workspace, Professional Learning, Podcast Treasury, Search and Help. By clicking on any of those links, one can utilize the resources in a timely, easy manner. Educators can also communicate with others using Listservs and find interactive resources. Some of the resources available are: Thinkfinity from the Verizon Foundation, the Alabama Virtual Library, and Alabama Public Television. ALEX received the 2008 Digital Education Achievement Award from Best of the Web for Technology Initiative.

I think The Alabama Learning Exchange will be invaluable to any current or prospective teacher. Although my focus is physical education and there are no ALEX teacher created lesson plans for that course, I will still be able to utilize many of the other features. It will be like having an encyclopedia at my fingertips, but with so much more information and resources. If I can't find what I am looking for, I will be able to contact other educators and possibly create a network that way. As a whole, ALEX is going to be a valuable resource that I can use at any time. All of it's different facets will allow for a variety of research that will be extremely beneficial.