My Access! is a web-based writing tool for kids ages 8-18. The student can choose from a large selection of topics (or the parent can assign a topic), write about that topic, and then submit the writing to be scored. My Access! provides instant feedback and shows how the writing can be improved. The parent can easily keep track of each student’s progress. All parts of the writing process are covered:
- planning
- organizing
- drafting
- revising
- editing
- publishing
I really thought we were going to like this, but it just didn’t click with my family. It seemed a bit overwhelming. Many of my fellow Crew Mates seemed to enjoy it though, so we are going to give it another go and I will update with our results. You can check out some demos HERE.
The Nitty Gritty:
- $99.95 12-month subscription for 3 children
- $129.95 12-month subscription for 6 children
Things I Like:
- Each step of the writing process is covered.
- It is easy to keep track of all your kids.
- The program sets goals for the revision of the writing.
- It is very self-motivating.
Value: I really think this depends on your need and the amount of students you have, but in my opinion is it a pretty good deal for up to 6 kids!
See what my TOS Crew Mates have to say about My Access!
My son is forced to use this weird program and we both hate it. I’ve spoken to several other (college educated) parents over the past few years and they hate it and are overwhelmed and confused by it as well.
Number 1, how is a computer supposed to judge someone’s writing? It makes no sense. Only a human being can judge writing style and the quality of a piece. Sure it can count words and judge the structure but no program can judge the quality or value of an essay. Number 2, it’s extremely confusing and hard to figure out which is very frustrating and only wastes time and takes away from the creativity your kid is supposed to unleash.
I understand that teachers like it because they get to see their 800 word essays all neat and tidy but no value could be placed on the writing itself.
What I’d really like to mention here is the outright corruption and bias shown by all these postive reviews that ONLY proves that MyAccess is in bed with the teachers unions and has very deep pockets allowing any negative opinions to be removed or pushed very far back in google searches. I am wondering if the first two google search pages are even “real” websites or if they’re just fakes set up to make MyAccess look like it’s the greatest teaching tool since the damn blackboard.