Software Cost and Purchasing - Wisdom
At the AT&T classroom where I do a practicum course, all the software that we use was downloaded from google play store free and this software can used in elementary schools, middle schools and practically anyone who’s device also functions as android could download this software for free. I was wondering how developers and google play store make their money.
According to the National Science Foundation, free mobile apps come at the cost of consumers privacy, which means that the 60 seconds or 120 second ads that are being displayed before benefiting from the content of the downloaded application. According to research users’ expectation is that mobile applications that are paid for should have better security and privacy, but it is not always so because the fact that a mobile application is paid for does not guarantee security and privacy because 40% of the apps did not have a privacy link in the google play store. However, most of the Mobile applications generates their funds from the ads; an example is YouTube, if a user downloads YouTube for free people who watch the user’s channel or people who’s channel the user watch will experience some ads while watching, but if it was paid for there will not be ads.
However, when it comes to software purchasing, I will advise the school district to make contacts with educational technologists who have knowledge on different types of software preferrable for certain kids.
I may be wrong, but in purchasing software there are some things that should be considered. A school should consider majorly the content of the subject matter, the age group of the kids and the budget before selecting a software.
Software Cost and Purchasing for a New Facility – Ethan Ozinga
Much of my contributions to this course have revolved around the new 6-12 campus that my district – Cuyahoga Falls City School District – is currently in the process of building. It has been very interesting for me to see how the topics in this course apply to what the district is currently experiencing as we work through the steps of constructing a state of the art 6-12 learning facility.
Throughout this course, I have relied heavily on the words of the Ryan, the Director of Technology for the school district and I continue to do so for this assignment as well. I came up with a few questions to ask Ryan regarding software cost and purchasing for the new facilities.
Question 1: Since it is very early on in the project, do you currently have a budget set in place? If so, what is it? If not, when do you have to have a budget submitted?
Believe it or not we do not currently have a set budget. Right now we are so early in the project that the only thing that I am concerned with right now is that the infrastructure is set up in order for us to run all of our fiber lines, phone lines, etc. Once we are further along with the building process, and once walls start going up, we will start purchasing classroom technology and the software that goes with it. But all of that will come after we conduct thorough needs assessments, demos, etc. with all of our departments. I would say that by next summer at the latest we will have that information and we will have a set budget.
Question 2: How much financial aid are we receiving from the government?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just a blanket amount because there are some varying criteria for purchasing, but for the most part we are given 33% financial aid from the government. We must pay the remaining 66% and we get those funds from the levy, grants, donations, etc.
Question 3: In terms of classroom technology and software, in the teaching field there are so many varying opinions about effective strategies, what works, what doesn’t work, etc. What criteria do you use to make decisions on what software to purchase for teachers, students, and their classrooms?
Our district is filled with fantastic teachers, and there are so many different strategies and teaching styles that are very effective. What the tech department needs to do, is we need to decide whose strategies are going to promote the learning environment that we want for our district as a collective unit. There are a handful of teachers in this district that go above and beyond with technology implementation, and those are the teachers who we choose to be in committees to help us make these decisions. The administration and the community have a vision, and it’s up to us to make sure that these students are given as much access to technology as possible and that the teachers can promote technology integration in their instruction. The need for technology integration is no longer up for debate. Our decisions on software and technology needs in the classroom are always based off those ideals.
These responses were both interesting and excited to me. Knowing that the Director of Technology is so passionate about providing such a high level of technology for our students and teachers is very refreshing and I am greatly looking forward to being a teacher in this new 6-12 facility.
Comment by Elise Bennett
I think it is fantastic that your district has so many advocates for technology. Every school should have a committee with multiple people actively involved including teachers, administrators, and technology specialists. Teachers utilize technology the most in the classrooms so their opinions of hardware and software is vital when making decisions!