Software

This week we discussed software that is available to purchase for classrooms and schools. We talked about many types of software (drill/tutorial, simulation, generative, diagnostic, teacher-productivity, and everyday applications), with a focus on the drill/tutorial, simulation, and generative software. We talked about the process of buying and evaluating the sofware, looking for items that have free trials, and determining whether the software is a good fit for our classes. Some of the popular software producers are Scholastic, Tom Snyder Productions, Riverdeep, and Sunburst.

We spent some time looking at the websites for these producers and choosing a piece of software that was drill, simulation, or generative and commented about them on the discussion board. We found some great programs (FASTT Math, BBC Science Simulations, and Neighborhood Map Machine 2.0), but some of them are rather pricy. It gets even more expensive when you want to purchase the software for many computers. If a school wanted to get a few programs for a lab, it would rack up quite a bill. I think that before doing something like this, the school teachers would need to get together and run demos/trials to determine which programs fit the most needs. Many of the programs have adaptive levels available, which are great for a school purchase to fit the needs of more classrooms.

After looking through the class' finds, I noticed that while many people did find the same packages, there are many types and levels of software available for classrooms. We were only given about 25 minutes to look through these sites for programs, and as a class we were able to come up with many. This tells me that with more time and consideration, we could look through and find some great programs that allow us to receive trials/demos to determine which ones are worth purchasing. I think that if the teachers can determine which programs are the best for them, it would be worth purchasing the larger package for the school.