Software Selection

Selecting effective software is a difficult task  because there are thousands of programs on the market.
Take a look at Seven Steps to Responsible Software Selection of the Northwest Educational Technology Consortium at http://www.netc.org/software/eric_software.html

  1. Analyze needs - goals and objectives
  2. Specify requirements - compatibility with hardware - site license?
  3. Identify promising software - independent professional sources and teacher listservs
  4. Read Reviews - unbiased
  5. Preview software - examination copies or demos
  6. Make recommendations - titles and best prices for purchase
  7. Post Purchase reviews from teachers and students


Commercial Educational Software - can be costly and with tight school board budgets, a teacher needs to research software very carefully. If you are clear about the intended use and the budget, you can proceed to the next step - identifying software and finding  reviews.

1. To find software and reviews, you need to search reliable and unbiased teacher resources. These may include: Departments of Education of Universities, Provinces, and States.

The Nova Scotia Department of Education Learning Resources and Technology has the following site to offer: http://WWW.EDnet.NS.Ca/educ/program/lrt/eval/index.html They have a listing of recommended software, evaluation forms, as well as a demo and lending laboratory whereby teachers can order or use the software for review.

Check out Canadian Education on the Web for other school boards and their educational software recomendations. This is also a link you must keep for other needs. See Educators Resources.
 

 2. Educational Organizations *Next you may wish to send for a free catalog from The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). They produce the Learning and Leading With Technology Magazine which you should read in our Library for software reviews. A few articles are free. A great resource is their 1999 Software Review Publication that we have in our resource center.

Check Ron MacKinnon's Ed. Software Site and his Math software site for lots of additional places to look for software and reviews. Check out quality Educational Publishers and ask for free catalogues to be sent to you. Sometimes they will also send you demo versions. Many demos can be downloaded.

A great number of different software reviews sites at http://www.cgrg.ohio-state.edu/~gmyang/review.htm
**California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse at http://clearinghouse.k12.ca.us/
California Instructional Technology review Sources http://www.netc.org/software/review_sources.html

 3. Commercial Publishers of Magazines carry reviews - many have Online Archives
***Have a look at Technology and Learning Magazine's and search their software reviews from past issues
The Learning Company (MECC) at http://www.mecc.com/
PC Magazine at http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/ Do a search on education and/or subject area. Get to the point click on Educational Software.
4. Discussions from Listservs, Newsgroups, Chats, and Search Engines Post a question to the list asking for help in choosing software for a particular purpose - you will get many replies - you will often get a consensus on which to focus your attention. Ask Eric on their archived listserv list by selecting the listservs and an appropriate search string.

***The Way Cool Software Reviews is a listserv devoted to sharing of software reviews by teachers, parents, and educators Way Cool Software Reviews

Use a search engine with the following keywords  "Educational Software" + review + subject +k12

 5 Once you have narrowed down your search to a publisher or two, go to their website and see if they will send you an evaluation copy or if you can download a demo of the program. Inquire about site licenses. The price per copy usually drops significantly with larger quantities.
***Listing of Educational Software Companies - Educational Software Publishers
6. Once you have decided on the program or programs you wish to buy, get the best price by comparing the price from the publisher directly or the various educational software warehouses. Make sure you will get a version that will run on the platform you will be using.

See Educational resources at http://www.edresources.com/
***SoftChoice at http://www.softchoice.com/default.asp
How & Where to Get Educational Discounts on Software at http://www.charm.net/~rps/acadisc/
Edmark at  http://www.edmark.com/prod/

Freeware and Shareware - available from the Internet

FTP - may be a useful way to obtain useful free and educational shareware. . If you don’t have access to Internet browsers such as Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, or similar programs, you may need to obtain software for transferring files (Fetch or WinFTP) Downloading files with a browser is the most common method available at the present time.
Shareware is moderately priced and allows you to download it and use it for a 30 day period before paying.

A good place to begin your search for educational software online is at

***PC Magazine has a Shareware Review Site that is easy to search: http://www.zdnet.com/swlib/home.html  Go to the Power Search and Click on options and fill in the keyword such as geography, chemistry, or math and ask only for 4-5 star ratings. You may download the software to try it and then pay the nominal fee if you wish to keep it.

**** C/NET at http://shareware.cnet.com/ . Go to Home and Education for PC or Mac.Select Teaching Tools and then Pick your operating System (OS) Choose only free programs or Look for your favorite program or go by Most Popular. Use keywords such as molecular weight, physics, or periodic table.

Other sites for downloading Educational software are listed on Pp.223-225. and on your CD-ROM at the back of your text.

Other Notable Free or Shareware Sites are:

To get help with downloading zipped files and what to do to install them see What is all this Zip and Unzip Stuff?

Assignments:

  1. For your Portfolio, Part # 5, find two top rated commercial software products in your subject area and grade level. For each software item, use the Software Evaluation Form, fill it in and place in your Portfolio. Have a look at one filled in example form for a french software product.

    2.  
  2. Read Chapter 8. P 218-225

    3.