Software Evaluation Web Quest

Web Quest

Introduction

"The endless litany of the ways in which schools are failing,
recited dutifully by countless school reformers,
fail to grasp this one essential truth:
If instruction does not mobilize students' intrinsic will to learn,
very little will be learned."
Jim Cummins and Dennis Sayers in Brave New Schools

Technology can help to mobilize this will to learn when used correctly. Quality software is an essential element. How do you know what represents quality? How do you know it will match your instructional style? How do you know it will mobilize that will to learn? How do you explain to your principal that the student learning which is generated is truly worth the cost of the software? How do you know that software is free of bias to gender or ethnicity? How do you know that software meets the needs and interests of ESL, minorities, special education and handicapped students?

The Task

Your task is to design a one-page instrument for software evaluation, preview software which is available on the World Wide Web, and make recommendations to your school for five software purchases. Each software title which is recommended for purchase must be accompanied by an explanation of its worth to the school's instructional intent.

Your first mission is to learn about the evaluation of software. Use the questions above and the resources below to develop the criteria for your evaluation instrument.

Resources

Online Resources concerning software evaluation:

Children's Software Revue
Software For Learning, Maricopa Community Colleges
Evaluating Instructional Computer Courseware
On-Line Instructional Software Evaluations
Only the Best Evaluators, ASCD
Educational Software Information Sites
Resources for Educational Software, Loyola University


Offline Resources concerning software evaluation:

Education for an Information Age: Teaching in the Computerized Classroom, Bernard J. Poole, pp 165-174; note especially the form on page 168.

1998 Educational Software Preview Guide, International Society for Technology in Education

Educational Leadership, February, 1999 issue, Integrating Technology into the Curriculum

The Process

1. Divide into groups of four people.

2. Study the resources above and follow the information in the Task to design a one-page evaluation instrument.

3. Choose your role after you have designed your evaluation instrument.

Teacher Your instructional style and curriculum must be enhanced by software in order for you to use it in your classroom. When you are evaluating, remember what and how you teach. You want to use software that will motivate your students to learn.	Parent The most important thing for you is your child's education. Is he or she going to be ready for the jobs of the future? Are you sure that your child is getting the basic text, visual, and numerical literacy skills? Will the software help your child in these areas? Would you be willing to help the teacher with the software?
Administrator You are in charge of all the technology. Does this software require extensive training before it would be productive in classes? What is the cost? How does it fit in the district curriculum guidelines? What effect would it have on student learning?	Student Is is fun? Would you want to use this software to create a project? What special things can you learn from the software? Is the software hard to learn? Could you do things with this software that you cannot do in other ways in your classroom?

4. Using your evaluation instrument visit the software sites and evaluate any preview software found there. Remember to stay in your role as you decide on the most important elements.

5. Rate each software according to your criteria from your perspective.

ADAM
Adobe
Broderbund Software
HyperStudio
Macromedia
MECC/The Learning Company
Optimum Resources
Pierian Spring Software
Sanctuary Woods
Scholastic
Sunburst
Tenth Planet
Tom Snyder Productions
True BASIC

6. As a group, decide which five pieces of software you will recommend for purchase. Write an explanation which details how these choices meet the varied needs of all four roles.

Evaluation

Discuss the different perspectives which you used to evaluate the software. Were there any large differences in your evaluations? Why? Do you think that the software you have chosen will meet the challenge in the opening quote? Write a paragraph about how this process could help schools at times when they are selecting software.

Conclusion

You have taken on the role of a major stakeholder in the education of children and made important decisions. For education to meet the needs of children, processes such as this must take place for the many curricular decisions to be made. How many times did you get to help make a decision as a student? Think about this as you are designing the education of our children.

Ó1999 Gail Gruber
Last updated April 28, 1999
Created using a template from The Webquest Page and Carmen Gonzales.