With the rise in the availability of education software, educators may find it stressful to narrow down the choices to what program will be most influential in their classroom. The Literacy Assistance Center, as mentioned in the article, serves to help educators determine which software meets their educational goals. This assistance center serves educators by asking them some important questions. These questions consist of how large the student population is, what their instructional goals are, is there time to sit down and learn how to navigate the program before instruction takes place, is their tech support available, and what are the educator’s long term instructional goals when using this software.
The Literacy Assistance Center also advises educators to review recommendations made by other educators who have used the software in question before. They said it would be beneficial for the educator to put aside time to meet with other teachers and students and together try out the software in the same setting it will be used in. By doing this, educators can assess the benefits of the program before purchasing it for their school. If and when the software has been purchased, then educators need to become comfortable navigating the program before introducing it to their students.
http://www.lacnyc.org/resources/IT/evalsoftware.htm
The articles and sites that I visited all stated the same thing, the vast amount of software available. It seemed like a daunting task, to find appropriate software. However, after some researching, I found that there are many resources that can be tapped to aid in the process, including the Literacy Assistance Center that you speak of in your blog. There are also staff members in the district one is teaching in that can also assist, including the technology coordinator, or the curriculum resource specialist.
ReplyDeleteIn my research, I did not come across this article involving the Literacy Assistance Center but, I am thankful that have because this center appears to be highly beneficial for all educators. Having educators meet with other teachers and students in a classroom setting and trying out a particular software seems to be an excellent strategy for determining whether or not a software can have positive impacts in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYour post brought other issues that my articles didn't even address such as a teacher also should consider how many students he/she has or how many students will be using the software. That is actually, now that I think about it, one of the first things you should consider. It seems like the amount of students would help determine a lot.
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