Two things happened recently that made me think about the cost of software, and in particular, online software.
As you will know if you’ve read my blogs, I am a fan of software that is held in ‘The Cloud’ for all sorts of reasons and whilst there’s a lot of good stuff out there that’s free, there’s also some that’s less impressive and sometimes there’s truth in the adage that ‘you get what you pay for’. There’s also the very realistic possibility that the developers just stop developing and the software vanishes.
As an example, I was searching the web for some decent online video editing software for an upcoming project as the school only had access to Windows Live Movie Maker.. which I find a backward step from Movie Maker of old. However, many searches and links from several blogs to free online options revealed that pretty much all the free tools had just vanished, including the once excellent Jaycut. They’d had a better offer from BlackBerry. The others… who knows?
So, scouting around I came across Creaza. It’s good, very good in fact, but it costs and that got me thinking about ‘paid for v free’.
Free is good, but it might not be there forever. I suspect Google Docs and Live@EDU will be, but they don’t offer much appeal for the younger user I feel.
If you decide to pay for your software you get a product written for the purpose and on-going development with the teachers and pupils as the primary focus. I think that can be worth the investment.
The second thing was a jolly splendid morning with FS2 and staff at Collingwood Primary with JIT and a discussion with the co-ordinator on whether to purchase the software.
Having had the discussion with a few schools recently, it struck me that a school can easily rack up a fair old annual bill on online software subscritions quite easily.
Here are some of the more well known and popular providers.
Learning Platform. £3-£4 per head
Purple Mash £600 ish
Espresso £4 per head (?)
Creaza £300-£700
JIT/J2E £99-£449
Education City £2 per head (?)
I Am Learning £395
The question marks are my best recollections as the prices aren’t on the web sites
So, a meduim size primary school with a Learning Platform and 2/3 online subscriptions could easily spend £3000 per year on subscriptions.
Like everything else, it comes down to value for money. If your online subscriptions are used regularly by the majority of pupils and staff then you’re getting value for your money. If not, then it’s time for a review and ask why not.
- Why aren’t staff using it? (No CPD is often the case)
- Is your internet connection up to it? Especially your wireless one as we move more to mobile devices of any flavour- see Dave Andrew’s Blog and this article.
- Do you think it does little for raising standards?
So, to end: Yes, I’m a big fan of online learning and software, but am also aware of the pressure on budgets- school governor and all that- so like any other purchase it needs careful consideration and evaluation, particularly as renewal time comes up.
The balance to all this money a school seems to be paying out is that your online subscriptions means that you might not now pay for software that has previously been purchased and installed on the school server.
Just choose wisely, invest in some CPD for the staff and use it!
Well, I’ve recently had an email from ZingZang, a photo sharing site, telling me to download eveything I’d uploaded as they’re closing down. So another example of a freebie vanishing into the ether. Good job I ‘d only tried a few simple uploads and relied on Flickr to host most if my pics.