Finding the five most important software features was not
easy for me. I thought that every choice
was incredibly important and they all have their own merit. The five that stood out the most to me,
though, were standards, cost, site license, active learning, and grade level.
Throughout education, standards have
to stay the main idea. It can be hard to
keep to these standards with all of the other things that teachers have to endure
and deal with in a typical school day.
If all of the software in use met educational standards, teachers would
have a little less pressure on them to introduce and familiarize students with educational
topics. I don’t think that the software
should replace a teacher, but a touch of assistive software can be
helpful.
Cost was an obvious choice for
me. School systems have a lot of needs
and not a lot of financial support, so the more that can be purchased for less
is better for a school.
A site license is a great thing for
companies, but in order to utilize a site effectively, a limited site license
isn’t always the best thing to have.
Without a limited license, it could be possible for students to continue
their learning off of campus, at their homes, for instance.
Active learning is essential for
students. I personally wouldn’t want to
learn from afar. The more interactive
that software is, the more that students will take away from it, in my opinion.
Grade level is incredibly important
in software. If the material is too
advanced, then students are not going to learn anything. Material should be age-appropriate so that
students can gain the most out of it.
For my mind map, I chose
problem-solving, weakness targeting, and illustration software as the most
important to have in a classroom. I
think that problem-solving software can be helpful in providing problem-solving
skills; students need these skills to be an effective member of society. Weakness targeting software is a hugely useful
tool for helping students to overcome any difficulties they might be having in
school, so that teachers know what to concentrate on. I think that illustrations can make lesson a
lot more interesting and incorporating illustrations can promote more involved
learning.
