Why spend more?? (Thing 5c)

Firefox on the rise
Originally uploaded by MrTopf

In Refusing Free, Depriving Students, Ira Socol writes:

Students do worse in school than they need do, they struggle more, they even drop out more. All because schools won't take the two minutes to download something free.

Ira is referring to Firefox and the many available add-ons that can be used to allow disabled students to access the internet. He then goes on to mention other free software that is available:

From Ghotit (the world's best English-language context-based, text-to-speech Spell Check system) to WordTalk (turns Microsoft Word into a talking word processor), from OpenOffice to Linux (stop paying for Microsoft licenses), from Google Earth to GraphCalc (free complete graphing calculator), from Click-N-Type (the best virtual on-screen keyboard) to PowerTalk (reads presentations outloud), schools could be providing their students with a world of software and supports at zero cost, but are refusing.

The result? Rich, white, Protestant, normally-abled students get what they need at home, and vulnerable students fail.

That last line cuts right to the chase! As does this one:

And I won't accept the answer, "fear" anymore either. If an electrician was too afraid of electricity to touch a wire, he'd be an electrician no more. So if an educator is afraid of the information and communication technologies of his/her age, then he/she can no longer be an "educator" in any meaningful way.

I think that Ira asks several fantastic questions - I won't quote his entire blogpost here, but I do highly recommend reading it - and the comments!

It brings to mind another blog post I read recently ... where Daniel Dage asked "Is the Promethean Whiteboard Worth It?". He says:

Our school district is ordering tons of the active whiteboards at no less that $2000 each. I can do the exact same thing for less than $100. So can you, and you can do it easily and painlessly by checking out the folks at PenteractiveThe Wii setuhe Wii setup might be somewhat inferior to the Promethean whiteboard. But how inferior is it? Is it 20 times worse?

I think that, especially in the current economy, we should at the very least look for less expensive options that may achieve the same (if not better) results as the costly ones!! And that's not possible unless you are familiar with the technology available, which is where that online PLN comes in pretty handy!!