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November 15, 2001
Classroom Software: Preview before You Buy
By Jeffrey Branzburg
This page is designed specifically with the new-to-technology educator in mind. Please feel free to reproduce it for use in your teacher training sessions or other staff development efforts.
As educators, we constantly use our professional judgment to choose materials for classroom use, be they print materials such as textbooks or multimedia materials such as videos. We preview these materials before we use them in the classroom; so, when it comes to computer-based materials such as software, what are our options for preview?
Publishers
Many publishers of instructional software are happy to send items to you for preview. Frequently these can be kept for 30 to 45 days, enabling you to take a test drive or even "try before you buy" with students in the classroom-the best way to see if it works for you.
Some publishers may require a purchase order, which can be cancelled if you decide to return the software rather than buy it; others may ask you to send your request on school letterhead, while still others will send out preview software to a school address with only a phone request.
You will find that some companies will send you the full package of software for preview, while others send out special limited preview versions, which might have a disabled print ability, or allow only a few boot-ups.
Here are some publishers I have found very amenable to preview. This is by no means an exhaustive list; you should call or check the Web sites of other publishers for their policies.
- Edmark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on soft-ware products. Selected programs can be played online or downloaded from their Web site. (800) 691-2986
- Learning in Motion allows educational institutions to preview most products. (800) 560-5670
- Sunburst offers a 30-day trial for schools and institutions in the United States and Canada. Pick the software or video program that interests you and call. Selected titles can also be previewed online. (800) 321-7511
- Tom Snyder Productions provides all U.S. schools with a 45-day trial-order any product published by Tom Snyder Productions, no P.O. required. A 30-day trial is also available for Internet subscriptions, and you can sample some products by downloading them onto your computer from the company's Web site. (800) 342-0236
Vendors
Some software resellers or distributors will also make items available for preview, with policies similar to those of the publishers. The benefit of dealing with a vendor is that they can provide products from many different publishers. For example, CCV Software (800-843-5576) will honor software preview requests accompanied by a purchase order; products on preview may be returned within 30 days if in resalable condition. Classroom Direct (877-698-1988; www.classroomdirect.com) allows many software items to be returned within 30 days, subject to a 15 percent restocking fee.
Download Previews or "Play Online"
By using the Internet you can download software directly to your computer to preview. Some publishers offering this service are Tom Snyder Productions, Edmark, and Sunburst (see above).
Read Reviews Online
There are many Web sites that offer software reviews. Hundreds of software reviews that appeared in the pages of Technology & Learning are available at the Product Guide. Reviews are searchable by numerous criteria, such as subject area, grade level, and even award winners only.
Other sources of online reviews are School House Software Review, SuperKids Educational Software Review, and The Review Zone.
Read Reviews in Magazines
Such as right here-each month Technology & Learning publishes reviews of software and Web sites. Many other educational magazines and journals also do so.
Professional Organizations
Certain professional organizations offer software review services. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development offers "Only the Best," a software review publication available for purchase on CD-ROM and in print. The International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org) sells the "Educational Software Preview Guide," compiled annually by a team of educational institutions across the United States and the world.
Reprinted with permission from Technology & Learning.
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