How would you add to or change this list? What characteristics do you consider most important in selecting software for purchase?
Some characteristics that I find important for evaluating academic software are that the site has a license, that it is suitable for my grade level, that save features are there, and that the cost isn’t too high. I want my software to have all the features both suitable and appropriate for my grade level. I also want my software to have a special low pricing for educational users for abundant features. I also want there to be saving features that both automatically and manually save student’s work and be started at the same point later on. I think the list is pretty good, it covers all the basics about what to watch for when ordering/buying academic software programs.
I would like to be able to use Adobe Photoshop in my classroom because children could learn how to scan photos, and even be able to fix the "red-eye", depending on how mature they are. Photoshop can be a complicated program for the younger students to use. I didn’t learn how to use it till I was in high school, and even now I still have some trouble trying to use it. A fun education game I would have would be "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego.´As a child I loved to play that game during school and I would do all my work just to be able to play it. I would have software downloaded onto the computer in which children who can't see as well can use this software to enlarge the text, and have some software that reads words aloud. Some students have problems pronouncing words and being able to see them on a screen and hearing them read aloud could really help those kids learn the words better.
