Educational Software

Problems with current educational software:

• Emphasis on algorithms and coding.
• Hardware and operating system developments make software obsolete.
• The half-life of the textbook publication cycle is longer than the half life of most computer technology.
• Software interfaces have idiosyncratic behavior.
• Day-to-day software tools, i.e., word processors, interoperate poorly with educational software.
• The creation and distribution of media-rich documents all to often required specialists.
• It is expensive.

Possible Solutions:

• Educational software must be based on research into the effectiveness of computer-based instruction.
• Educational software should be based on virtual machines, meta-languages, and open Internet standards.
• Software should be scriptable so as to allow the teacher to control the pedagogy.
• Software needs to be free for non-commercial use at educational institutions.
• Collaboration.