Online Reviews (sampler)
EPIE, containing reviews of 16,000 educational software products (at BMSLIB), seeks state memberships...
Links
EPIE, containing reviews of 16,000 educational software products (at BMSLIB), seeks state memberships. A CD is available for individual schools. A free subscription newsletter is located on the childsoft site. The Multimedia Index (Viswiz) is also a huge database. The Discovery Networks Education Guide typifies the reviews in that channel. ISTE's catalog contains selected recommended publications of software reviews, such as "The Computer Museum Guide to the Best Software for Kids" by Cathy Miranker and Alison Elliot (ages 2-12).
Web sites pride themselves on the awards they receive from rating organizations. Magellan at McKinley has been active in this domain. Postings on listservs, such as the Connected Teacher Project, may contain recommendations from organizations, such as Classroom Connect or Network Nuggets, or individuals as a result of surfing. Sharing comes naturally to online folks. After a while you will discover whose recommendations suit you.
The Combined Online Multi-Media Database (cbed)was specifically designed for teachers and librarians to learn about appropriate multimedia sw for schools. And it is free. The Eisenhower Clearinghouse specializes in math and science. Its criteria are explicit and input is sought from several classes of users, though not always consistently.
Products are also showcased in the exhibitor section at conferences and local fairs (a popular school fundraiser), and librarians/media specialists are inundated with sales catalogs. Bookstores stock compilations of recommended software. Many agency-sponsored projects also release products. The Web itself offers freeware.
Parents' Choice has published reviews of media with a special focus on literacy topics for nearly a decade.
The Educational Software Preview Guide Consortium has revised its preview guide.One can search by title, publisher, subject, grade level and mode.
Annotation
The number of products for K-12 is staggering so it is always wise to return to first principles: select those which match your core curricular and instructional needs across grade levels and exploit telecommunications most powerfully (ie. what cannot be accomplished in your real world).
