Funding Strategies for Procuring Electronic Learning Materials at the State Level

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

Funding Strategies for Procuring Electronic Learning Materials at the 
State Level 
Discussion Forum
State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) &
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) 

July 1, 2003
Seattle, WA - NECC
Sponsored by PLATO Learning and AOL@School 

"On July 1, 2003, SIIA and SETDA hosted a forum at the National Education
Computing Conference (NECC) in Seattle for their constituencies to discuss
the state-level opportunities, challenges and solutions related to
procurement of electronic learning materials. The event brought together
some 100 state officials and corporate executives to share information,
brainstorm strategies and otherwise better understand each other's
perspectives about state review, adoption and funding. "

snip:

The forum agenda (see agenda) included presentations by representatives
from ProQuest/bigchalk, Learning.com, PLATO Learning, the Texas Education
Agency and the Utah Office of Education. It was moderated by Geoff
Fletcher of T.H.E. Institute.

Report of meeting, agenda, etc. at SIIA website.
Funding Strategies for Procuring Electronic Learning Materials at the State
Level 
moving to electronic for textbook publishers, etc. 
http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/events_fundingforum03.asp

I think the most interesting portion I loooked at was recommendations from
Mark Tullis VP Business development of Learning.com regarding various
issues
http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/fundingforum03/ppt/tullis.ppt
Recommendation: "Oline Publishers should be allowed to submit pricing
based on the metric of Access over Time."

"Publishers ask for permission to improve and update product as long as
content changes are in harmony with original adopted product."

"State contracts should NOT require that publishers allow customers to
have previous update versions"

"State adoption contracts should require that purchasers of online content
contract directly to the online publisher (or its authorized distribution
partner) and should prohibit online instructional materials from being
resold or repackaged by content aggregators (educational portals, or other
online services) The school or district should always contract directly
with the publisher."

Given issues many of us deal with daily, it looks to me like there is a
convergence of concerns that sound very similar as publishers of school
courses/textbooks/ etc. push into electronic areas and schools start
looking at this new wave of products.

"Electronic learning materials present tremendous benefits and
opportunities for today's students and schools, including engaging and
interactive content, real-time access to current information, anytime and
anyplace learning from a distance, and personalized learning. At the same
time, schools face many challenges to their effective acquisition,
implementation and use of this educational software and electronic
content. With states playing an important role in the process used to
select and fund learning materials in K-12 education, this meeting
provided an important forum for two key stakeholders - state technology
directors and educational software developers - to identify and address
the key issues. "

Chuck Hamaker