The major push from the White House and other interested parties to get computers into every classroom may be ignoring the paucity of really good educational programs available to run on them.
A team of 20 elementary school teachers working this summer at Ohio State University has given generally poor grades to more than 200 software packages intended to educate young children in language arts and social studies. A similar team worked last year on math and science software.
“Overall, I’d have to say that we’re disappointed with the quality of educational software that’s available for kids,” said Todd Fennimore, who headed the project.
To score high, Fennimore said, the software had to promote problem-solving and inquiry. Many programs were entertaining, teachers found, but they tended to dole out facts much like a formal lecture.
“We suspect that in most cases software designers aren’t working closely enough with teachers,” Fennimore said. “With some packages we reviewed, kids could use the software and completely avoid learning anything substantive.”
The evaluation program is an effort by teachers to push software developers into designing content that will challenge children, he said.
Fennimore conceded that one shortcoming of the process is that the software was used by teachers rather than being used by actual pupils who could later be tested to get a better reading of its educational value.
Gestation period: In this era in which product innovators often spend as much time inventing new markets as they devote to new technology, larger established firms find themselves playing midwife to smaller ones.
Thus in the past week NextLevel Systems Inc., the Chicago-based firm formerly known as General Instrument, announced investments in two fledgling interactive television companies, WorldGate Communications Inc. and ACTV Inc.
NextLevel’s customers are cable TV companies that buy network systems to deliver programming, said John Burke, and those cable operators “are always looking for new services they may offer that will generate new revenue.”
They are also looking for services that will differentiate their landline-based networks from direct satellite television services.
Providing content that can be downloaded into NextLevel’s intelligent settop boxes to run on television sets can fill that need, giving customers the option of using their TV sets like computers.
One feature WorldGate offers, for example, enables a viewer to jump from TV show or commercial announcement directly to the website associated with that show or sponsor.
NextLevel is making investments in these firms to assure that their services run well on its technology platform and also to assure that there is a good selection of new applications for cable operators to offer, said Burke.
“We’re promoting content that will run on our newest systems,” he said. “That helps our customers and makes our technology more attractive.”
China syndrome? Ameritech Corp., which last week said it is pulling out of a deal to build phone systems in China, is still looking for new opportunities abroad in the phone business.
The Chicago-based communications company, which found China’s internal regulations too confining, still is heavily involved in telephone service in several European countries and New Zealand and hopes to find another opportunity soon in Asia, said Dave Onak, an Ameritech spokesman.
Ameritech is also looking for a deal in the Middle East but is still in the early stages of exploration.
“We’ll look at anything we think makes sense,” said Onak.
