{"id":63420,"date":"2022-06-14T02:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T06:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=63420"},"modified":"2022-06-14T02:00:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T06:00:58","slug":"why-freemium-software-has-no-place-in-our-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-freemium-software-has-no-place-in-our-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Why freemium software has no place in our classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Digital teaching and communication tools are increasingly present in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. By April 2020, not long after the onset of the pandemic, Google Classroom\u00a0had doubled its users to more than 100 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For educational technology companies, the pandemic\u00a0accelerated opportunities to grow markets and profits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether for facilitating learning, assessing learning or communicating with parents and guardians, digital tools are increasingly part of many children\u2019s and parents\u2019 school experiences.<\/p>\n

In our ever-connected classrooms and societies, one notable element is the use of\u00a0freemium software<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 software that is free for all users to obtain and use, but only with limited features. For a fee or monthly subscription, users can unlock further features.<\/p>\n

Educational settings\u00a0should focus on equity, especially when it comes to decisions related to the use of technology<\/a>\u00a0for teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

In educational settings, software \u2014 whether for teaching and learning or parent-teacher communication \u2014 should not have\u00a0tiered offerings where users who have the financial means to pay are privy to a better version of the software<\/a>\u00a0with additional features and tools.<\/p>\n

School boards and provincial education ministries should focus on implementing\u00a0universally accessible tools<\/a>\u00a0to eliminate two-tier access for learners and families that is enabled with freemium software. This may include licensing commercial software that has been carefully evaluated and assessed for how it supports student learning.<\/p>\n

Marketing strategy<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Freemium software is an excellent\u00a0marketing strategy and economic driver<\/a>, and it\u2019s become popular for multiple applications.\u00a0Spotify software is one popular example for everyday music<\/a>\u00a0listening.<\/p>\n

Some examples of educational software that have freemium versions are\u00a0Prodigy Math<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ClassDojo<\/a>. According to these respective software companies, 20 million students a year use the\u00a0free version of Prodigy<\/a>. More than\u00a050 million teachers and families<\/a>\u00a0use ClassDojo and\u00a0more than one million use the \u201cplus\u201d (premium) version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Equity in classrooms<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Freemium software exacerbates the\u00a0digital divide<\/a>\u00a0for students who may be economically disadvantaged compared to their peers.<\/p>\n

In turn, it contributes to what\u2019s known as the\u00a0Matthew Effect<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 where those who have more acquire better, more beneficial experiences compared to those with less who are left behind.<\/p>\n

In the cases where schools choose to use software that has a freemium version, boards should license the software to ensure that all learners have equitable access to the tool.<\/p>\n

Hidden costs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What\u2019s important to understand is freemium software is not actually\u00a0free software<\/a>, all things considered. With the\u00a0data being collected<\/a>, the provider is gaining valuable data from users.<\/p>\n

The software provider gains a direct marketing channel to the parent and child through the application. The developer can now target\u00a0the user with advertising for advanced features<\/a>\u00a0that are accessible if they pay a fee.<\/p>\n

The U.S.-based non-profit organization Fairplay\u00a0has called on schools to say no to using Prodigy<\/a>, noting that the platform\u2019s \u201cpush to sell premium memberships is relentless, and aimed at kids. In just 19 minutes of \u2018studying,\u2019 we saw 16 ads for membership and only four math problems.\u201d In February 2021, the organizaton\u2019s Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood and advocacy partners\u00a0sent a letter of complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about Prodigy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A school fee?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Parents who are able and willing to pay for premium access may do so without giving it much thought, or assume that the school has selected the tool and there is a cost, likening it to a field trip fee.<\/p>\n

In addition to offering different forms of student and family access to tools, interactions enabled by premium features of freemium software could affect classroom relationships in inequitable ways.<\/p>\n

For example, premium features of Prodigy Math enable\u00a0parents to compare their child\u2019s progress with their peers<\/a>: if children are privy to this information about classmates, this could affect how they engage with other children. In ClassDojo, if parents pay\u00a0for the plus version<\/a>, they are able to\u00a0access \u201cread statuses\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 notifications about when their messages to teachers have been read. Teachers have the ability to turn this feature off.<\/p>\n

This has the potential to strain the parent-teacher relationship or to create privileged or priority communication access to teachers by parents who have paid if the teacher feels pressured to respond or be accessible.<\/p>\n

Universally accessible tools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As spending<\/a>\u00a0continues to increase on educational technology, it is important that software used for teaching and learning is\u00a0evaluated by educational technology specialists<\/a>\u00a0and supported across entire school boards. If freemium software is being used, it should be\u00a0selected based on evidence<\/a>\u00a0and licensed for the users.<\/p>\n

Communication platforms need to work well and meet the needs of teachers and instructors while bolstering communication between the school and family without any cost to the parent or guardian.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, data security\u00a0and student privacy are concerns<\/a>. Software that is deployed for teaching and learning in classrooms should be carefully selected using standard practices.<\/p>\n

Supports for digital tools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Proper supports for digital tools<\/a>\u00a0are required in order see benefits from tools. It\u2019s important to realize that simply making technology accessible to students isn\u2019t a guarantee of better learning outcomes: For example, research from the United States shows that the\u00a0extent to which educators support training and immersion with devices in schools<\/a>\u00a0matters to students\u2019 measurable learning gains.<\/p>\n

In a time when school boards and schools are called upon to implement decisions that address student\u00a0inequities and narrow the opportunity and access gaps students and families face<\/a>, the free tier of freemium software is a step in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Lucas Johnson is a PhD Student, Faculty of Education at Lakehead University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Digital teaching and communication tools are increasingly present in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. By April 2020, not long after the onset of the pandemic, Google Classroom\u00a0had doubled its users to more than 100 million. For educational technology companies, the pandemic\u00a0accelerated opportunities to grow markets and profits. Whether for facilitating learning, assessing learning or communicating […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[429083],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-63420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-freemium-software"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy freemium software has no place in our classrooms - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-freemium-software-has-no-place-in-our-classrooms\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why freemium software has no place in our classrooms - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Digital teaching and communication tools are increasingly present in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. 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