Welcome to the K12 Software Advisory Group. I really appreciate your participation in this group. My hope is that we can find the best educational technology solutions and save significant dollars in the process. You can email this group at software-advisory-k12@lists.uen.org. Here is an update on a few things we are working on.

One of our goals is to determine whether there is software that most districts already use, so we can create a state contract and save. A few weeks ago, I emailed a few of you asking for this information. I have collected it in a spreadsheet. Can you take a few minutes and verify this list with what you are paying for in your district? It would be fantastic to keep this updated. I can already see that many districts are using Google Education Plus or plan to purchase it in the near future.

Recently, YouTube started putting ads in our Canvas courses. This is unacceptable. I have had several talks with Instructure about this issue. They have decided to add the YouTube Education Player (ad-free player) to their Studio platform. Even worse, this was done in the middle of the school year when budgets are already set. UETN has been in discussions with YouTube to see if we can offer the YouTube Education player directly to our Utah Schools. This could be at a fraction of the cost of Studio, WeVideo, or MyVideoSpot. We are still in the beginning stages of this process, and I will update you all as we get closer to a solution. If UETN is unable to develop a player, we will put additional pressure on Instructure and possibly issue an RFP for another video solution. Any input you have would be greatly appreciated.

We plan to create a trial software offering for the state. This group will help us decide when to explore new software that could be advantageous for our schools. We will run this software through the same approval process we use for a state contract, so it meets the laws applicable to software use in the state. Most likely, we will ask these companies to offer a free trial of 6-12 months. During this time, you will be able to test this in your LEA’s either with an entire school or even just in a classroom. I would love for this to be results-driven with teacher and student feedback.

Please let me know if there are any issues that you would like this group to address. Next week, I will be sending some dates for a possible first Zoom meeting. Most likely, we will wait until after the legislative session.

Cheers,

Justin Brooksby

Associate Director

Ed. Tech Solutions