EdAlive: Community Software Plan
Name:
The Community Software Plan
Sponsor:
EdAlive
In Brief
Recommendation:
This scheme which requires the school to act as promoter for EdAlive’s commercial products to parents and children is rejected unequivocally by the Campaign.
Objective:
“The CSP is an initiative designed to maximise the educational power of the home computer”
Classification:
Incentive Scheme
Year:
2006
Past Record:
The Community Software Plan (CSP) has been operating in Ireland since 2005, with over 1,000 schools participating in 2006. EdAlive currently operate a similar scheme in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Materials:
School principals received (unsolicited) a personalised letter from the company’s Managing Director, brochures about the scheme, a free copy of the maths CD ROM “Numbers Up!2 Baggin’ the Dragon” and a feedback form to alter contact details or withdraw from the programme.
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High
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Fair
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Low
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Curricular Relevance |
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Logo/Brand
Presence |
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Influence on Spending |
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Comments:
Having encountered “Numbers Up!2 Baggin’ the Dragon” in school already, EdAlive will then supply a “Parent Information Leaflet” for each child in the school. This will introduce the company and offer parents an opportunity to purchase “Numbers Up! 2” for the discounted price of €29.99.
Teachers are to distribute the leaflet among the children and get them to bring it home. Parents may purchase the software and return their orders to the school along with cheques, postal orders or credit card details. The school is to post the parents’ orders to EdAlive whereupon it will receive a “FREE” 5 user licence for “Numbers Up!2 Baggin’ the Dragon” and a voucher to the value of 50% of the parent order to be redeemed against further EdAlive products.
Recommendation:
This scheme which requires the school to act as promoter for EdAlive’s commercial products to parents and children is rejected unequivocally by the Campaign.
Irish schools are now being targeted and offered incentives to promote not only books but also computer software. The Campaign for Commercial-Free Education does not approve of introducing children to “FREE” software in class only to send sales promotions to their parents via the school in the following weeks. We believe the Community Software Plan places teachers in the role of commercial promoter and salespeople for this company’s products. We believe the primary benefit is to EdAlive as it generates immediate sales and portrays the company as benefactors to the school.
While appreciating the shortage of educational software within many schools, we argue that in a “knowledge-based economy” such as Ireland, teachers should not be reliant on a percentage of commercial sales to obtain these resources. Commercial schemes requiring schools to sell books, software or any other materials to students and their families are exploitative, self-serving and discriminatory. We recommend that schools in receipt of the above materials should ask to be withdrawn from the company’s mailing list and register their disapproval of the scheme generally.
