Academic Software

Academic software is available for both students and teachers. The goal is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning outcomes.

When contemplating buying or using software, it is important to think about what you want to be able to use it for and how it will enhance your overall productivity. Some software is used as instructional aids in the classroom, both by teachers and students. Students use group learning activities if there are not enough learning stations or the teacher might use an overhead projector to demonstrate or have students follow along for example in a mathematics, science, or social studies class. In many cases, academic edition software discounts are available for students, teachers and schools. In addition, educational pricing is also available to college and university students (online and on campus), k12 students, home school learners.

The range of educational software used in classrooms is broad, and has titles being produced by educational companies who may chose to specialize in subject or content areas depending on the e-learning goals and initiatives. In fact some educational book publishers are starting to develop learning software as a supplement, complement, or replacement to textbooks. Academic software is designed for for in-class and online learning.

You may have come across the term edutainment. This term is derived from combining entertainment with education This genre comprises software that uses entertaining techniques to enhance learning. Although not generally part of the curricula, some parents and teachers use it to teach skills such as reading and arithmetic.

Reference software grew out of print references such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. This is now available both on CD-ROM and the Internet. Testing and test preparation software, language learning software, typing tutors are some examples of software that users can use at home to learn at their own pace. Britannica, that is available online and on CD-ROM.

Another widely known academic software is the Microsoft educational software series are the Encarta digital encyclopedias, reference suites, and exploration tools. Although once offered as separate series of encyclopedia Microsoft educational software programs.