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Frontiers in Tech Ed- Online Database Software

What do you consider to be the cutting edge, the new frontier, in Educational Technology? For each school or District it may be something completely different. Some schools are already one-to-one computing. Others are using PDA's or iPods. While many are just trying to replace 5-year-old computers. For me, Today, and I say today with a capital T because I don't know what the challenge will be tomorrow, it is online software programs. That is, software that resided on the internet with a database that remains with the company. My students sign on via the internet and save their work in the company database.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? Obviously one of the pluses includes no tech support. This can be a big plus if, like me, you have struggled with software on your server. Another is that students have access from any location where the Internet is available. One of the major disavantages is the cost. These programs are costly for a small school district such as mine. Another is the need for staff development, but this isn't necessarily a new need.

For me the jury is still out as I have only just begun to use these programs. Is it the future of skill-based computing?
Have you tried any of these new software programs? What do you think?