Education and Technology Series Volume 1 DGN umber 3 Fl 1996 Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education: Experiences from Developing Countries by Michael Potashnik Douglas Adkins A publication of the World Bank Human Development Department Education Group - Education and Technology Team COST ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS IN EDUCATION: EXPERIENCES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES by Michael Potashnik, Douglas Adkins I. Introduction izedc ountriesl aunchedm ajorp rogramsf or introducingc omputers into schools. In the OECDc ountries,t here was both experimenta- 1. The New InformationA ge. Revolutionarya dvancesi n in- tion and controversy over the use of computers (Vickers and formationt echnologya nd communicationsa re transformingt he Smalley, 1995). In one group of countries,t hose with a strong worlde conomya nd presentingn ewc hallengesto all countries.T he "dual system" of apprenticeships-Austria,G ermany,a nd Swit- challengesa re to competee ffectivelyi n an emergingi nformation- zerland-computer sciencea nd computerl iteracyb ecamec ompul- based economyi n which computinga nd communicationsp lay a sory subjects,b ut there was littleu se and integrationo f computers centralr ole. They are also to take full advantageo f the enormous in other subjects. A secondg roup of countries-theU nited States, potentialo f informationa nd communicationsin advancinga ll as- the UnitedK ingdom,A ustria,a nd part of Canada- endorsedb oth pectso f economic,s ocial,a nd culturall ife. Electronics uperhigh- computerl iteracyc oursesa nd integrationi ntot he curriculumf rom wayso f broadbandf ibero ptic lines,s atellitec hannelc apacity,d ata the beginning. Howevert,h ese integrateda pproachesw ere slowt o networks,a nd othere ssentiali nformationi nfrastructurea re emerg- developa nd hardwareo ften found its way into schoolsb efores uf- ing in many countries. Likewiset he increasinge fficiencyo f data ficient attention had been paid to curriculum developmenta nd storage,i mprovementsi n the quality of softwarea nd steadilyd e- teachere ducation. Francew as the first countryt o commiti tself to cliningc osts of production,a re enablingm ore and more peoplet o integratingt he use of microcomputersa cross the curriculum. In have access to computer and telecommunicationtse chnology at Norway, Scotland,a nd the Netherlands,g overnmentsm andated work, home, and in school. Indeed,t oday's $2,000 laptopc om- programso f integratedc omputers upporta nd fundedt he creation puter is more powerful than a $10 million IBM mainframec om- of softwarea nd in-servicet eachert raining. puter of twenty years ago. Moreover,t oday's personalc omputer hard drives can hold 1.2 gigabytesw hereast he IBM PC/XTf irst 4. Developingc ountriesa lso introducedc omputersi ntot heire du- introducedi n 1983h eld 10m egabyteso f information(G ates,1 995). cation systems during the past decade, although generally on a smallers cale and almoste xclusivelyf or the teachingo f computer 2. Today's computersa re also relativelyu ser friendly. For ex- sciencea nd computerl iteracy. Many of these initiativesr emained ample, graphic user interfaces,e xemplifiedb y such systems as pilotp rojects,a lthought hereh ave been exceptions.I n recenty ears, Windowsa nd Mac OS have all but replacedc haracter-baseds ys- mainlyd ue to the growinga warenesso f the need to preparef or the tems like MS-DOS. And, thanks to researchb y the XeroxC orpo- emergingi nformation-basede conomy,s ome developingc ountry ration,t he "mouse"h as becomet he vehiclef or facilitatingh uman- governmentsh ave alreadyl aunchedo r are in the process of initiat- computeri nteractions. Over the past twenty years we have also ing sizablep rogramst o introducec omputersi n the educations ys- seen an exponentialg rowthi n computers oftwareo f all kinds, in- tem. They are: Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, cluding educationals oftware. Studentst oday can have accesst o Grenada,S ingaporeA, rgentina,U ruguay,t he Philippines,T urkey, very excitinige ducationals oftwarec ombinings oundp edagogical Egypt, SouthA frica,a nd Jamaica. qualitiesw ith multimediaa pplications.T hesen ew softwarep ack- ages give computersb road-baseda ppeals ervings tudentsa t all lev- 5. While in previousy ears governmentsh ad to be convincedo f els and withld iverse learnings tyles and capabilities. Finally, ad- the importanceo f computersi n educationt hat is generallyn ot the vances in communicationtse chnologyg ive studentsa ccesst o the situation today. Policy makers and educators generally employ worldo utsidea nd to a richa rray of informationa nd otherr esources one or severalo f the followingr ationalesin theird ecisionsf or adopt- for learningh eretoforeu navailable.T elecommunicationtse chnol- ing informationt echnology:t he socialr ationalew hich arguest hat ogy is becorninga commonf eatureo f classroomsa nd schoolsw hich schoolsn eed to provide studentsa "comfort level" with technol- have introducedc omputersi ntoe ducation.U singm odemsa nd tele- ogy so they can live and work in a rapidlye mergings ocietyw here phone lines in their schools, studentsc an now communicatev ia informationa nd telecommunicationpsl ay an increasinglyi mpor- local and wide area networks as well as via the Internet. tant role; the vocational rationale which follows from the social * The authors are grateful for the comments provided by Jee-Peng Tan and Harry 3. Computersin Education.D uringt he 1980sm, ost industrial- Patrinos( HDD)o n a draft of this paper. 2 Education and Technology Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 rationale, emphasizes the need to prepare students for future em- the high c6sts7ofe ducati6o ifithe United States, Perelman has cbn- ployment in infornation and telecommunicationsb ased economies; cluded there is a serious productivity crisis in education and insuf- the pedagogical rationale argues that computers can improve the ficient research and development to come up with solutions to deal instructional processes and learning outcomes in schools; and, fi- with this crisis. The failure to effectively exploit the instructional nally, the catalytic rationale is that computers can change schools power of the computer is but one example of the resistance to change for the better by accelerating educational innovations in the teach- in education. There is little mystery as to the reasons for this fail- ing learning which goes on in the classroom (Hawkridge, Jaworski ure, according to Perelman. They are the result of a lack of incen- and McMahon, 1990). tives, and disincentives common to government-owned, "bureau- cratically administered monopolistic enterprises." To address these 6. Despite significant cost reductions in recent years, informa- problems, Perleman calls for a major restructuring of schools with tion technology, as presently designed, is not going to be afford- incentives for improving learning outcomes, and more and better able for wide-spread use in most countries and school systems, any funded educational R&D on learning technologies. time soon. However, in a growing number of countries, policy makers and educators are still launching new pilot education tech- 9. How much does educational technology cost? Is it affordable nology projects, usually with the help of external and/ or extra- to most developing countries? Are there ways of reducing the costs budgetary resources and strong community support. In fact, the and increasing the effectiveness of projects? What can we learn experiences of the countries included in this study would suggest from the experience of other countries in designing cost-effective that affordability is a relative concept, not an absolute one. Even project inputs? These are the issues which motivate this study. those countries which have yet to achieve universal primary edu- There are certainly not new concerns. Several other writers have cation and have relatively low secondary school enrollments, gov- attempted to determine the costs of information technology as well emnmentl eaders at all levels have initiated pilot information tech- as its effectiveness as input to improving educational quality such nology projects. Even where schools lack other instructional in- as Levin (1985), Jamison, Klees and Wells ( 1978) and Glick (Un- puts such as textbooks and/or have poor sanitation facilities, devel- published). Nonetheless, Anzalone (1991) noted there was no lit- oping country educators and others are attempting to gain experi- erature yet on the costs of in-school application of computers in ence with computers. And in most ofthe countries, governments- developing countries and expressed the hope that pilot efforts would often with significant contributions by the community- are mak- soon produce some usable data on costs, so that an attempt could ing information technology accessible to children of all different be made to develop a projection for the costs of a "typical" applica- socio-economic backgrounds, and in some, mainly to lower income tion in a "typical" country. students in rural areas. 10. Purpose of Study. This study aims to assist education 7. A main tenet of this study is that the introduction of informa- policy makers and planners in analyzing the costs of programs to tion and communications technology in education in developing introduce and maintain information technologies in schools. The countries should not wait until a country has reached some prede- study has three main sections. In the first section, it provides back- termined state of economic or educational development. Even in ground information on the instructional uses and inputs of infor- countries which do not believe in the cost effectiveness of informa- mation technology programs in the primary and secondary schools tion technology as a tool for mass education, it is important that of several Latin American and Caribbean countries. The selected they begin acquiring experience using this technology for educa- countries are: Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Mexico. In tional purposes. Otherwise, educators in developing countries will the second, it highlights some of the key issues in cost analysis be marginalized in the international dialogue on education. Short- methodology used to calculate the costs, and assess the financial term concerns for equity at the national level must be balanced by feasibility of proposed investments in information technology. This longer-termc oncerns for equity at the internationall evel. The World section also provides data, albeit, incomplete, on the costs of se- Bank's recent publication, Priorities and Strategies for Education lected information technology programs. The final section con- (1995) also notes that the failure to fully use cost-effective tech- tains the conclusion and recommendations of the study, which fo- nologies to improve educational quality, "carries the risk of further cus on how to reduce the costs and increase the benefits of pro- increasing the gap between [developing] countries and industrial posed information technology programs. ones." 11. This study is only a first step towards gaining greater under- 8. But what about the computer's promise of greater efficiency standing as to the costs and benefits of information technology in and productivity in education? Can governments expect to achieve education. Further research is needed to learn more about indi- these kinds of benefits from investments in technology? One of vidual country experiences and to test assumptions about the costs the more interesting and provocative observations about technol- and benefits of different models of computer use. We would like ogy in education appears in Lewis J. Perelman's article "Closing to encourage other countries and researchers to join us in develop- Education's Technology Gap "Perelman, (1995). Reflecting on ing good empirical data on the costs of information technology Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 3 programs not only in Latin America and the Caribbean region, but Beginning in 1994, a second project at the secondary level, funded in other regions of the world which might offer interesting con- by a World Bank loan, has installed 20 computer laboratories at a trasts or collaboration of the interim findings in this study. While roughly estimated cost of $1.5 million. These schools are offering the data we have managed to collect is incomplete and not totally courses utilizing productivity tools as well as LOGO. reliable, it is the best we could obtain for now. And, despite these limitations, our data serves to define some of the key issues facing 15. Jamaica. The Jamaica Computer Society Education Founda- educators in analyzing the costs and benefits of educational tech- tion (JCESF), with the support of the Business Partners for Educa- nology investments. tion, the Ministry of Education, and the Heart Trust have been imple- menting two experimental pilot programs to improve the quality of 12. The Projects. For this study, we attempted to obtain cost data education in Jamaica's schools through the introduction of com- from several information technology projects in execution in the puters. Under its first program known as Jamaica 2000, the JCESF Latin America and Caribbean region. These particular projects are, and its partners mobilized US$4 million and installed computer by no means, the only information technology activities underway laboratories in 51 secondary and community colleges. An addi- in the schools of the particular countries. However, they are all tional 30 computer laboratories are scheduled to be installed by significant pilots, and in two cases, "Enlaces" in Chile and the Corn- January, 1996. While originally intending to provide training in puters in E,ducation program in Costa Rica, are truly national in computer studies in secondary schools, Jarnaica 2000 now seeks to scope. We attempted to obtain cost infonnation in three ways: di- increase literacy and numeracy through the use of computer-as- rectly from visits to the project sites, from IBM in Chile, Costa sisted instruction in reading and mathematics. A second pilot pro- Rica and MIexicoa nd from interviews with project consultants. As gram recently initiated and known as EDTECH 20/20, is pursuing noted, we were only partially successful in our attempts to obtain similar objectives within primary and all age schools and has suc- detailed data on all the projects. However, we have utilized some cessfully mobilized some 1.2 million, mainly from the Inter-Ameri- qualitative and quantitative data obtained on the following projects: can Development Bank, with the aim of installing 21 computer laboratories in 15 primary schools in four poor rural communities. 13. Belize. Two information technology projects are on-going in Jamaica is also receiving US$.5 million from INFODEV in sup- Belize. One project at the primary level was started by a personal port of these initiatives. donation from Francis Ford Coppola in 1994; the other at the sec- ondary was launched in the late 1980s and has been continued by 16. Mexico. Two of Mexico's on-going information technology the Michael Ashcroft Foundation. Working with the Apple Com- projects were examined. One, known as Genesis, is located in the puter Corporation and in consultation with the World Bank, Mr. state of Aguascalientes and is funded by the state from its own Coppola contributed about US$100,000 to equip a group of six resources. Launched in the 1993-1994 school year, it includes all primary schools with five computers, CD-ROMs, printers and other 61 secondary schools, 26 of 300 primary schools, and 3 normal equipment all of which were placed in classrooms. The software schools. The project constructed laboratories with some 20 com- consisted of ClarisWorks, Compton's encyclopedia, and a variety puters and trained some 400 teachers, and established a mainte- of other edlucationalt itles in science, graphics, environmental stud- nance and repair service. LOGO is the predominant instructional ies and reading. The second program provides computers and other tool, although the machines also have Microsoft Works installed hardware and software for laboratories in secondary schools. The and students use its word processing capabilities. The other project major thrust of the program is on preparing students to use com- is located in the municipality of Puebla where secondary education puter prodluctivity software for employment in business and gov- is the responsibility of the Rector of the Benemerita Unversidad emnment.T he schools are networked to a server at the Belize Teach- Auton6ma de Puebla (BUAP). The BUAP-funded project has pro- ers College which operates E-Mail. vided computer labs for eight secondary schools, in-service train- ing for some 40 teachers, and technical and curriculum support 14. Costa Rica. The Computers in Education Program is a na- from two US organizations, the Academy for Educational Devel- tional program that has been in operation since 1988 at the primary opment and the Center for Research in Education (INCRE). school level. The main funding has been provided by the Omar Dengo Foundation, created by the country's ex-President, Oscar 17. Chile. There are two important information technology Arias. Supplementary support to the program has been provided projects in Chile. One pilot project known as Genesis, is being by USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank and other carried out in the municipality of &ufloa, which is located in the sources. The project has installed computer labs in some 127 pri- greater Santiago metropolitan area. The project was launched in mary schools reaching about I out of every 3 Costa Rican primary 1994 at the initiative of Mayor, Pablo Vergara, a strong advocate school students. The project was among the very' first in the re- for both education and computers. The project has been imple- gion to use LOGO as its main instructional tool. Seymour Papert, mented with the assistance of the Latin American Center for Re- LOGO's creator, and his colleagues from MIT, jointly with IBM, search on Education (CLIE), an IBM technical support team, based have delivered most of the project's hardware and software inputs. in Mexico. The first phase of the project includes 13 of 21 schools. 4 Educationa nd TechnologyS eries,V ol. 1, No. 3 Each schoolh as been providedw ith computerl abs containings ome dentsw ho take these classeso btainp reparationf or clericalj obs or 20 PCs and given staff development rainingb y CLIE. The main in some cases for post-secondaryt echnicala nd universitye duca- thrusto f thep rojecti s teachings tudentsth inkinga nd problems olv- tion. Theset ypeso f classesa re commonplacein secondarys chools ings killsu singL OGOp rogrammingla nguage.T hes econdp roject, in all countriesa nd they fill a stronglyf elt need by educatorsa nd known as Enlaces,( Linkages)f orms part of Chile's comprehen- parentst o prepares tudentsf or the laborm arket. In Puebla,M exico sive educationalr eform programf or both primarya nd secondary where computers have been installed in eight municipal high schools. Enlacesw as launched in March 1993 with the goal of schools, administeredb y the BenemeritaU niversidadA uton6ma creating a national telecommunicationsa nd computer network de Puebla studentsa re being taught to use productivityt ools for among 100C hileanp rimarys choolsa nd associatedi nstitutionsb y problems olving in their regular courses. Belizei s using them in 1997.B y mid-1 995,E nlacesh ad substantiallys urpassedt hat target coursesw hichp repares tudentsf or employmenti n privateb usiness andb y end 1995h ad expandedt he networkt o some2 00 schoolsi n and government. the increasingth e numbero f primarys choolsa nd incorporatinga n (iii) ProgrammingL OGO. One of the mosto riginala nd chal- initialg roup of secondarys chools. Enlacesi s projectingt o incor- lenginga pplicationso f computersi n educationi s the LOGO pro- porate all public primarya nd secondarys choolsi nto the network. grammingl anguage. Logo has been used in schools all over the Enlacesi s supportedb y the Government,t he communitya nd loans worlds incet he early 1980sa s a tool to promotet hinking, problem from the WorldB ank. solving, and creativity. It was widely popularizedb y Seymour Paperti n his 1980b ook,M indstormsa, publicationw hich,a ccord- 18. UseofComputers. Whatarethemainapplicationsofcom- ing to John Sculley,f ormer Chairmana nd CEO of Apple Com- puters in schoolsa nd for what educationalo bjectives? The infor- puter, Inc., started the computerr evolutioni n schools. The two mationt echnologyp rojects in the countriesw e have examinedu se mainp remiseso n which Logo is baseda re that childrenc an learn computersf or the following: teachingb asicl iteracya nd numeracy, to use computersi n a masterfulw ay and that learnmgt o use com- use ofproductivityt ools,L OGOp rogrammingc, onstructivispt eda- puters can changet he way they learn everythinge lse. Contrasting gogy, for communicationns etworks,a nd for instructionale nrich- his approach to computer-aided instruction, Papert noted in ment. Mindstormst hat accordingt o in his vision: rather than using the (i) BasicL iteracy and Numeracy. Since the early 1980s, computert o " programt he child," it is the childw ho programst he computersh ave been used to tutor studentsi n basic literacy and computera nd in doings o "botha cquiresa sense of masteryo ver a numeracyt hrough a variety of programs collectivelyk nown as piece of the most modema nd powerfult echnologya nd establishes Computer-AssisteIdn struction( CAI) or IntegratedL earningS ys- an intimatec ontactw ith someo f the deepest ideas from science, tems (ILS). In CAI the computerp rovidest ext and multiple-choice fromm athematics,a nd fromt he art of intellectualm odel building questionso r problemst o students,g ives and immediater esponse (Papert, 1980). Logoh as been widely used in LatinA merica,E u- to the answersg iven,s ummarizess tudents'p erformancea nd gen- rope and to a lessere xtent in United Statess chools. erates exercisesf or worksheetsa nd tests. CAI typicallyp resents (iv) ConstructivistPedagogyI.n a growingn umbero f schools tasks for which there is only one correct answer;i t can evaluate , particularlyi n the UnitedS tates,c omputersa re being usedt o sup- simplen umerico r very simplea lphabeticr esponses,b ut it cannot port constructiviste aching( Means and Olson, 1995). Them odel evaluatec omplex student responses. In ILS, computersa re net- of constructivistte achingd rawso n advancesi n cognitivep sychol- workeda nd equippedw ith softwaret hat provides a set of sequen- ogy which have fosteredo ur understandingo f the nature of skilled tial lessons. Studentsw ork throught hese lessonsa s prescribedb y intellectualp erformancea nd the environmentsc onducivet o learn- the built-inm anagements ystem,w hich tracks individuals tudent ing. In schools where constructiviste achingi s employed,t each- progress. These systems are "integrated"i n the sense that each ers are working at creating learninge nvironmentsi n which stu- lessoni s connectedw ith the next, all lessonsa re correlatedw ith a dents activelyp ursue knowledger ather than passively receive it, set of objectivesa nd all tests are matchedt o the lessonsa nd objec- and where they can developt he advanceds killso f comprehension, tives. As noted above,J amaica is using ILS for teaching literacy composition,r easoning, and experimentation. In constructivist and numeracya t both the primary and secondaryl evels. ILS is classrooms,t eacherss erve as facilitatorso f learning, attemptt o being usedw idely and effectivelyi n the United States,a nd in tiny create authenticc ontextsf or modeling expert thought processes, Grenada. and seek wayst o help studentst o achievei ntellectuala ccomplish- (ii) ProductivityT ools. Manys choolst odaya re teachings tu- ments they could not do on their own. In many of these areas, dentst o use a varietyo f computerp roductivityto ols widelyu sedi n computersa rep rovidinge ffectivei nteractivele arningc ontextsc on- businessa nd commerce:w ordp rocessings, preadsheetsd, atabases, sistent with constructivisti nstructionalg oals. In additiont o the and e-mail. Inmosts econdarys chools,t he purposeo f this instruc- UnitedS tates,J amaicaa nd Chilea ree xpectedt o begine xperiment- tion is to equip studentsw ith marketables kills for employment. ing with these approachesi n their computerp rogramsi n the com- Thesec lassesa re usuallyt aught in computerl abs which were for- ing years. merly filledw ith typewritersb ut now includec omputers,a n array (v) CommunicationN etworks. In both the industrial and of commercials oftware,p rintersa nd possiblym odems. The stu- developingc ountries,a rapidlyg rowingn umbero f schoolsa re us- CostA nalysiso f InformationT echnologyP rojectsi n Education 5 ing computerst o connectt heirs tudentsw itht he worldo utside. By comparet he purchasep riceso f programi nputst hat are to be bought bringingt elecommunicationsa pplicationsi nto their classrooms, at differentt imes withouta djustingf or the time value of money . teachersa re able to createe nvironmentsw here studentsc an com- municatew ith other studentsv ia electronicm ail, participatei n col- 20. Cost-Benefita nd Cost-EffectivenessA nalysis. Cost com- laborativep rojectsw ith studentsf rom other schools,a nd come in parisonsc anb e usedt o informd ifferentk indso f decisions.I f costs contactw ith a rich array of informations ourcest hat broadent heir are measurablei n terms commensuratew ith benefits,a s they usu- horizons. Chile currentlyr uns one of the few successfule duca- ally are in incomeg eneratinge nterprisesa nd in some other con- tional wide area networks (WAN) of any country in the world. texts,t hey may fruitfullyb e comparedw ithb enefitsi n an integrated Belize'ss econdarys choolsa re also networked,b ut the networki s 'cost-benefit' analysis,u sing such summarym easuresa s 'rate of not activelyu sed. Others choolsa re ablet o linku p to the Internet returno n investment'.W hent hey aren ot measurablein termsc om- via telephonel ines and local serverso ften locatedi n universities. mensuratew ith benefits,t he cost comparisonc an be one of 'cost Wherec ountriesh ave fiber optic cables,a s in Chile, plansa re be- effectiveness'w, here the costs of alternativem ethodso f achieving ingm ade with localt elephonec ompaniesf or Internetc onnections the sameq ualitativeo r quantitativeb enefit are compared. For in- and accesst o the World Wide Web. A numbero f school systems stance,t he cost of a 10%i ncreasei n readings coresm ay be calcu- in developingc ountriesa re linkedv ia the Internet o math and sci- lated for severald ifferenti nterventions,s uch as a decrease in the ence networkss uch as the GlobalL aboratoryp rojecta nd National student-teachera tio, an increasei n the quantityo f teachinga ids, GeographicK ids Networks ciences eriesd evelopeda t TERCw ith or the placemento f computersi n classrooms.E ven narrowerc ost fundingf rom the U.S. NationalS cienceF oundation. comparisonsa re frequentlyu seful. If the decisioni nvolvesh ow to (vi) Knowledge.E ducationacl oursewarea nd referencem ate- configurec omputersi n a school,t he cost comparisonm ay involve rials such as standa long units of instructioni n math, science,l an- the cost per student computerc ontact-houro f a computerl abora- guage and other subjects,a s well as encyclopediasm ake up the tory configurationv ersusa classroomc onfiguration. Whenm ore largestn umber of titles on the market. They are availableo n dis- than one benefit results from a program, the lack of kette, but also increasinglyo n CD-ROMa nd in multi-mediaf or- commensuratenessa mong benefit indices can be overcome by mats. They are used in the classroomt o supplementa nd enrich weightingt o forma singlew eightedb enefit index( para. 31). teachingf o:rp racticea nd drill,i ndependenst tudy andr esearch. The data which is now available on CD-ROMi s larger and more di- 21. Cost Data. Costd ata,o f course,a re usedf or accountingf unc- verset han is currentlyp resent inmost school librariesi n develop- tions that are importanti n themselves,f or instance,r egulatingc ash ing countries,i f they have them at all. Further,s ome of the new flow,c alculatingta xes,d eterringf raudo r allocatingb udgets. Also, multi-medial earninge nvironmentsa nd formatso ffer studentst he in budget documents,e xpenditured ata often refer to planned ex- opportunityto use those sensorys killsw hich are most suitablef or pendituresr ather than actual. Theseu ses and aspectso f cost data their individuall earnings tyles. typicallyd etermineh ow it is aggregateda nd presented. For cost analysist o be usefult o decisions,h owever,a djustmentsto account- II. Cost Analysis of Educational Computer Applications ingd ata are almosta lwaysn ecessary.F ori nstance,t he schoolt ech- CostA nalysisM ethodology' nology budget may be aggregateda cross differentt echnologies, may allocatet he cost of long-livede quipmente xpenditurest o a 19. The purpose of cost analysis is to assist in making decisions singley ear or may neglectt o includet he non-capitalc osts of tech- aboutt he use of scarcer esources. Them ost generalf ormulationo f nologyp rogramsi n the technologya ccount.S uchd atam ustb e dis- the concepto f cost is that the cost of a set of resources( and the aggregatedo ver programa nd time, and data from personnela nd interventionsth ey permit)i s the maximumv alue of what they can other accountso btained,b efore even crude estimateso f the costs alternativelyb e used to producef or the decisionm akero r the en- of a technologyp rogramc an be obtainedf or decision-making. tity he or she acts for. If this entity is societya s a whole,a s is often the case in educationalc ost analysis,t he usual assumptioni s that 22. Marginal Cost. Anotherw ay in which availablec ost data - market prices and other equivalentm oney valuesc an be used to usually averageo r total cost data - often need to be adjustedf or evaluate the cost of resources, as long as they can be seen as repre- sentingt he revealedp referenceso f societya t large. Expenditure Thet reatmenhte rei s il brief.M oree xtensivter eatmenotf the valuesa re ialsou sed withouta djustmentw here programm anagers methodolcgoyf costa nalysirse levantto computear pplicationisn educa- aim to evaluate alternative expenditures out of given budgets, even tion can be found in severale xcellentl onger-lengthd iscussions: Henry though the budgeted sums do not reflect real economic value. De- Levin, Cost Effectiveness: A Primer, (BeverlyH ills, Sage Publications, viation of budgetedv aluesf rom real economico nes arise for ex- 1985)s pecificaltlrye atst hec osta nalysios fc omputer-assistiends truction; ample, when programs can purchasee quipmenta t a preferential DeanT . JamisonS, tevenJ .K leesa ndS tuarJt .W ells,T heC ostso f Educa- exchange rate. In this case, cost comparisons using money values tional Media: Guidesfor Planning and Evaluation( BeverlyH ills, Sage would not be appropriatef or the decisionsi nvolvings ocial effi- Publications1,9 78)t reatst he costa nalysiso f educationablr oadcasting; ciency. In one particulari mportantc ase, one shouldg enerallyn ot andP eterJ.G lickC, ostAnalysis:Categoriaensd Procedures( Unpublished) 6 Educationa nd TechnologyS eries,V ol. 1, No. 3 decidingo n the allocationo f resourcesi s when marginalc ost data nationalg overnmento r a particularl ocalg overnment,t he interest are needed. Knowingt he marginalc ost (the extra cost) per addi- rate at which that governmentb orrowsc an be consideredt o be its tional student, for example,m ay be important for modeling the financialc ost of capital. costs of differentt echnologieso r configurationsb, ecause certain of them may be more efficienta t relativelyl owero r higher levels 26. Selectingt he appropriated iscountr ate for a social investment of utilization. Wherea ppropriate,t he marginalc ost conceptm ay project is, thus, somewhatt ricky, and different analystsc ome up be capturedi n a simplef ixed-variablec ost model. Many technol- with different answers.T o maintainc onsistencya cross different ogy problems can be expressedi n this model, because in many analyses,t herefore,d iscountr ates have becomec onventionalized analysest he equipment,i nstallation,s oftware licenses,w ages of in differentc ontexts.O rganizationso ften prescribet he particular laboratoryi nstructor,e tc. may be consideredt o be fixed costs re- discountr ate that is to be used for projectsu ndert heirj urisdiction. gardlesso f the number of studentss erved,a nd materials,e lectric- Alternativelyt,h e analystc an use a rangeo f discountr ates to deter- ity to run the computersa nd peripherals,t eachert ime, etc. are vari- minet he sensitivityo f totalp rojectc ost to variationi n the discount able (marginal)c osts that vary with the numbero f studentss erved. rate. In any case, analystsa nd users of their analysesn eed to un- derstandt hat the "cost of money"i sj ust as real a cost as the cost of 23. CapitalC osts. Becausem ostc ost analysesa re done for peri- teachers' salarieso r suppliesa nd cannotb e neglectedw ithoutb ias- ods of a year or less,a specialp roblema risesw ith the costs of long- ing the analysisi n favoro f capital-intensivein terventions. lived assets,s uch as facilities,e quipment,a nd training,w here the expendituresa re made in one period but the benefitsr eaped over 27. Sourceso f Fundsa nd Costs. Anotherg uidet o determining the course of several other periods. When measuredb enefits are which costs to include in the analysisi s to look at the sources of commensuratew ith costsa nd arrive at times differentf rom costs, funds. If the goal ist o determinet he comparative ducationale ffi- an analysiso f the full streamso f costs and benefitsw ill be neces- ciencyo f particulari nterventionsi,t is irrelevantw hop ays for them sary, with all values convertedt o present valuesa nd summarized, -governmentsa t differentl evels,s chool fund-raisingt,e acherv ol- if so desired,i n an internalr ate of return on investmen2t.In cost- unteers,p arents and students,i nternationald onors,e tc. All costs, effectivenessa nalysis,h owever,w here benefits are not commen- howeverf inanced,n eed to be includedi n the.analysis.I f the issue suratew ith costs,a simplifiedt echniquet o "annualize"t he costso f is one of affordabilityf rom an educationalb udget, however,o nly long-liveda ssetsc an be used( para. 32). It has the additionalv irtue the marginalb udgetaryc osts of particulart ypes of interventions of allowingt he period of analysist o be cotenminouws ith the bud- need be considered. As for the other sources of funds,o nly their get period. the sustainabilityw ould then be relevant. The danger of taking a narrow budgetarya pproach,h owever, is that efficiencyc onsider- 24. The costso f long-liveda ssets are generallyo f two types - de- ationsm ay be neglectedw ith a resultingw asteo f scarcer esources preciationa nd the financialc ost of capital. Depreciationi s that availablet o the systema s a whole. portiono f the value of the capitalg ood that is consumedo ver time, eithert hroughw ear and tear or througho bsolescence.D epending 28. CostC omparisons.M ostc ost analysesf or programd ecisions on the purpose,a nnual depreciationc an be estimatedi n different involvec omparisonsw, hich are sometimeso nly implicit,o f 'with- ways. For example,i t can be estimateda s the averagea nnual de- the-program'a nd 'without-it'. Carefullyd efining them is at the creasei n value over the life of the projecto r the asseto r as a stream heart of an effectivec ost analysis. For instance,i f the cost of a of valuest hat differ in amounta ccordingt o the age of the asset. computer-assisted-instructio(nC AI)p rogrami n a classroomc on- figurationi s desired,o ne clear cost elementw ould seem to be the 25. The second capitalc ost that must be consideredi s the finan- teacher time spent in planning,o rganizinga nd supervisingc lass- cial cost of capital,w hichi s simplyt he costo f tyingu p resourcesi n room CAI activities.I f the decisioni s to installt he classroomC AI a particularc apitalg ood,w hen they couldb e used for othere xpen- programo nly if it improvesr eading scoresm ore cost-effectively ditures. Thisc ost is measuredb y the appropriated iscounto r inter- than alternativem ethods, all of which use different amounts of est rate for the entityb earingt he cost. If the entityb earingt he cost teachert ime,t eachert ime shouldb e accountedf or in the cost com- is consideredt o be "society",t he appropriated iscountr ate is the parison. If the analysisi s designedt o examinew hethera technol- "sociald iscountr ate", i.e.,o ne that reflectst he value societyw ould ogy-intensivcel assroomc ouldb e designedto economizeo n teacher have gainedb y using the financialr esourcesf or currentc onsump- time and thusr educet otal classroomc osts,c learly,c ostingt eacher tion rather than tying them up in a piece of equipment or another long-liveda sset for the purpose of producingc onsumptioni n fu- I Discussions of present value and internal rate of return can be found in any ture years. Since "society" cannotb e interviewedd irectly,w hat financial management textbook. Basically they involve 'discounting' values to societyp ays for capital,a s measuredb y interestr atesi n private vthaelu per aensaelnyts bisy, tdhce- cdoismcopuonut nradtein igtsh geimve nu;s iinn gin at edrinsacl orautne t(o ifn rteeturernst a)r naatley.s iIsn, tphree rsaetnet financialm arkets (when they are deemed to be functioninga d- is calculated to bring future costs and benefits back to the present so that dis- equately), is the measure typically used to approximate the social countedc osts and benefits are equal. See para. 32 for a discussion of the use of a discountr ate. If the entityb earing the cost is consideredt o be the discountr ate to 'annualize' equipmentc osts. Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 7 time would be central to the analysis. However, if the decision is to ample is shown to be sensitive to the benefit weights; when either ascertain the affordability of the classroom CAI program vis-a-vis reading or math is emphasized, the special reading and math pro- the budget, it would not be appropriate to include teacher time in grams are respectively more cost-effective and more affordable than the calculation of cost, because the decision is not about the de- the CAI program. Finally, unless the decision maker is prepared to ployment of teacher resources. The steps in cost analysis should, forgo the chance of significant improvement in one or the other of therefore, be done in the following order: (i) clearly specify the reading and math, the choice needs to be restricted to those alterna- decision, (ii) define the explicit or implicit cost comparisons and tives that can deliver significant improvements in both math and (iii) specify and develop data on the cost elements with and with- reading - the CAI program and the combination of the special read- out the intervention. ing and math programs. When only these two are considered, the CAI program is most cost effective in all relevant cases. Conversely, Doing Cost Analysis of School Computer Applications the combination program is usually tops when affordability is the criterion. 29. Schernatic Example. The costs of different approaches to in- creasing reading and math skills are compared in a schematic cost 32. Annualizing Capital Costs. The special problems that arise analysis and serve as an illustrative example of how to go about with the cost analysis of long-lived assets, such as facilities, equip- doing a cost analysis. A hypothetical CAI program is compared ment and training, were discussed above. Because cost-effective- with Alternative A, a program emphasizing math, Alternative B, a ness analyses are conveniently done on the basis of annual average program emphasizing reading, and a fourth alternative, the simul- cost, often to conform to the budget period, capital costs must usu- taneous use of both A and B (Tables 1 and 2). The schematic ex- ally also be expressed in annual terms. This is typically done by ample illustrates the importance of clear thinking about the deci- using a simple financial model available on standard spreadsheet sion involved, about the appropriate cost comparisons and about programs, which can be used to provide an annualization factor to the relative importance of various benefits. convert multi-period capital cost into an average annual cost3. This average annual cost combines depreciation and the cost of money 30. The first important decision that the cost analyst needs to make in a single figure. Table 3 gives examples of this calculation for is to decide whether the comparison is on the basis of cost-effec- equipment of varying useful lives. As one example given in the tiveness or affordability. In the sense used, cost-effectivenessm eans table, a set of equipment with a purchase price of $150,000, no the impact of marginal resources on reading and math outcomes scrap value, and a useful life of 5 years would have an annualized and measures the efficiency of resource use. Affordability means capital cost of $41,61 1. the impact of marginal budget expenditure on the same outcomes and is a measure of feasibility not efficiency. When the decision is 33. Price Distortions and Taxes. The treatment of price distor- to choose the most cost-effective program, the costs must include tions and taxes in a cost analysis depends on whether the analysis is the opportunity cost of teacher time, since the alternatives use dif- being carried out from the point of view of society as a whole or ferent amounts of teacher time, which could be used for other valu- from that of a particular agency. When the analysis is being car- able teaching activities (Table 1). For this purpose, teacher time ried out from the point of view of a particular agency, and the focus could be valued at teacher cost per hour or, in an attempt at greater is on financing out of a budget, the actual prices paid, distorted or realism, at some percentage of this, assuming that teachers would not and the actual taxes paid, are relevant costs. On the other hand, implement the new-programs using time that was less productive when the analysis is being done from the point of view of society than their average. When the decision is to choose the most afford- as a whole, the object is to find the efficient solution, which will able program, teacher time should not be included as an expendi- allow society to gain maximum benefits from its available resources. ture, because there will be no change in the overall expenditures on This may require adjustrnents in the costs used in the analysis to teachers (Table 2). take account of price distortions and taxes, since they do not repre- 31. When there is a single benefit, the analysis is straightforward. 3 The modeli s mathematicallyt he same as that used to calculatee qual annual 1. We n fpaymenonts a n equipmentl oanw ith the cost of moneye qualt o the interestp art of The cost-effectiveness index is simply the amount of the benefit the annual payment and the depreciatione qual to the principalp art of the pay- per unit cost. When there is more than one non-commensurate ment. Annualized capital cost (or annual loan payments, when that is what is benefit, like reading and math test scores, they must either be evalu- desired) can be calculated using the PMT function of any standard computer spread- ated qualitatively or a weighted index constructed. Care in select- sheet program or the formula c[r(l+r),]/[r(l+r)n-I], where c is the cost of the asset, r is the discountr ate and n is the useful life of the asset. Since in this modelt he ing weightss hould be taken, smce program choice may be sensi- annualc ost of moneyt ied up at any particulart ime in the remainingv alue of the tive to the weights selected. When improvements in math and read- asset and the annual depreciation combine to form a constant annual amount, de- ing scores are given equal weighting in the schematic example, the preciation is by implication modelled as a moderately increasing function of time CAI program is shown to be the most cost-effective of the four for relatively short asset lives and low interest rates. While this model is highly convenient and realistic enough in most cases, when asset lives are long-lived and interventions(Table 1) but, with the same benefit weighting, also interest rates very high, a model incorporating a more realistic depreciation profile the least affordable (Table 2). The decision in this schematic ex- may be indicated. 8 Education and Technology Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 TABLE 1. Costs of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Alternative Programs for Increasing Reading and Math Scores, Schmatic Comparison Alternative Decision I : Invest in the Most COST-EFFECTIVE Among CAI, A or B Most Cost-EIT. CAi Alternative Altemative Combined All CAI v. A B A & B Four A & B SCOPE No. of Students Served 300 200 400 400 COSTS INVESTMENTC OST,A NNUALIZED Training 10,000 20,000 20,000 Facilities 5,000 0 0 Equipment & Prepaid Services 25,000 10,000 15,000 Total Annualized Investmnent Cost 40,000 30,000 35,000 RECURRENTC OST Personnel Services CAI Coordinator (half time) 25,000 Opportunity Cost of Teacher Time 10,000 25,000 40,000 Other 5,000 5,000 5,000 Subtotal Personnel Services 40,000 30,000 45,000 Software and Supplies 15,000 5,000 10,000 Maintenance and Technical Assistance 5,000 3,000 3,000 Insurance and Other Recurrent 5,000 5,000 5,000 Total Recurrent Cost 70,000 48,000 68,000 Total Costs 110,000 78,000 103,000 259,000 Total Cost Per Student 367 390 258 648 BENEFITS Increase in Reading Score 10% 20% 1% 19% Increase in Math Score 15% 2% 15% 14% COST EFFECTIVENESS Cost Per Student per 10% Increase in Weighted Benefit Score Benefit Weights Reading Ma th Equal Weights 50% 50% 293 355 322 392 CAI CAI Other Weightings: Reading Emphasized 67% 33% 315 277 458 373 A CAI Math Emphasized 33% 67% 275 491 248 414 B CAI Only Reading Valued 100% 0% 367 195 2,575 341 A A & B Only Math Valued 0% 100% 244 1,950 172 463 B CAI * Long-livedt raining, facilities and equipment costs are annualized, i.e., presented as average annual costs. See Text. Cost Analysis of Infonnation Technology Projects in Education 9 TABLE 2. Costs of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Alternative Programs for Increasing Reading and Math Scores, Schmatic Comparison Alternative Decision 2 Invest in the Most AFFORDABLE Among CAI, A or B Most Affordable CAI Alternative Alternative Combined All CAl v. A B A&B Four A&B SCOPE No. of Students Served 300 200 400 400 EXPENDITURES INVESTMENT,A NNUALIZED Training 10,000 20,000 20,000 Facilities 5,000 0 0 Equiprnent & Prepaid Services 25,000 10,000 15,000 Total Annualized Investment 40,000 30,000 35,000 RECUJRRENT Personnel Services CAI C(oordinator( half time) 25,000 Additional Paid Teacher Time 0 0 0 Otheir 5,000 5,000 5,000 Subtotal Personnel Services 30,000 5,000 5,000 Softwairea nd Supplies 15,000 5,000 10,000 Maintenance and Technical Assistance 5,000 3,000 3,000 Insurance and Other Recurrent 5,000 5,000 5,000 Total Recurrent 60,000 23,000 28,000 Total Expenditures 100,000 53,000 63,000 169,000 Total Expenditures Per Student 333 265 158 423 BENE FI TS Increase in Reading Score 10% 20% 1% 19% Increase in Math Score 15% 2% 15% 14% AFFOIRDABILITY Expenditure Per Student per 10% Increase in Weighted Benefit Score Benefit Weights Reading Math Equal Weights 50% 50% 267 241 197 256 B A & B Other Weightings: Reading Emphasized 67% 33% 286 188 280 244 A A & B Math Emphasized 33% 67% 250 334 152 270 B CAI Only Reading Valued 100% 0% 333 133 1,575 222 A A & B Only Math Valued 0% 100% 222 1,325 105 302 B CAI * Long-lived training, facilities and equipment costs are annualized, i.e., presented as average annual costs. See Text. 10 Educationa nd TechnologyS eries,V ol. l, No. 3 sent resourcec osts to societya s a whole,b ut merelyt he transfero f experiencew ith currentlya vailablee ducationalc omputera pplica- resourcesf romo ne groupt o another.A s an example,t eacherw ages tions in developingc ountries. Most of the experiencew ith com- can be seriouslyo ur of line with private labor markets for similar puters in schools in developingc ountriest o date has been the un- skills if they reflectt he politicalp ower of publics erviceu nionst o planneda cquisitiono f computersb y secondarys chools,o ftens up- any greate xtent. As for taxes,i mportd utiesa nd salest axes,w hich portedb y parents interestedi n their childrena cquiringc omputer may be includedi n costsp aid by even govemmentalo rganizations, tools kills useful in future employment.T he experienceo f Belize, are in realitya transferf romo ne groupt o anothert hrought he gov- which is analyzedi n a somewhato utdatedU SAIDc onsultantr e- emnmenbt udget and are not paymentsf or resourcesu sed specifi- port, is illustrativeo f this and is discussedb elow. Neverthelessa, s cally in the productiono f the itemp urchased.T hus,t hey shouldb e shown by the countrys urvey presentedi n the first sectiono f this deleted from costs when societale fficiencyi s the objectiveo f the paper, a considerables tart has been made in a number of develop- analysis. ing countries. 34. Inflation. Specialc are needst o be taken of the impact of in- 36. Comparative Cost Analysis. Unfortunately,t he experience flation on costs. Whent he focus is efficiencyi n resourceu se, the discusseda bove has not been accompanieda s yet with effective best procedurei s to adjust all costst o the money value of the date effortst o do realw orld costa nalysis,n eithero n the prevailingl abo- at whicht he projects tarts. Thatw ay, the samea mounto f resources ratory configurationn or on other configurationsT. he data which is seen to cost the samea mount of moneya t all times. If the focus was obtainedf or this study, unfortunatelyi, s also not completef or is on budgetarya ffordability,h owever,t he actual( inflated)p rices any of the projects. Botht ime constraintsi n countryv isits and the expectedt o be paid may be the more appropriateo nes to use in the unavailabilityo f reliabled ata,m adei t difficult o obtaint he kindo f analysis. informationw e would have likedt o includei n our cost analyses. Since no systematicb enefit analysesa re also available,i t is also The Costs of Educational Computer Applications in Devel- not surprisingt hat littlec ost effectivenessa nalysish as been done. oping Countries This needst o be rectified,b ecauseg reateru se of computersi n edu- cation in developingc ountriesw ill at some point need justifica- 35. The large reductionsi n the cost of ever-more-powerfucl om- tions basedo n costs and benefits. Despitet he generall ack of cost puters and peripheralsa nd the attendantq ualitativei mprovements datat hat can be usedt o estimatet he cost of informationt echnology in educationals oftwarea re too recent for there to have been much projectsi n developingc ountries,t he Jamaicaa nd Chile's Genesis Table 3. Annualized Capital Cost Years of End of Year Annualization Useful Annualized Factor 13 Life /1 Cost /2 Cost of Equipment (1) (2) (3) $ 150,000 1 $ 168,000 1.120 2 88,755 0.592 Discount Rate 3 62,452 0.416 12% 4 49,385 0.329 5 41,611 0.277 6 36,484 0.243 7 32,868 0.219 8 30,195 0.201 9 28,152 0.188 10 26,548 0.177 1/ Number of years=NPER in the Excel spreadsheet function, see note 2. 2/ The Excel spreadsheet function is PMT(10%,NPER.150000). The Lotus 123 function is similar. 3/ Calculated by dividing column (2) by the cost of the equipment. Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 11 project examples described above have provided enough real world linguistically appropriate for use in most countries. Despite the data about actual laboratory installations to tabulate along with the fact that there are over 13,000 educational software titles on the Belize data in comparative format (Tables 4-6). To round out the market in the United States, most developing country educators are discussion, we also discuss the cost of computer-rich classroom reluctant to purchase educational software from other countries. configurations programs in the USA (Table 7). The English-speaking Caribbean, Chile and Costa Rica, appear to be exceptions. Jamaica is using Autoskill's ILS for teaching lit- 37. Equipment Costs. Leaving aside the Belize data4, which are eracy and numeracy, Costa Rica has trained teachers to use the both outdated and deficient in other respects for comparative pur- Geometer's Sketchpad, U.S.-produced software for teaching ge- poses, the first clear conclusion is that in the other three cases an- ometry, and Chile's Enlaces project has invited software publish- nualized investment costs, predominantly equipmentc osts, are about ers to offer their educational software titles in Spanish for review half or more of all costs when property protection costs are added and possible purchase. Second, in the Genesis projects in Mexico in. Clearly, equipment costs do matter, and the cost declines of the and Chile, the computer applications in schools have concentrated last decade therefore also make a large difference. Cost in the three on the teaching of the LOGO programming language, so that the countries for computers, at least, appear to fall in a range from only software purchases required have been different versions of $1,600 to $2,000 for machines. While the capabilities of the vari- LOGO. Third, computer manufactures are bundling educational ous machines, particularly their communications and CD-ROM and productivity software into their computers so that country edu- capabilities may vary somewhat, the data suggests that current com- cators may not feel the need immediately to go to the market in puter costs are now similar in widely different countries. search of other software. 38. Market Differentiation. This may not persist for long, how- 40. Professional Development. The project data indicates that ever, if software and hardware interactions in the market allow a countries are allocating widely varying amounts on professional low-end market to develop to the advantage of developing coun- development, ranging from about 18 percent in the Genesis project tries. Because of the high investment costs, many programs in these in Chile 16 percent in Jamaica's new projects, and only 4 percent countries would opt for low-end set-ups with less costly and less in the United States. Training costs are among the most difficult capable (but still educationally effective) inputs. For the last sev- costs to analyze because they can vary widely depending upon how eral years, the personal computer market has had a very simple much training is needed, who does the training, and where it takes structure, with basically two levels of capability - low-end proces- place. Some of the most effective professional development takes sors, now in the Intel 486 capability range, and high-end proces- place outside the classroom when teachers learn from each other. sors, currently the Intel Pentium. Prices of computers at both lev- Judging from the personal assessments made by teachers partici- els have been declining, but not as fast as the price of computing pating in projects and from classroom observations in Belize, Costa power. In the process, the capability of even low-end hardware Rica, Chile and Mexico, there are clear indications that teachers and software has risen very rapidly. A reasonable hypothesis is have benefited from in-service training programs. Training has that sooner or later, the hardware market will experience much made teachers more knowledgeable of computers and generally greater product differentiation with more levels than just low-end confident in using them in certain learning situations. Many are and high-end. Instead of the low-end simply being the high-end of also excited about the potential of the technology and would like to two years ago, some of the increased productivity in the computer develop skills to enable them to use the technology more effec- industry may then be channeled into large price declines rather than tively in the classroom. Initial investments in training have also the increased capability that will undoubtedly continue in high-end built up training capacity by "multiplicadores" in several countries computers. The educational software industry will also adapt to so that there should be continuous training and support to teachers hardware differentiation with a parallel differentiation. If these in the classroom. Likewise, in the Genesis projects in Chile and market events occur, it will be good news for the mass extension of Mexico, CLIE technical support visits are programmed four times computer projects in developing country schools. In most cases, during the school year. These initial training efforts notwithstand- education officials in these countries will undoubtedly find that ing, there is reason to believe on the basis of recurrent cost alloca- having a Ford-Escort type of program widely available is prefer- tion data, that most projects are not providing sufficient follow-up able to having a Mercedes-type program in a few schools. training for teachers and administrators which would permit them to use information and communications technology more effec- 39. Softvare. Initial and recurrent expenditures on software are tively. After their first training event which lasts about two to three less than 3 percent of total project costs in most developing coun- weeks most teachers do not obtain much additional training, ex- tries, randomly reach about 5 percent of total project costs in the UnUinteitde dSS ttaatteess. . SSooffttwwaarreee xenxdpietonudoitthuerse s aarreo jeaacll tw ayss ggooiign g tt 4 oo rrmemaraieiony daTtah e Wcoomrkpiuntegr b caocskt wwaasr dp,tr heese inmtepdl iiend ac nonsuta pliezre dc ofmorpmu tienr tw hea ss oau vrceer yo flo thwe $B1e,l1iz1e5 relatively modest compared to other project inputs for a variety of (see Table6 ). Certainly,t hisw as not a commercialr ate in 1987,s o the relevance reasons,c ost being only one factor. First, there continuest o be a of the figure isl imited at present. The argument in this paragraph, however, would shortage of high quality educational software that is culturally and suggest that such a figure may not be unrealistic in the not-too-distant future. 12 Education and Technology Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 TABLE4 . Costso f Computer-AssistedIn struction,L aboratoryC onfiguration,i n Jamaica, 1995* (US$) Useful Average Invest-A nnualized Cost Category Item Life Unit No. of Unit ment or Annual % (Years) Description Units Cost Cost Cost*' COSTS INVESTMENT" Facilities Comput. Rm., Renovation 15 Contract 1 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 394 1 Airconditioning 7 Unit 1 1,700 1,700 349 1 Contingency & Other 10 2% of Facil. 1 94 15 0 Equipment Computers 5 Unit 15 2,000 30,000 7,914 30 Peripherals 5 Set 1 1,200 1,200 317 1 Power Protection 10 Unit 1 1,300 1,300 212 1 Contingency & Other 8 5% of Equip. 1 1,625 305 1 SubtotalF acilities & Equipment 38,919 9,506 35 Software Site Licenses 7 Set 1 3,200 3,200 657 2 Training (Upfront) Lab Coordinator 7 Person Week 8 250 2,000 411 2 Teacher Training 7 Training Day 5 285 1,425 293 1 Total Investment $ 44,119 $ 10,574 39 RECURRENT*** Personnel Cluster Support Pers. Wk. 3 80 $ 208 1 Lab Coordinator Pers. Wk. 52 so 4,160 16 Fringe Benefits 15% Salaries 1 655 2 Maintenance Equipment Per Lab Chg 1 1,625 1,625 6 Software Per Lic. Chg 1 85 85 0 Routine Year 1 500 500 2 Insurance Contract 5% of Equip. 1 1,625 1,625 6 Training Training Days 12 285 3,420 13 Electricity Month 12 200 2,400 9 Telecommunications Telephone Year 1 411 411 2 Internet Provider Year 1 343 343 1 Computer Supplies Year 1 1,000 1,000 4 Total Recurrent $ 16,224 61 Total $ 26,798 100 Recurrent Total CostP er Student( 300 students) $ 54 $ 89 % of NationalP rimary Per-StudentR ecurrentE xpenditures(U S$139) 39% 64% % of NationalS econdaryP er-StudentR ecurrentE xpenditures( US$315) 17% 28% Source of Basic Data: World Bank Estimated costs of 15-station computer laboratory for proposed Worid Bank-financed project, based on costs of similar facilities in the recently initiated EDTECH 20/20 project. ** Long-livedt raining, facilities and equipment costs are annualized, i.e., presented as average annual costs, using a 10% discount rate and with varyingu seful lives. Depreciation is included. *** Does not include marginal costs for classroom teacher time and computer room space, which are assumed to be zero, since the focus of the analsysis is on affordabilityr ather than cost-effectiveness. ost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 13 TABLE5 Costso f Computer-AssisteInds truction, LaboratoryC onfigurationi,n Chile, 1995*( US$) Useful Average Invest-A nnualized Cost Category Item Life Unit No. of Unit ment or Annual % (Years) Description Units Cost Cost Cost** COST i INVESTMENT* Facilities Comput.R m., Renovation1 5 Contract 1 $ 5,000 $ 5,000 $ 657 2 Fumiture 10 Set 1 2,500 2,500 407 1 LocalA rea Network 10 Unit 1 5,000 5,000 814 2 Contingency& Other 10 2% of Facil. 1 150 24 0 Equipment Server 5 Unit 1 2,100 2,100 554 1 Computers 5 Unit 20 1,700 34,000 8,969 22 Peripherals 5 Set 1 1,200 1,200 317 1 BackupG enerator 7 Unit 1 500 500 103 0 EquipmenItn stallation 5 Contract 1 1,000 1,000 264 1 Contingency& Other 8 5% of Equip. 1 1,785 335 1 SubtotalF acilities& Equipment 53,235 12,443 30 Software Site Licenses 7 Set 1 3,300 3,300 678 2 Training( Upfront) Lab Coord.& Instructors 7 2yr.VendorS upp. 1 19,250 19,250 3,954 10 Total Investment $ 75,785 $ 17,075 41 RECUF?RENr** Personnel ClusterS upport Share 1 $ 1,000 $ 1,000 2 LabC oordinator AnnualS alary 1 4,200 4,200 10 OtherP ersonnelS enrces AnnualS alary 1 5,700 5,700 14 Maintenance Equipment AnnualA vg. 1 1,000 1,000 2 Software Per Lic. Chg 1 85 85 0 Routine Year 1 100 100 0 Insurance& Theft Contract+$1,000 1 5,000 5,000 12 Trainin) TrainingD ays 12 285 3,420 8 Utilities; Year 12 400 4,800 12 TelecommunicationsT elephone Year 1 100 100 0 InternetP rovider Year 0 - - ComputerS upplies Year 1 130 130 0 TotalR ecurrent $ 24,535 59 Total $ 41,610 100 Recurrent Total CostP er Student( 400s tudents) $ 61 $ 104 % Df NationalP rmary Per-StudenRt ecurrenEt xpenditures(U S$) % Df NationalS econdaryP er-StudenRt ecurrentE xpenditures(U S$) Sourceo f Basic Data: IBM de Chile * Estimatedc osts of 20-stationc omputerl aboratoryin the municipalityo f Nunoap rovidedb y IBM de Chile. Long-livedtr aining,f acilities and equipmentc osts are annualizedi,. e., presenteda s averagea nnualc osts, using a 10%d iscountr atea nd with varyingu sefull ivas. Depreciationis included. Doas not includem arginalc osts for classroomt eachert ime and computerr ooms pace,w hich are assumedt o be zero, since the focus of the analsysisi s on affordabilityra thert han cost-effectiwness. 14 Education and Technology Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 TABLE6 . Costs of Computer-AssistedIn struction,L aboratoryC onfiguration,i n Belize, 1987* (US$) Useful Awrage lnwest-A nnualized Cost Category Item Life Unit No. of Unit ment or Annual % (Years) Descrption Units Cost Cost Cost** COSTS INVESTMENT** Facilities Comput. Rm., Renovation 25 Contract 1 $ 474 3 Fumiture - Local Area Network Contingency& Other 2% of Facil. 1 9 0 Equipment Server Computers 6 Unit 10 [1,115]& [11,150]& 2,486 16 Peripherals 6 Set 1 658 4 PowerR egulator 6 Unit 1 268 2 EquipmentI nstall., Freight 6 Contract 1 361 2 Contingency& Other 6 5% of Equip. 1 189 1 SubtotalF acilities & Equipment 4,445 29 Software Acquisition Cost Set 1 117 1 Training( Upfront) Lab Teacher Total /nvestment $ 4,562 29 RECURRENT - Personnel Support $ - Lab Teacher Annual Salary 1 9,180 9,180 59 Fringe Benefits Amount 1 172 172 1 Maintenance Equipment AnnualA vg. 1 100 100 1 Routine Insurance& Theft Training Utilities & Supplies Year 1 1,515 1,515 10 TelecommunicationsT elephone Intemet Provider Total Recurrent $ 10,967 71 Total $ 15,529 100 Recurrent Total CostP er Student( 200s tudents) $ 55 $ 78 % of NationalP rimaryP er-StudentR ecurrentE xpenditures(U S$) % of NationalS econdaryP er-StudentR ecurrentE xpenditures( US$) Source of Basic Data: M.T. Rock, P.J. Glick and R.V.A. Sprout (1990) * Estimated costs of 10-stationc omputer laboratorya t St. Johns College,B elize City, consultant's reportf or USAID. Cost data for four other schools were similar. Costs presentedh ere are modifiedf or purposeso f comparison. ** Long-livedtr aining,f acilities and equipmentc osts are annualized,i .e., presenteda s averagea nnualc osts, in source. using a 9% discount rate and with varyingu seful liws. Depreciationi s included. & Annualizedc ost presentedi n source using assumptionst here would imply cost per computero f only $1,115p er computer. Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 15 TABLE 7. Costs of Computer-AssistedI nstruction, Classroom Configuration, in the United States, 1993* (USS) Useful Average Invest- Annualized Cost Category Item Life Unit No. of Unit ment or Annual % (Years) Description Units Cost Cost Cost** COSTS. INVESTMENT** Facilitiets Wiring, Furniture, Etc. 10 School 1 $ 136,000 $ 136,000 $ 18,478 5 Contingency & Other 12 2% of Facil. 1 2,720 324 0 Equipment Computers 5 Unit 160 1,600 256,000 60,773 17 Peripherals 5 Classroom 30 3,000 90,000 21,366 6 Contingency & Other 5 5% of Equip. 1 17,300 4,107 1 Subtotal Facilities & Equipment 502,020 105,049 29 Software Site Licenses 7 Set 1 75,000 75,000 13,435 4 Training (Upfront) Lab Coord. & Instructors 7 Training Day 5 300 1,500 269 0 Teacher Training 7 Program 1 2,000 2,000 358 0 Total Investment $ 580,520 $ 119,111 33 RECURRENT *** Personnel, Computer Cluster Support Share 1 $ 25,000 $ 25,000 7 Technology Coordinator Annual Salary 1 50,000 50,000 14 Personnel, Additional To Allow Teach. Netwrk Time Total Salaries 1 75,000 75,000 21 To Allow Teach. to Use Tech. Total Salaries 1 50,000 50,000 14 Trainincg Formal Staff Devel. Year 1 13,000 13,000 4 Maintenance Equipment Annual Avg. 1 13,000 13,000 4 Routine Year 1 100 100 0 Telecornmunications Telephone + Internet Year 1 12,000 12,000 3 Computer Supplies Classroom 30 1,000 30,000 8 Total Recurrent $ 243,100 67 Total $ 362,211 100 Recurrent Cost Per Student (800 students) $ 304 Totel C:ostP er Student (800 students) $ 453 Source of Basic Data: Means and Olson, 1995 * Estimated costs of hypothetical US School, adapted from Means and Olson,1995, Table 7, p.99. Long-lived training, facilities and equipment costs are annualized, i.e., presented as average annual costs, using a 6% discount rate and with varying useful lives. Depreciation is included. Doiesn ot include marginal costs for classroom teacher time and computer room space, which are assumed to be zero, sinice the focus of the analsysis is on affordability rather than cost-effectiveness. cept in periodic summer workshops. lower-cost alternative to be evaluated against the Internet. Like- wise, LAN capability alone might be evaluated against the combi- 41. Personnel Salaries. Since the emphasis in this cost compari- nation of LAN and WAN capability. son is on the affordability of the programs rather than on their cost- effectiveness, the cost of teacher time (or of laboratory space) has 43. Infrastructural Support and Maintenance. The not been included. The main personnel costs in Jamaica and Chile Infrastructural support for computer facilities is well-developed in are those of the full-time laboratory coordinator and the technical all the countries as are regular maintenance and repair services. support personnel shared with other clusters. Power outages are generally infrequent and thus not an insurmount- able obstacle to the efficient functioning of computer labs. Like- 42. Network and Communications. Both the Jamaica and Chile wise, all countries have regular maintenance and repair services cost data appear to have underestimated the cost of network com- which are mainly covered under standard service agreements for munications, with $750 and $100 per year, respectively. This can equipment. In Aguascalientes, Mexico a core maintenance and be compared with $12,000 per year for US programs. Clearly, repair team functions along side IBM's, complementing and rein- Internet and WAN costs need to be evaluated for cost-effective- forcing services to schools. Belize's Ministry of Education ap- ness. CD-ROM capability, valuable on its own, might be a partial pointed two full-time technicians to provide for routine mainte- 16 Educationa nd TechnologyS eries,V ol. 1,N o. 3 nance and minor repairs of the computersi n the Belize Teachers 47. Hardwarea nd Software. Given the largec osts of facilities, Collegea nd the secondarya nd primarys chools. Locald ealersa lso equipmenta nd software,i t is cleart hat effectived eployment,p ro- provideh ardware,p arts and servicingi n these countries,b ut expe- curementp ractices,a nd payment arrangementsa re very important rienceh as been mixed. for cost reduction. Trader estrictionsa nd other practicest hat pre- vent buyers from obtainingt he best internationalp rices are obvi- 44. PropertyP rotection.I n manyd evelopingc ountriess chools, ously counterproductive.B uyers should also attempt to exploit securityi s a continuingd ifficultp roblem. Manyh ave experienced any tax exemptionst hat are available. Even pilot projects should incidentsw herem ostv aluablesh ave beens trippedi n a singlen ight. attemptt o negotiate 'best' prices with vendors,o n the argument Thisi s one reasonw hy many suchs choolsh ave adoptede xtraordi- that more sales will be likely in the future. nary securityp recautions,s uch as having instructorst ake valuable equipmenta nd tools home everya fternoon. The securityp roblem 48. ComputerD eploymenti n Schools. Computere quipment is also one reason why the laboratoryc onfigurationh as been uni- costs average2 5 to 35 percent in most projects. For most of the versally adoptedi n developingc ountries,s ince a singler oom can countriesi nitiatingi nformationt echnologyi n education,t he pre- be betterd efended.C learly,t he securityp roblemo f computersl eft ferred option for deployingc omputersa nd related hardwareh as overnighti n classroomsi s serious,p erhapsi nsurmountable.O ne been to placet hem in computerl abs or teachingr esourcec enters. alternativet hat has been given somea ttentioni s to have the invest- (Witht he exceptiono f Chile,w hich has many small rural schools ment for a classroomc onfigurationm ade in notebookc omputers with only a few computerse ach, all schoolsi n other countriesh ave whichw ould,l iket he toolsm entioneda bove,b e taken homee very some 15 to 20 computersi n each lab). The lab option has two afternoonb y the teacherso r locked in somes ecures toragea rea at stronga rgumentsi n favoro f it. The first is that computersi n labs, the end of schoole achd ay. In any case,p ropertyp rotectiona nd its usually with 15 to 20 machinesp rovideg reatera ccesst o students costs are not insignificanta nd need to be evaluatedc arefully. In at more affordablep rices than do computersi n classrooms. Sec- the Jamaicaa nd Chile cases, insurancea nd related costs alone are ond, schoolsc an more easilyp rotectc omputersf romt heft and van- estimateda t 5% and 9% respectively. In addition, a portion of dalismw hent hey are in one well-protectedro omr athert han spread facilitiesa nd equipmentc ost (e.g., for locks, securityc ables, and throughouta school buildingw ith poor security. Despitet he al- extra-strongw allsa nd doors)s houldl ogicallya lso be allocatedt o most exclusivep referencef or deployingc omputersi n labs, there protection. may be reason to questionw hether or not this should be the pre- ferred optioni n all cases. As the cost simulationi n Table8 sug- III. Conclusions and Recommendations: Strategies for Reduc- gests, the deployment of inexpensive,c apable and communications- ing Costsa nd IncreasingB enefits ready portablec omputersi n classroomsc ould prove to be a more cost effectivea nd educationallya dvantageouso ptiont han the de- 45. The conclusionsa nd recommendationso f this studyp oint to a ploymento f computersi n labs. Thee asyp ortabilityo f laptop/note- numbero f ways that countriesa nd schoolss ystemsc ouldi mprove book computersf rom classroomt o classroomw ould allow their the benefits and reduce the costso f projectst o introducei nforma- collectiona t nighti n securer ooms (or in the possessiono f teachers tion and communicationte chnologiesi nto education. While not at home)a nd thusm ake this deploymenat feasibleo ptioni n schools all countrieso r schoolss ystemsw illb e able to benefit,t here is little with securityp roblems. For these reasons,c lassroomd eployment doubtt hat they should explorea ll availableo ptionst o make tech- of portablec omputerss houldb e seriouslyi nvestigated. nologyi n educationm ore feasiblea nd cost effective.A mongt hese options, one that should be explored in some countries is the con- 49. Gain Market Knowledge. Superior market knowledge tractingo ut of instructionu sing computerst o privatet utors or pri- willh ave an importantr ole in cost reduction,e speciallyi n the next vatet rainingi nstitutionsra thert han havings choolsp urchasee quip- fewy earsa s thec omputerm arketb ecomesm ored ifferentiated(p ara. ment and assumer esponsibilityf or maintenancea nd professional 38). The abilityt o use low-endh ardwarew ill also depend on the development. The experienceso f the countries and schools we developmenot ft he softwarem arket.T her ecente xplosiono f educa- have examinedi n this study suggestt hat some of the optionsf or tional softwaref or today's low-end( 486) machinesw ill probably reducingc osts and increasingb enefitsa re not alwaysi mmediately supportt he continuedu se of low-prices oftware on cheaperl ow- obvious. It is only afters omep assingo f time and withg ood moni- end machinese xpectedi n the future. Thek ey tactic for developing toring and assessmentd, o new and improvedw ays of maximizing country buyers will be to successfullyg ain market knowledgeo f resourcesb ecomea pparent. the opportunitiesi n the more differentiatedm arket. Retaininga high-pricedi nternationalc onsultantm ay result in greater savings Strategies for Reducing Costs in this market than relying on vendor information even from sev- eral vendors. His or her knowledge of the international market 46. The main strategy for reducing costs involves substrategies would, first, be likely to result in significant hardware savings. for reducing the main cost elements: hardware, computer staff sala- Moreover, his or her specialized knowledge might include knowl- ries and teacher training and support. edge of computers that did not require air conditioning and special Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 17 protection,a gainst dust, resulting in facilities saving, and ones that but generally reflect market conditions. Competition in the United could drive cost-effective software, resulting in software savings. States among computer manufactures has brought leasing prices down to levels where leasing can be an attractive alternative to 50. Effective Procurement Procedures. Effective procurement purchase. practices are very important for cost reduction. The world market for computer technology and software is highly competitive and 52. Efficient Usage of Equipment. Simply saving resources on offers cotntries and school districts opportunities for obtaining the cost of hardware and software is only half the battle. Reducing benefits firom competition. Computer manufacturers wishing to the cost per student contact hour or, better, per unit of benefit by penetrate imarketsf or longer-term sales prospects are often willing maximizing usage is the other half. This will mean especially care- to offer Ic.wer prices. For this reason, international competitive ful attention to efficient scheduling by school principals and minis- bidding procedures, will yield better prices than more limited local try officials, so that computers are continuously in use by children competition or direct purchasing. Likewise, procurement of equip- during and in many cases outside of school hours. ment and services in bulk (e.g., for more than one school or one district), will produce economies of scale and the consequent price 53. Computer Staff Salaries. Another potential major area for benefits. A two-step process recommended by the World Bank cost containment is in computer staffsalaries, in particular, the full- will bring better benefits than one step, if the system is large and time laboratory coordinator, who is an essential element in the labo- complex. Following a two step process, a government would first ratory configuration and other staff. In the laboratory configura- invite cormpaniest o submit technical proposals and evaluate them tion, the coordinator manages the operation and instructs both the based on criteria of soundness rather than cost. Bidders are permit- teachers and students with or without paid assistants. When the lab ted to adjust their technical proposals to produce the same perfor- is open to the community, he or she and/or assistants may manage mance. The fmancial viability of bidders and their capacityt o imple- the activity and handle the cost recovery. The main potential sav- ment the proposed solutions are also evaluated in this first stage. ing in these salaries would come from using an alternative configu- The second stage takes place after the government has chosen all ration, probably a classroom configuration. In this configuration, qualified bidders and invites them to submit prices for the techni- the absence of the laboratory can allow a different and less expen- cal proposals approved in the first phase. The final selection is sive arrangement for technical and training support. Custodial, based on price. Chile's Enlaces project has followed this approach management and student teaching activities are the responsibility in its procurement of computers and related equipment with the of teachers; technical support likewise becomes the responsibility result that both Apple Computer Corporation and IBM have won of teachers generally, of teachers with specialized training, of tech- on different occasions with clear price advantages for the govern- nicians shared with other schools and of vendor-provided support ment. teams. There is little experience with the classroom configuration in developing countries, however. Minimizing the security prob- 51. Lease vs. Purchase. National governments and local school lem of the classroom configuration will probably require portable districts can obtain help from some of the large computer manufac- computers in many or most instances. Portability may also aid i-1 tures in putting together suitable packages for leasing or purchas- maximizing usage. Developing country experimentation is urgently ing computer hardware and software. Not only may this help in needed to determine whether the cost savings of feasible classroom fmancing projects that otherwise might be difficult to finance, but configurations are both positive and significant. Investigating the in some (probably a minority of cases) may even result in cost re- relative cost-effectiveness of various laboratory and classroom ap- ductions, when all maintenance, insurance, technical assistance and proaches would also be essential. The extensive experience of de- training costs are considered. The Genesis projects in Chile and veloped countries in the classroom configuration should be ana- Mexico involve leases of equipment and training, backed up with lyzed to see what if any lessons learned can be transferred to the support services from CLIE. Negotiating a lease is sometimes com- developing country context. The high resource commitment, how- plicated by the fact that governments have to commit in advance ever, reduces the usefulness of developed country cost data for de- annual contributions from their recurrent budgets to pay the leases, veloping country analysis (see Table 7). Developed country expe- and that isn't easy for some governments to arrange. On the other rience in how to train and motivate teachers to integrate technol- hand, leases have their distinct advantages in that the companies ogy in classroom activities, however, should be highly relevant to retain ownership of the computers, which obligates them to obtain the third big cost category in the cost structure of educational com- insurance on their computers and to make repairs of the technology puter applications, training and teacher support. if anything goes wrong. Secondly, upon termination of the lease, usually in about five years, the government is free to buy the equip- 54. Training and Teacher Support. This category includes train- ment out right or return it to the seller and obtain upgrades. In an ing of all kinds and released teacher time for teacher support activi- industry where there is constant improvements in technology, be- tE. Thccr EaJsdcfcrEixsL/ is that schools in which exem- ing able to return equipment to the manufacturer has its distinct benefits. Thei nterestr ates on leasingv ary fromc ountryt o country 5 Becker,H ank( 1993)a s cited in Meansa nd Olson (1995). 18 Educationa nd TechnologyS eries,V ol. 1,N o. 3 Table 8: Costs of Various Configurations of Educational Computers - Simulation 10-Computers 20-Computers Laboratory Classroom Laboratory Classroom Portable Portable PROGRAMS COPE No. of StudentsS erved 200 200 200 200 No. of Computers 10 10 20 20 No. of Classes 10 10 10 10 No. of StudentsP er Class 20 20 20 20 No. Students Per Computer 20 20 10 10 INTENSITYO F COMPUTERU SE AverageH ours Per Comp uterNWeek 30 30 30 30 Avg.N o. StudentsW orkingT ogether 2 2 2 2 Avg.StudentComputerContactHrs.NWk. 3.00 3.00 6.00 6.00 Value of Use - QualitativeA djustment 1.00 1.25 1.00 1.25 Avg.Q uality-AdjustedH ours/Wk. 3.00 3.75 6.00 7.50 SchoolW eeks PerYear 30 30 30 30 EXPENDITURES INVESTMENT, ANNUALIZED Facilities -Alteration,A ir Con &Wiring 1,000 200 1,300 300 Use of Space - OpportunityC ost 1,900 - 3,800 Facilities -Communications Wiring 100 500 100 700 Comp uters & Prepaid Services 5,300 5,800 10,600 11,600 PeripheralE quipment 500 600 1,100 1,200 SoftwareS ite Licenses 1,500 1,500 3,000 3,000 Training (Upfront)& Tech.A ssist. Contracts 8,000 5,000 10,700 6,700 TotalA nnualizedI nvestment 18,300 13,600 30,600 23,500 RECURRENT Personnel Services Lab Coordinator 10.000 - 10,000 TechnicalS upport 3,000 3,000 4,000 4,000 ProgramS upport 3,000 3,000 4,000 4,000 Additional Paid TeacherTime - - Other Subtotal PersonnelS ervices 16,000 6,000 18,000 8,000 Softwarea nd Supplies 1,000 1,000 1,300 1,300 Maintenancea nd TechnicalA ssistance 1,200 1,000 1,600 1,300 Traininga nd Teacher Release Insurancea nd OtherR ecurrent 1,700 1,900 3,500 3,800 Total Recurrent 19,900 9,900 24,400 14,400 TOTAL 38,200 23,500 55,000 37,900 Per Student 191 118 275 190 Per StudentC ontactH our 2.12 1.31 1.53 1.05 Per Quality-AdjustS. tudentC ontactHour 2.12 1.04 1.53 0.84 NOTE: Discount rate = 10% Cost Analysis of Information Technology Projects in Education 19 plary computer-using teachers work provide a strong social net- without specification of educational objectives, and thus its impact work of computer-using teachers and receive in-service training in on teaching and learning in schools has failed to meet expectations. computer software. The strong social network not only requires Likewise, educators need to have realistic expectations regarding equivalently strong school leadership but also an allocation of time the contributions to education which can be made by information when teachers can interact with each other outside of their class- technology. Viewing information technology as a valuable knowl- rooms and ;also use computers. Doing this at the level costed in edge extension and instructional tool for use throughout the cur- Table 7 would obviously use significant resources both for formal riculum will enable teachers to employ many important applica- training activities and also for substitute teachers to cover for teach- tions to enrich teaching and could provide a powerful impetus to ers having released time to confer with colleagues and experiment new forms of self-learn1i ig, cooperative learning, problem solving with computer applications and methods. Rather than seeing train- and higher-order thinking skills among their students. ing and suplport activities as a source of savings, therefore, the im- perative may be to use savings on hardware, software and person- 58. Intensity of Computer Usage. The is little firm knowledge nel to efficiently augment teacher training. about what minimum weekly (or monthly) computer usage is nec- essary to obtain commensurate educational benefits. Judgments as 55. Interaction of Training with Cost Reduction Opportuni- to the minimum access required per student vary from one to three ties. It will also be necessary to have effectively trained teachers in hours per week, depending upon how computers are used for in- order to obtain the savings in these cost categories. Having trained structional purposes. In Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica, students teachers will help to maximizing the utilization of the hardware share computers from two to three hours per week. In Jamaica, the even in the laboratory configuration so as to reduce the cost of goal has been to provide students up to three hours per week of student contact hours. Certainly this will be the case in the class- CAI. Even the goal of two hours per week of access is beyond the room configuration. Effective, committed teachers will be even means of a good many education systems, at least initially. Thus more essential in maximizing the educational effectiveness and the they start with less, as has been the case of projects such as the one cost-effectiveness of technology applications. These interactions in Puebla, Mexico. However, after two years of operation, Puebla together with the large cost of training and teacher support will has plans to double the number of computers to enable students to make these program aspects hardest of all areas to get right. Exten- have at least two hours of computer time weekly. Whatever the sive experimentation with different models of training and teacher minimum usage decided on, it may be necessary in order to achieve support is thfereforei ndicated. this level for schools to limit access to certain grade levels, is done in Nufloa and Aguascalientes. 56. Piloting Innovations. One useful strategy for identifying cost reduction possibilities as well as efficiencies, is to undertake pilot 59. Invest in Professional Development Teachers are the key programs before launching large-scale initiatives. Although this is change agents in education and play the crucial role in the deploy- rather obvious, educational policy makers and administrators are ment of information technology in the classroom. Computers are a reluctant to undertake pilot projects because they often prove diffi- powerful instructional tool and will become more so. But their cult to replicate on a larger scale. Pilot programs are also unattrac- potential will not be realized without teachers training in their use. tive to officials who are looking for urgent responses to large-scale There is an increasing need to give considerably more attention to problems. Nonetheless, Chile has demonstrated the value of pilot the training of teachers in using computers effectively' in the class- projects in planning its national computer network project, Enlaces. room. Where feasible, teachers need to learn to use computers in During the past three years, Enlaces gained valuable experience their teaching when they are first trained. However, in-servicet rain- and cost data to confirm the viability of it project concept, growing ing, combined with support in the classroom, enables practicing from an initial 14 schools in southern Chile to over 200 primary teachers to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in computer and secondary schools nationwide. The pilot phase has helped de- use for teaching. Effective professional development will enhance fine hardware and software requirements, cost effective training investments, while the failure to invest will almost certainly limit solutions, zmdo verall operating expenses of the network. While the effectiveness of computers in achieving instructional objectives. Enlaces is now a program of national scope, it continues to pilot The cost analysis of professional development in projects also in- different approaches such as the use of the Internet and the World dicates the need for governments to incorporate funding in their Wide Web in selected schools. recurrent budgets to provide teachers regular training opportuni- ties to upgrade their computer skills and familiarize themselves with Strategies for Increasing Benefits. the latest software on the market for teaching in their disciplines. 57. Defining Instructional Objectives. The introduction of 60. Software. The selection of good educational software is criti- information and communications technology into education should cal for maximizing the instructional benefits of information tech- be guided by clear and relevant educational objectives. Experi- nology in schools. Nevertheless, teachers and administrators are ence indicates that quite often, technology has been introduced generally handicapped in making informedjudgments as to the best 20 Education and Technology Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 software to support the learning outcomes in their curriculum. This Enlaces. 1994. Informatica Educativa Principios y Usos. handicap can be overcome in at least two ways. One way is to invite publishers to submit software for review by curriculum spe- Gates, Bill. 1995. The Road Ahead. Viking Press. cialists and teachers before making selections and purchases. This may not be widespread industry practice, but should be pursued Glick, Peter J. Cost Analysis: Categories and Procedures Unpub- with those publishers willing to do so. A second way is to consult lished. publications which review educational software. Two such guides for the U.S. market are High/Scope's Buyer's Guide to Children's Hawkridge, David., Jaworski, John., McMahon, Harry. 1990: Com- Software and the ASCD's Only the Best: The Annual Guide To puters in Third-World Schools: Examples. Experience and Is- the Highest Rated Educational Software and Multimedia. Since sues. Mac Millan, London. producing quality software is costly and technically difficult, few companies in developing countries would be inclined to invest in Jamison, Dean T. Klees, Steven J. and Wells, Stuart J. 1978. The new software publishing for their national markets. However, some Costs of Educational Media: Guidenlines for Planning and firms are contracting with software publishers to translate and adapt Evaluation. Sage Publications. exiting software code for use in different countries. Within IBM Corporation, there is an agreement which permits any geographic Levin, H. 1975. Cost Effectiveness: A Primer. Sage Publications region of the company to have access to IBM software code for translations. These type of arrangements offer countries the op- Lockheed, Marlaine E., Middleton, John, Nettleton, Greta S. (Eds.), portunity to take advantage of other major up front software in- 1991.EducationalTechnology: SustainableandEffectiveUse vestments. Another option is for teachers to develop some of their The World Bank. Washington, D.C. own instructional materials, using one of the many authoring soft- ware packages on the market. Hypercard has been the most popu- Means, Barbara and Kerry Olsen. September, 1995. Technology's lar software among U.S. educators, but there are now other pack- Role in Education Reform. Prepared for: Office of Educa- ages including ones which accommodate multimedia formats. tional Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Educa- tion. SRI International. 61. ProvidingB enefitst o the CommunityA t-Large.P rograms to introduce computers into schools generally receive strong sup- Papert, Seymour, 1980. Mindstorms. Basic Books. port from the school community. While parents might be reluctant to support other school programs, they are usually willing to con- Perelman, Lewis J. "Closing Education's Gap " in Kearsley, Fred tribute materials and labor for computers. While community mem- and Lynch, William (Eds.), 1994. Educational Technologv bers view school computers mainly as instructional tools, many Leadership Perspectives. Education Technology Publications. quickly appreciate the benefits which computers offer to business and local government. Thus, in many communities in Mexico, Chile "Primer informe anual de las clases de computacion 1994-95 en las and Costa Rica where computers are installed in schools, commu- preparatorias de la BUAP," 30 de Agosto de 1995, Puebla, nity members have obtained access to them in the evenings, week- Mexico. Unpublished. ends, and other times when they are not being used for educational purposes. Using computers in this way, further maximizes their Rock, Michael T., Glick, Peter J., Sprout, V.A. "A Cost Analysis benefits although not exclusively for educational purposes. On the of Computer Instruction in Belize," 1990. Upublished. other hand, the benefits are reflected in tangible ways such as the user fees charged for the community use of computers, an increas- Seminario-Taller Nacional de Reflexion sobre Politica en ingly common practice. Informatica Educativa Memoria. 1994 . Editorial Universidad Estatal a Distancia San Jose, Costa Rica References Vickers, Margaret and Smalley, June. "Integrating Computers into Anzalone, S., 1991. "Educatice Technology and the Improve- Classroom Teaching: Cross-National Perspectives. In Perkins, ment of General Educat, i Developing Countries". In David N., Judah L. Schwartz, West, Mary Maxwell, Stone Lockheed, M.E., Middleto,. ,4ettleton, Greta.S. (Eds.), Edu- Wiske, Martha.(Eds.) 1995 Software Goes to School. Oxford cational Technology: SustLi1nablaen d Effective Use, The World University Press. Bank, WashingtonD, .C. World Bank. 1995. Priorities and Strategies for Education A World Badilla Saxe, Eleonora. 1995. "EvaluacionF ormativa del Programa Bank Review. Washington, D.C. de Informatica Educativa Ministerio de Educacion Publica Fundacion Omar Dengo Convenio Bid/Fod." Unpublished.