Paying to Watch Videos

Today I introduce you to the Statewide license purchased from the School Improvement Network, (SIN). The product is a collection of professional development videos from PD360.

Imagine our DOE, with 330 schools and decades of experience, purchasing instructional videos from a mainland vendor. This is what our DOE has just done. The price list for the vendor, School Improvement Network (SIN), can be found here:

S.I.N. Price List

Considering the Budget Crisis and the Lack of Jobs in Hawaii, please ask yourself the following:

1. Based on the price list for individual purchases, how many millions of dollars did our DOE pay for the right to watch videos from mainland 'experts'?
2. When in the shortened school year are educators supposed to find time to watch these videos?
3. Who has planned for the bandwidth impact on each school's limited broadband connection, especially with the HSA becoming an online test?
4. How much will this license cost to renew next year?
5. Why did we not pay our own DOE experts from our 330 schools a slight stipend to record their advice for others?
6. Why are we not hosting our own 'expert' videos in the DOE's network, and why are we not selling this product to other schools?

2010 R. Scott Belford

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