Centralized Government Purchases of Software for Education

Today, education institutions each buy digital tools — like software — individually. And the rates / prices they can access are for the most part based on their individual school size: fte or number of computers. The relatively high price of software results in limited access to schools, staff, faculty, and students; limited budgets mean they can only outfit a small fraction of the demand. As a result, we have inequitable access to 21^st century tools — a nation divided by those that have and those that do not.

A simplified and consolidated / centralized effort on the part of the government would result in millions of dollars saved and system wide access. To drive the digital economy, we need to provide Canadians with unlimited access to leading digital tools. How else will tomorrow's products and services transform from innovative thoughts on the minds of our students to tangible visually rich prototypes on the computer screens of our students? How else will students construct engaging presentations / digital stories to present to and amongst future employers, investors, colleagues, customers, and partners?

At a time when there is such an abundance of tools out there, there must be a way to construct agreements with vendors to secure an abundance of access to the tools. For example, Adobe is engaging with education institutions across the country, exploring new and innovative ways of providing ubiquitous access to its library of industry leading digital creativity and communication tools. I believe these conversations should be elevated to the government level to equal the playing field for all schools, and for all students across the country. We need to creatively architect a unifying central agreement that serves a win win for both the vendors and the education community on a national level.