Kyle Domsohn

What are the initial costs of Alma? I’m not sure I could say the benefits do or do not out-weigh the costs at this point. I don’t think it should be mandatory for public schools to upgrade their systems. This software doesn’t exactly make sense to me. Wouldn’t this only work for students who stay at a school district that uses this system from kindergarten to graduation? Or at least transfer to schools that also use this? Otherwise, once they transfer they’re just back to a legacy system. Overall, I think it’d be wonderful if all schools updated their systems so they could focus on students’ needs.

A lot of this depends on the cost of Alma but the benefits for a school can really be great if the system can handle it. The problem I see is how schools are going to be maintaining the IT system and who exactly is going to be using the data. In my experience, many teachers have very little experience with IT (can’t get a youtube video to play) so I’m not sure how they’d handle more software. I don’t think public schools should be required to improve their information systems because many of them are already strapped for cash and could probably better use the funds.

Whether or not the benefits of Alma out way the initial cost of the system seems irrelevant when some schools will certainly not be able to afford a new IT system and likely do not have much IT infrastructure to begin with. Under performing public schools will continue not to have this infrastructure. This will become a problem in how it relates to the need for standardized testing. Can you get away with removing those tests in only some school districts? It leads to a lot questions and ultimately Alma will more than likely be another fancy tool that the best schools get.

While the benefits in the short term can be unclear, the benefits in the long term could be very beneficial. School districts would be able to track student trends within their district like never before. However, this would take years of collecting data to identify new trends or meaningful data. Consequently, student performance should improve based on a better understanding of the district’s student population coupled with improved individual tracking. While this ability to track students on information beyond test scores could turn out to be a vital piece to increasing student performance country wide, forcing public schools to invest in such technology would further cripple most public schools. Unfortunately, the majority of the public school system would be unable to handle this sort of investment. In the future, this technology could (and should) be commonplace in schools everywhere.

Alma sounds like it could prove to be a great step that the education system has taken towards improving its information systems in general. I like the idea that schools are trying to figure out ways in which they can progress their information systems; however, there are many concerns that come to mind. I think Quy brings up a good point about transferring schools. I’d be surprised if the features that Alma provides are appealing and unique enough to become the sole IS technology that schools will adopt to catch up with our ever-increasing technological standards. I do agree that schools should be required to upgrade their information systems somewhat frequently, as our technological capabilities have expanded tremendously in recent years; however, I don’t know if it’s practical to expect every school district to have the necessary resources required to follow such a mandate.

I think automation will have a huge impact on the job market by eliminating jobs in manufacturing, trucking, and other blue collar sectors. This will create further negative impact on a lot of rural areas throughout the US, including much of the state of Pennsylvania. Automation will also bring a lot of factories and production back to the US, as shipping becomes the greatest cost in a lot of company’s supply chain, and minimizes the positive impact of outsourcing production internationally. So it is hard to say what the total effect will be on the economy as whole, on one hand your bring back production to the US, on the other hand many blue collar jobs are being eliminated in areas that are already economically challenged, making the net impact very hard to quantify. One thing is certain though, technology will progress and continue to take a lot of jobs, both blue and white collar.