Introducing the Teacher Syndicate Shop

  • In 2003 I was working for a government education department, and my boss had an idea.  Instead of our 1,500 schools negotiating their own prices for computer equipment, we'd come up with a way to let even our smallest schools put their orders together with larger schools, to get one big massive bulk purchase order - and massive discounts that were unbelievable, but true.
  • Small schools had been asking us to do this for ages, because they didn't have much of a choice in their local communites. Their prices were high, delivery was always expensive, and their warranties were different to metropolitan schools.  They didn't have equality.
  • Big metropolitan schools also had a few problems.  They had to negotiate their own bulk purchase discounts, which I can tell you from experience takes a lot of time and effort.  And a lot of guesswork, as some expertise was needed to make sure the computers on offer were suitable for classroom use.   
  • The main change was the way we reviewed and endorsed products.  Instead of having over 50 comptuers from 50 suppliers on our 'approved' list, it was cut down to 4.  Like ALDI and CostCo, more intense competition led to better prices and easier shopping for the customer.  An if a retailer started sending out poor quality goods, they would lose their place on the list of 4 and be replaced.  And no-one wanted that to happen once it started.
  • At the time, multimedia computer systems to our high specifications were about $1,200 retail.  One company took a big risk and priced their offering at $600. We had no idea what would happen when we launched the service. 
  • In the first week, our schools spent $36 million. We estimated we got over $120 million in value from the purchases if the schools purchased the products separately.   
  • The comany that priced their computers at $600 recieved orders of $16.5 million in the first week.  We'd done something special.
  • Jump to 2008, and I was working in another state and another market. 
  • The price of computers were already at cost, and the 'big thing' was iPods and mobile devices.  These were pretty expensive for what they were, but they had started coming down in price as other compainies started making similar products. also. 
  • The only opportunity companies had to make 3000% profits was accessories and smaller items.  In 2008 when I purchased a laptop, I paid $1,600 for the laptop and $900 for the accessories.  I didn't even notice that a mouse, a bluetooth plug, a webcam, a bag and a cooling pad added up to $900.   I'd spent so long researching laptop prices, that I didn't even catch that I was getting ripped off with the accessories. 
  • Now, all of those products could be purchased for less than $25, for everything.  But onlyl in the Teacher Sydnicate Shop. 
  • And here comes what people always overlook.  The story before was for a personal purchase.  For a school purchase, you need at least 10 of everything. If your lesson requires students to cycle through using one camera, it will literally take weeks to complete the unit, students will lose motivation with the slow pace of learning and the extra load on the equipment may cause it to fail. 
  • More access to resources means more student engagement, more multi-disciplinary learning, more diversity and faster work output.  Faster working means students can monitor each other's outputs and self evaluate their work in real time, making improvements on the fly.  
  • Concurrnet learning in groups means students can support each other with small problems, share solutions, celebrate succcesses in context, when it matters, and wrap-up a lesson with a whole of class review of what just occured, and what was learned. 
  • Individual access, like when you can give each student 2 super-strong magnets to experience their force, lets you move though a lesson where while you take them through a lesson
  • When students are working this way, especially when they are working at a higher order level of thinking, it is a great time to stand back and be proud to be a teacher.
  • All of these opportunities are lost when you have limited access to resources, or when resources fail and you have limited access to technical support.  I've seen this so many times with claymation - one group will finish in a week, while others will take 8 weeks and not really get anywhere.  The opportunity for engaged learning and self assessment has been lost by the time everyone finishes.
  • Classroom use is different in other ways too.  Students need their own headphones, you'll need enough microphones to plug into every device that records voice, you'll need lots and lots of inter-changeable cables so your school's single Sony Digital Video Camera can plug into every computer, lots of batteries, lots of digital memory, a lot of new ways to manage electicity, and some organisation tools. 
  • Throwing 30 memory sticks, 5 webcams, 10 laptops, 15 iPods, 5 cameras and both a colour inkjet and a black and white laser printer into a room will make a mess, and be a health and safety risk.  And you also have the challenge of keeping them in good working order for more than a few weeks.
  • That's why the Teacher Syndicate Shop has included products that will recharge more than one product,  products that tidy up wires, products that can protect and quickly organise equipment,  and products that can fix things easily without drama.
  •  And of course ther best part is the price.  In a classroom, for whatever reason, things will break.  But if that broken cable just cost you $3 instead of $112, it is much easier to recover and keep your learning programs going. 

 

Who's new

  • garrys
  • suresh
  • soxifowowa
  • grvalensi
  • Freda Lowe