Dive Brief:

• District Administration reports that schools can push schedules for buying new tech equipment to the max by recycling or retrofitting pre-existing computers and ed tech.
• Savings can be significant: One district, Shelton Public Schools in Connecticut, saved $1.5 million by modernizing old devices instead of purchasing new computers. Binghamton City Schools in upstate New York prolonged device use by four years updating operating systems with Chrome conversion kits.
• Another option can be the installation of software like Neverware, which allows old computers to use cloud-based learning platforms like Chromium OS, which is an open-source version of Google's popular Chrome operating system.

Dive Insight:

For districts strapped for cash and facing fiscal emergencies, recycling, updating, and retrofitting existing tech provides an option. Products like Neverware can bring old PCs up to date with the latest Google cloud products like Google's Apps for Education, a suite of products that continues to soar in popularity. And by using open-source versions, districts are also leading by example in terms of embracing innovation, instead of relying on corporate solutions.

Until education products offered by Apple, Microsoft and Google are more affordable, the use of open-source solutions and retrofitted tech in K-12 classrooms is likely to grow. Recently, a FutureSource report said Google Chromebooks are still the most popular ed tech device in U.S. classrooms. At the same time, Microsoft is in first place on a global level, leading ed tech sales worldwide by increasing its market share from 47% to 55% between 2014 and 2015.