
Musings & Math on the Real Cost of Teaching with
Software
by Neil MacQueen, Math Wiz and Donut lover

This article has several stunning mathematical
demonstrations of the
real cost of "free" church donuts and church coffee
versus our software.
Also below.....how a NEW computer costs you less than
six donut holes a week.
Tip O' the Day: NAYSAYERS HATE MATH.... so use a lot of it.
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COFFEE MATH: Decent coffee is about $8 a pound. According to Starbucks, there are 40 cups of coffee in one pound. Eight divided by 40 cups = 20 cents for the coffee. Now add 5 cents for the styrofoam cup, and 5 cents for the creamer/sugar. That's 30 cents per cup of "free coffee" nobody ever complains about giving to the adults. If they have TWO cups of "free" coffee and reuse the cup.... you're now up to 55 cents per adult. Awesome Bible Stories CD is 16 cents per kid, remember? But let's look at another program... Bongo Loves the Bible CD costs less than that "free" cup of coffee ( Bongo = 31 cents per use)
1 copy of Bongo Loves the
Bible CD = $25 You have 2 kids using Bongo at the same time $5 divided by 2 kids = $2.50 per kid-use But wait! Bongo has 4 different games! So you can use it
for a total of 20 weeks with five different grades --without repeating a game. So... if the COFFEE MAN'S DAUGHTER plays all 4 games in the 3rd grade, and repeats them two years later in the 5th grade, increasing her mastery of Bongo's core Bible content..... 62 cents divided by 2 tours through the BONGO software = 31 CENTS per kid And....it gets even lower per kid when you factor in quantity pricing. So for example, if you had 5 copies/computers of Bongo at the qty price of $105, then the actual cost of BONGO PER USE, PER KID = ~ 26 CENTS per kid ~ Drink up adults! btw: Learn more
about Bongo Loves the Bible here!
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Hopefully you got them donated new or used. But let's say you went out and ACTUALLY PAID FOR YOUR COMPUTERS with the church's money... Here's THE REAL COST of a NEW COMPUTER:
EXAMPLE #1: Play and Learn CD: "The 20 cent CD"
EXAMPLE #2: Jesus in Space: "The 22 Cent CD"
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The Cost of Getting Started Scenarios
CONCLUSION:
We can crunch the numbers a lot of different ways. Your numbers will depend on your kids, the number of computers, and the number of times you repeat lessons from software over the course of 5 to 8 years. But anyway you crunch them, software and computers are not really that "EXPENSIVE" over time. Turning child attenders into bored kids and unchurched adults..... now THAT'S Expensive!
Copyright 2006-09, Sunday Software and Neil MacQueen. All rights reserved. ARTICLES section of www.sundaysoftware.com |
