Valuing education technology in schools in Ireland: North and South

The central approach in the case studies is based partly on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model, used widely in business contexts to assess the total cost of technology to an enterprise. The objectives of these studies were to investigate how the value of technologies used in teaching and learning can be measured; identify the role of intangible assets in teaching and learning with technologies; and investigate the relationships between educational technologies/ICTs and intangible assets in schools. The system is designed to identify the ‘real’ cost of the use of technology in schools, including not just the cost of the technology and its periodic updating and renewal (amortisation), but also additional costs such as staffing and professional development or training.