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Fri, Nov 3, 8:00 - 8:25, Normandy A Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Wells, M G. Using Microsoft’s Academic Alliance to Ease the Financial Burden on IS Educators and Students. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2006, v 23 (Dallas): §2132. ISSN: 1542-7382.

Using Microsoft’s Academic Alliance to Ease the Financial Burden on IS Educators and Students

Refereed

12 pages

Michael G. Wells    [a1] [a2]
Computer & Information Sciences
Minnesota State University Mankato    [u1] [u2]
Mankato, Minnesota, USA    [c1] [c2]

The importance of providing current, real-world, tools to information systems (IS) students at an affordable cost is a challenge many IS educators continue to face. In these times of tightening academic budgets and increasing educational costs, this research discusses one method of addressing these important issues. IS educators can use Microsoft’s Academic Alliance to distribute software to IS students. This article identifies a “how to” strategy for IS educators to follow to obtain an agreement with Microsoft and use the Academic Alliance website. This strategic agreement allows downloading of software by IS students at no charge. The software may be used for personal and/or class use. To provide additional understanding of MSDN Academic Alliance usage, this research also investigates IS students’ perception of the usability of Microsoft Academic Alliance website, downloaded software, and their desire to use these products in the future.

Keywords: academic, alliance, Microsoft, usability, budget

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