Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if educational software publishers and educational representatives differed in the degree of importance attributed to specific educational software evaluation criteria and their elements used to select educational software for instructional use in the classroom. A secondary purpose was to determine if educational software publishers and educational representatives differed in their perceived need for a standardized educational software evaluation criteria checklist. Data analysis revealed that there were significant differences between the two study groups regarding the relevant importance of the educational software evaluation criterion of Design. Publishers rated Design as the most important criterion; educational representatives gave it the least importance. Elements of the educational software evaluation criteria that differed significantly were: Program Instructional Objective Alignment, Accurate Information, Program Purpose/Flow Information, Graphics, and Legibility. Publishers did not consider a standardized educational software evaluation checklist to be of importance; educational representatives perceived a need for a checklist. These results: (1) confirmed that educational software publishers and representatives do have significant differences in how they perceived the relevant importance of educational software evaluation criteria and their elements and (2) provided information as to which criteria and elements were considered to be most important between the two groups.