Ownership Beats Disposability in EdTech Tool Design

# Ownership Beats Disposability in EdTech Tool Design ## Claim A classroom tool earns durable student investment when it survives the end of the course instead of being deleted with it. ## Evidence **Source**: [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/WordPress.com Student Plan Free Websites Students Keep]] ## Scope & conditions - Holds when: the marginal cost of retaining free-tier leftovers is low enough for the vendor to absorb it indefinitely (e.g., a free subdomain costs little to keep serving). - Breaks when: the tool carries high per-user infrastructure cost, or the vendor has no long-term retention incentive and reclaims or deletes idle accounts. ## Links - [[Product & Startup Instincts MOC]] — because applies-in: non-deletion-as-retention is a concrete product-design instinct alongside this MOC's other measure-the-real-thing and foundation-not-tool claims. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Free Local Tools Funnel Toward Paid Hosting Tiers]] — because contrasts: that note is about gating a tool's best features behind a paid tier to drive conversion; this note is the inverse lever — never deleting the free tier — as the retention mechanism. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Perm · Decoupling from the web means moving content to closed platforms, not achieving independence]] — because contrasts: that note warns platform "independence" claims often mask lock-in; this is a case where a vendor's non-deletion policy is a genuine, if partial, ownership guarantee worth testing against that skepticism. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Open Source Education Works as a Three-Stage Contribution Funnel]] — because applies-in: the Student Plan's non-deletion policy is the retention mechanic sitting underneath the same Campus Connect/Credits funnel that note documents from a different source.