Open Source Resource

How do Open Source advocates compete in the “Wide World of Giveaways?”

Open Source advocates often want to “stick, shaft, burden” our school districts with “free software.” And, they tout the benefits of “without charge software licensing.” Of course, this argument is shortsighted and wrong, but it holds sway with school district decision makers who don’t know any better.

Open Source thinking is the power behind Open Source Solutions. But this “Open” kind of thinking involves stretching our perceptions and expanding our concepts of what Open Source is. (For sure, Open Source Thinking is “not what we think.” Open Source Thinking is what “We’all (we all) think.”

What is needed is the understanding that changing how teachers teach and how teachers use technology for instruction is the crucial (independent) variable, and that the operating system that is installed is a minor player (dependent variable) in the technology integration game.

So, when we know exactly what advantages Open Source offers to school district stakeholders, and when we identify exactly who these stakeholders are, when we determine their needs, when we communicate the benefits of the products that we recommend, and when we support those products…then we are doing the marketing job that needs to be done.

Of course, the key is to be able to show real student improvement data where the improvement is the direct result of projects and programs that relied on Open Source Solutions. (No “could be,” “if only,” or “we believe” here; but real-world, honest, matter-of fact, instructional delivery and student outcome results.)

This challenge is ours to win. Open Source can prevail if we focus on delivering an irresistible offer to teachers and students.

Zeal, passion and commitment are hallmarks of genius and great marketing. Just be sure that our Open Source promotions are balanced with specific, honest claims and a vision of the issues as seen through the eyes of the teachers and students that we wish to serve.

Apple™ understands that the business of education is our students’ learning, and the article focuses upon actual uses of the technology in the curriculum

Unless we bring in the ideas of stakeholders from all levels of our schools, unless we listen to every objection (and prize these objections as precious gifts that steer us away from a narrow view toward a more inclusive view, i.e., one that will actually work), our movement will succeed at a narrow level.