Here is the link. (Controls open on a new page.)

On the Internet, it seems that folks are giving away almost everything.

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

Answer: we use the most effective marketing techniques!

And, on the Internet, one of these techniques is called Viral Marketing.

The Rebrandable eBook Strategy

With a Rebrandable report or Rebrandable eBook Strategy, you put in links to your favorite pages or Websites. Then you embed (or integrate) an incentive (the motivation) for folks that receive your eBook to pass it on to others. (This is what makes the process “Viral.”

For example, if we wrote a report on how to use Mind Mapping Software to teach history, we could insert links to:

• Free Mind
• The Brain – Free Edition
• Wikipedia List of Mind Mapping Software

This strategy would make it easy for teachers who were interested in Mind Mapping to find Open Source Solutions that would help them in their search for viable teaching strategies.

But, this provides only the Brandable part of a Rebrandable Viral Strategy. (The pass along process stops here.)

To turn the report into a viral Open Source promotion effort, we need to upgrade the process; i.e., taking the Brandable report and making it Rebrandable.

The rebrandable component of this strategy is to allow the people that distribute the report or eBook to change some of the links. For example, a How-To report to parents that described how that same Open Source Mind Mapping software could help students study at home could be “Rebranded” with the teacher’s name and the campus name. Other links could point to district’s Five Year Technology Plan that is being reviewed by the School Board.

Now, instead of one teacher passing the eBook (with its links) to several colleagues, all the teachers on the campus could be…

• Sending the eBook home with their students
• Posting the eBook on their classroom Web pages, Blogs, and Wikis
• Providing cost-free study tools for their students
• Addressing Teacher-Parent / Home School communication goals

Now, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of parents…

• Downloading the Mind Mapping software
• Connecting to the campus (or classroom) Website for more helpful teach-at-home tools
• Talking to their School Board members about why the distict’s IT Department isn’t providing access to the Open Source Mind Mapping for their children at school

The only catch to this rebranding effort is that doing this rebranding by hand is time consuming and tedious. The Rebranding process needs to be automated. 

PDF Rebrander software programs are available to change the links within
an eBook. The problem is that someone on campus would have to Rebrand the eBook for dozens or scores of teachers. “saddling” someone with this job would stop the motivation to pass the eBook on in its tracks.

However, there is a Rebrandable eBook strategy that Internet Marketers use to automate the process and Rebrand eBooks. This system is called My Viral Spiral™.

With commercial software, developers produce updates and upgrades because there is profit in it.

With Open Source software the motivations of the developers is unclear.

There is also the problem of marketing the Open Source software once is it produced. Software programmers are not marketers, and solid Open Source software often withers for lack of adequate marketing.

Note: This lack of marketing is understandable because:

• Software developers and programmers don’t understand marketing
• People who understand marketing make a lot of money, and don’t work for free
• Software that is given away without cost (i.e., free) does not product enough revenue to pay the marketers
• Competitors, i.e., the commercial software companies, have money for marketers and product development) and often produce a superior product

However, Open Source software projects can be successful, if Open Source advocates will pay attention to Open Source developers who were successful, and just follow the path that these other developers have taken.

This is easier said than done because many Open Source advocates carry grudges against the market leader, Microsoft™, and grudges and a negative attitude are “marketing results killers.”

Three profitable Open Source companies are Novel™, MySQL™ and SugarCRM™.

If Open Source advocates, examine these companies, they will see the positive side of effective marketing and communications. They will also see brand awareness, an ever increasing user base and paying customers.

MySQL owns the lion’s share of the Open Source database market and SugarCRM™ dominates the Open Source CRM space.

These products are also effective in capturing “e;Mindshare,” although these products are far from the best products for the job. (The commercial products from Microsoft™ and Oracle™ are superior.)

Are these the best products for the job? Maybe.

Do these Open Source software companies make money? Absolutely! Look at MySQL’s 65 percent sales growth from 2004 to 2005! Or consider the success of Firefox, which has reached more that 70 million downloads, primarily through campaigns like “GetFirefox” and “SpreadFirefox.” Both of these Open Source success stories demonstrate that Open Source viral marketing can be superbly successful.

It’s not Easy

Of course, Open Source software development and Open Source software marketing difficult. Developing viable Open Source software products is extremely difficult.

In the end, it’s the vision and the quality of the Open Source thinking that will drive the success of an Open Source software project.

But, the Open Source community can thrive if competent marketing, rather than “anger against the market leader, Microsoft™” drives the development project.

Vision and satisfying user “wants,” not advocates’s needs or Open Source zealot’s pet beliefs is key to launching a marketing effort that will help catapult Open Source software project to success.

Here is an outline that you can use to develop that plan.

Executive Summary

• Purpose

• Increase Student Learning
• Drive Instruction and Reform Education
• Streamline Teacher Productivity
• Provide Tools for Engaged, Hands-On, Project-Based Instruction
• Document Learning Progress for Each Student
• Provide Tools for Data-Driven Decisions Concerning Instruction
• Document Improved Teaching Performance from Each Teacher

• Increase Student Achievement
• Increase Test Scores
• Provide Learning Activities that Mirror the World of Work

• Collaborative
• Real-World Problem-Solving
• Decision-Making
• Project Team
• Real-World Issues
• Research and Report Writing
• Presentations

• Who are our “Clients”
• What are our “Clients’” needs?
• Education Case

• Benefits for Students
• Benefits for Teachers
• Benefits for the Learning Community

• Strategy
• Tactics
• Budgets
• Support

• Technical Support
• Professional Development
• Back End Programming

• Targets
• Development
• Action Items
• Management

• Data
• Case Studies
• Anecdotal Records
• Statistical Analysis
• Pre-/ Post & Control Group Experimental Designs

• What is our Message?

• Pros and Cons
• Educational Case for Open Source
• Best Practices
• Risks

• Parameters where Open Source is Viable

Marketing Plan Narrative
Table of Contents
Needs Assessment

• Historical Analysis

• Educational Case for Technology Integration
• Educational Case for Open Source Solutions
• Professional Development
• Back End Processing
• Infrastructure

• Boxes and Wires
• Network
• Software
• Services

• SIF Compliance

Educational Software Analysis

• Inspiration™
• Inspiredata™

• Apache
• MySQL
• Postgres SQL
• PHP
• STAR Office™
• Audacity™
• Compendium™
• Plone™
• Media Wiki™

• Open Office
• FreeMind
• Joomla, Mambo
• Moodle
• PMWiki

• Microsoft™

• MS Office™
• MS Publisher™
• MS Project™
• MS SQL

• iLife Suite™

• Photoshop(TM
• DreamWeaver™
• Acrobat™

• Return on Investment
• Grants
• Foundations
• Donations
• Private-Public Partnerships

• Benefits for Students
• Benefits for Teachers
• Benefits for the Learning Community
• Instructional Best Practices

• Politics
• NCLB

Solutions

• Goals and Objectives

• Instructional Objectives
• Instructional Targets
• Professional Development Objectives
• Professional Development Targets

• Instructional
• Promotion
• Distribution
• Support
• Financial
• Other

• Educational Focus
• Best Practices
• Case Studies
• Data Collection

• Actual Costs
• Performance Analysis
• Implementation Analysis

Implementation

• Design
• Development
• Installation
• Management
• Upkeep
• Evaluation

Discussion

• Pros and Cons of Open Source Solutions
• Independent Variables
• Data Gathering and Database Tracking of Student Improvements
• Data Gathering and Database Tracking of Teacher Improvements

Summary

• Benefits of Open Source
• Areas where Open Source is not Competitive

Conclusion

Check this link to Cisco™ System’s online presentation, BizWiseTV: Transforming Education for the 21^st Century and decide for yourself.

Link to the presentation:

Link to the Cisco™ 21st Century Education Presentation

At any rate, the presentation is slick and professional, uses data and testimonials, focuses upon educational outcomes rather than Cisco™ products, and addresses cost issues in a matter of fact way that shows that school districts can surmount this obstacle. (The presentation shows that what school districts need is vision, focus, commitment. Expertise and Open Source Solutions are the easy part.)

More importantly, This Cisco™ presentation provides a model for the kind of marketing materials that Open Source advocates could develop.

Our marketing presentations could include:

• Video that focuses upon benefits of Open Source Solutions for teachers and students
• “Why we must change education” insights from higher education experts
• A validation of how Open Source Solutions increased student achievement in their districts (by one or more school district superintendents)
• Video showing engaged students using Open Source Solutions at school and at home
• “How Open Source Solutions” drive improved instruction and teacher effectiveness
• Testimonials from Real Users
• A panel discussion of the challenges that were overcome by an early adopter districts (with members from various stakeholder groups, i.e., teacher, principal, counselor, IT Department leader, curriculum specialist, superintendent, etc.)
• “How Open Source fits in” by a high-ranking business executive
• Support from any of our Teachers’ Unions

There are many more options that will communicate the benefits of Open Source Solutions, but, this list could be the start of a productive brainstorming session.

And, maybe the videos could be produced and edited with Open Source software.

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.)

But, Cisco™ has developed a presentation model that we can use as a template. So, check out this presentation.

You will have to register to view the presentation, and the presentation can be viewed by Windows™ Media Player of Real™ Player.

This presentation is worth the time that you invest in viewing it.

Check out the eSchoolNews article…

eSchool News Article

I think you have to give Microsoft(TM) credit for being a fierce and skilled competitor, whatever you think of Microsoft’s products.

Case in point, Microsoft’s Student Innovation Suite, part of

1. Microsoft™’s Unlimited Potential program, and
2. Microsoft™’s Partners in Learning program

Open Source can learn from these guys on many levels?

Take product naming…

Which makes more sense…

Moodle!, Joomla!, Plone, Mambo..

or,

Student Innovation Suite, Unlimited Potential, Partners in Learning?

Set these themes to music and what do you have? “Send in the Clowns” vs. “I Believe the Children are our Future.”

Lesson Learned: Open Source advocates needs to name our product packages appropriately, and ensure that it contains educational programs, with “catchy” educational names.

Another Microsoft(TM) end run: The offer to provide quality software for $3.00 to countries that provide home access to computers. Minimum purchase, 10,000 units.

The US Government is eligible, but our Department of Education is not smart enough to take Microsoft™ up on the offer. The Feds will leave the option of the states. (Higher priorities for our cash?)

But, look at the genius…

• The government needs to support computers at home
• The computers need to be new, not refurbished
• Once the computers are at home, children and the rest of their family will become familiar with (hooked on) Microsoft™’s products
• New computers will guarantee that users receive a positive (speedy) computing experience
• New computers will ensure that system setup is “click, click” operation
• The politicians will be able claim that they obtained a huge value for their citizens
• Bundled learning software, looks like this package is for kids, looks like the package supports education

Contrast to Open Source…

• Free (limited perceived value)
• Runs on old computers (Install on a system that is too old, less than satisfying experience)
• Limited or no bundled learning programs
• Difficult to install and configure with other software, looks like a package that only the “tech savvy” could love
• Programs don’t have the same look and feel
• No claim by politicians of snagging a huge value for their citizens (Open Source stuff is free, already, so what did the politician get for them?)
• No branding (Open Source has too many distros, each claiming to be the best at what they do. Who can the local politicians trust?)

Here is a crude analogy. All the jocks are posturing and arguing about who will get the next dance with the cheer leader. But without the jocks noticing, the rich guy comes in and makes the cheerleader an irresistible offer. The rich guy escorts the cheerleader to his limo while the jocks are still bumping chests and squabbling.

Guess what company the “rich guy”in the story represents.

But also guess what, the irresistible offer isn’t being made by Open Source advocates.

In fact, Open Source advocates should feel a bit depressed when they find themselves outmaneuvered like this.

Where is our creative response? How are we helping third-world children access computers at home? How are we building benefits for third-world politicians that they can point to as an accomplishment during their already illustrious careers? How are we developing computer literacy and spreading instructional programs around the world in a visible way, hooking future generations of potential new customers on our software?

I think that we should applaud Microsoft™ and study the pages of the Microsoft™ Marketing Machine playbook.

Let’s see how we can raise our Open Source advocates Solutions package to this level of marketing savvy. Can we build and market a package with such overwhelming educational benefits that politicians, school boards, superintendents are willing to provide new, take-home computers to needy children, just to obtain our package? Will our solutions package meet the test of politicians claiming credit and pandering to their constituents, spinning making “political hay” on from the educational value that our solutions provide?

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

Here is one suggestion. Bilingual education is shortchanged, Hispanic students drop out of school at enormous (but marginally-counted) rates, and employers continue to exploit undocumented workers.

Could we provide a package where our software allows children to teach their parents English using take home computers placed in Barrio homes? Imagine the future benefits such a project would bring to our society. A project like this could mean the difference of whether the US is “English Only,” “Officially English and Spanish” or “Spanish Only” by the year 2107.

Any other suggestions for adding educational value to our Open Source Solutions?

Do we perform a disservice to the Open Source Movement if we push Open Source for any other reason except improving instruction and enhancing student achievement?

Open Source advocates have to be clear about the benefits and features of the solutions that we recommend. (Open Source Solutions comprise more than free software.) And, any confusion about our marketing message limits our effectiveness in promoting Open Source Solutions.

And, we need to remember that teachers and students want benefits and value. Teachers and students care nothing about requirements, specifications and or who manufactures the software.

Just labeling a product as “Open Source” fails to elevate junk-code to the level of a “killer app.” The proof is in the results, the ease that the results were obtained, and the closeness of fit between the teaching and learning goals and the measurable outcomes that were recorded.

Ethical Considerations

We also have an ethical obligation to provide “full disclosure” to the people that we wish to help. (In this case, teachers and students.)

Inaccuracies and hype come as a detriment to our Open Source movement. So does pushing free software as a easy choice for school districts; but “forgetting to mention” that professional development costs remain constant, or, “forgetting to mention” that professional development and classroom support, not software, are the key factors (independent variables) affecting the improvement in instructional delivery and teacher performance is an abrogation of our duty to inform.

“Free and Cheap”

There are a lot of issues beyond “free” and “cheap” that affect technology decisions. In fact, “free” and “cheap” may be the least viable reasons for promoting Open Source Solutions.

There are also other questions that need to be answered when promoting an Open Source project or program. For example…

What legal and school district policy issues come into play if a teacher decides to…

• Install software on school district computers?
• Give software to students to install at home?
• Post online course materials without school district approval?
• Allow students to bring in disks, CDs and USB drives with files that the students worked on at home?

What classroom, instructional management and logistical issues come into play if…

• A teacher gets approval to install these software programs on a single classroom computer?
• Twenty plus students all want to add time-consuming graphics to their subject/ content-area reports?

Classical Wisdom and Software Choice

Software decisions (including Open Source decisions) should be based upon the jobs that need to be completed with the use of that software.

Open Source advocates must start at the level of instructional objectives and measurable student outcomes. Software solutions can only be prescribed after examining the measurable outcomes that need to be met. If measurable student outcomes fail to drive the software choice decision, the project will fail to build the data that demonstrates that the investment was justified.

(Note: there are always investments. Free software does not mean “free” in terms of teacher, student and IT staff time. Free software also does not mean “free” in terms of opportunity costs; i.e., spending time on non-instructional, non-productive tasks instead of spending time on instructional tasks that pay off in terms of student achievement.)

If any Open Source advocate begins to tell you what Open Source software you need before this advocate asks you to define your instructional and student outcome goals in measurable terms, run, don’t walk to the nearest exit. Such a person may be a zealot, not a solid and reliable resource. Recommendations from zealots are by definition, “suspect.”

Ready for Prime Time?

Open Source advocates also might tell you that Open Source Solutions are ready for “prime time.”

This is true of some Open Source products, but it is not true of lots and lots of them.

“Buyer Beware!” is always true, even if you are “buying for free.”

So, ask the Open Source advocate to define “ready for prime time” in instructional terms, and specific, measurable goals. The Open Source advocate should be able to spell out specific instructional benefits…benefits that you can count, measure and record. Providing “operational definitions” of “ready for prime time” will strengthen the case for adopting Open Source Solutions.

Specific answers received from Open Source proponents will separate the educators (who know what teachers and students need) from the zealots who desire to prescribe what educators should get.

What generally happens is that teachers just ignore the hype and fluff that Open Source zealots peddle. This in turn, diminishes the perceived value of Open Source Solutions (or causes Open Source Solutions to become invisible), because teachers learn to ignore messages that fail to communicate that the teacher’s best interest is what motivates the recommendation.

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™ does a great job in marketing, and Open Source advocates can learn from the models that Apple™ uses.

In particular, “integration” is the lesson that Apple™ is now getting right.

Technology and Learning, May 2007, ran a Special Section article [underwritten by Apple™] that shows this insight in action…

Download the complete report at…

http:/apple.com/education/go/intel

Unfortunately, you have to register to receive the report, but the report’s quality makes the registration process worth the effort.

Apple™ Intel-based Mac computers…

• Provide a suite of integrated, free, digital literacy tools
• Run Windows™ and Mac™ OS X programs
• Allow school districts to keep running current software
• Focus on instructional goals

“When we saw that students wouldn’t have to work with a bunch of different programs to work with digital media, everyone realized that going with Apple [sic] was the right thing to do.”
Source:
Quote in the article from Cambridge, Nebraska Public Schools Superintendent, Ron Streit

And, did I mention that this integrated digital capacity blasts the main (though misguided) talking point for adopting Open Source software (i.e., It’s a free and cheap solution.) “out of the water.”

This entire, integrated suite of digital literacy software is “free.”

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

In addition, Apple™ offers a full professional development package for their software suite that targets helping teachers drive the curriculum with a product that is easy enough to use that teachers can experience success with actual self-created teaching modules, literally overnight!

[Note: Of course, the teachers must be able to take the equipment home overnight, every night, for this to happen.]

Apple™’s integrated digital literacy package shows Open Source advocates just how we need to proceed as we develop our packages…

• Integrated packages, not a collection of disjoint programs or distros
• Instruction first, software second, operating system last
• Flexibility and multiple options are available, instead of a “one-size fits-all” solution
• The spirit of sharing means collaboration, brainstorming, and expanding ideas. The spirit of sharing also means presenting these ideas in multiple formats, presentations, sites, E-mail
  [Note: shouldn't Open Source projects start to focus on XML (in much the way that MS Office™ 2007 does) to maximize this capability and keep our product competitive, years into the future?]
• Teachers must have at home, the same solutions that they use at work
• A professional development package must accompany any product that we develop and distribute
• Co-operation with Windows™, in our case, promoting the Windows(TM) version of Open Source programs so that school districts can leverage their current technology investment

While Open Source advocates waste time discussing the merits of one distro vs. another; Apple™ has focused on the one essential, i.e., what teachers and students use technology for.

The formula for success is simple…

• Technology – transparent and invisible
• Operating system – transparent and invisible
• Ease of Use – So easy that the topic never comes up
• Integration – Learn one and you’ve learned them all
• Curriculum and Instructional Content – The only area of education that should draw attention to itself is the content of the curriculum and the skills needed to perform while engaging in that content

So, Open Source advocates can study Apple™’s playbook as we develop our package. This process is labeled “Competitive Intelligence” by the business world. And, like Microsoft™, Apple™ can teach our Open Source community how to focus upon the essentials of education, how to ensure that everything we offer is integrated, and how to make ease of use our mantra.

So, when will Apple™ build a real Open Source operating system, say “Mac OS Once (Spanish for XI),” that will run on any, off-the-shelf computer?

One such program was reported in the June 2007 issue of Edutopia, entitled, “How to: Create a Web Site that’s a Learning Community.”

Check out the article to see what is possible for achieving a…

• Vision and financial commitment
• Real professional development for teachers
• Public school/ university partnership
• Service to students and parents
• Return on investment

Hallmarks of the program seem to include a:

• Professional and open minded approach
• Willingness to listen (really listen) to all stakeholders
• Willingness to do the front-end planning
• Project management standards
• Patience

Open Source advocates Take Away Best Practices…

1. Bids were evaluated and a development company developed the site with daily school district collaboration for over one year.
2. Total development costs were about $360,000 over several years. Maintenance costs are $10,000 per year, and site upgrade costs range from $20,000 to $25,000 per year (Costs probably did not calculate district professional staff time).
3. Steps were taken to ensure that the site would not be viewed by teachers as “just another thing they had to learn.” (Edutopia, June 2007,page 55)
4. hese costs enabled the district to do “almost all of what we wanted it to do.” (Edutopia,, June 2007,page 55).
5. The district decided that they wanted more than a site limited to choices of a few templates.
6. The district wanted partners that were “open to trying new things and shaping the site to our needs.” (Edutopia,, June 2007,page 55)

Points to Ponder:

If Indiana’s Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township provided this Web site design to other districts as Open Source, would other districts be able to take advantage of its capabilities?

Commentary:

Probably not. “One size” fits every district differently.

“One surprise to us was how hard it was for many teachers and administrators to understand how to use the Web site and see that instruction could be just as good as face-to-face teaching. Five years into the project, we’re still working on this.” (Edutopia,, June 2007,page 55)

Commentary:

Exactly what Open Source advocates needs to consider. And notice that long time frame for promoting positive change with teachers.

“If the job had been left to us administrators, the site would not be what it is today. The many minds we brought into this process–different people from different practices within the profession–made it successful.”

Commentary:

Ditto for Open Source advocates. 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.

Open Source advocates has every bit as much talent, every bit as many creative ideas, every bit as competent project managers, every bit as much energy and commitment to our students than the folks in Indiana. What are the ways that Open Source advocates can broaden our view, expand our belief in what is possible, and execute our Open Source project for positive benefit and a positive impact.

Teachers and students deserve the benefits that we can provide. Who are our University partners? Who are our government and business partners? Who are our school district partners?

What is the vision that we are taking to these partners? What commitments are we gathering?

Do we have the drive, energy, and stamina to complete in four years what our colleagues in Indiana did in five years?

Can the Open Source Movement gain its place in national Ed Tech leadership; or, will we be content to let other interests blaze trails for students while we languish, nursing our “we don’t have any money” hangover?

If Open Source advocates members know people in government, business, or education who posses a “can do” attitude; now is the time to invite them into the Open Source advocates conversation.

So let’s make widening our vision and expanding our conversation with “can do” people our highest priority.

In particular, the site offers free…

• “Best Practice” Guides
• Building a Business Case

This resource site is not Open Source, but the site’s focus upon quality information provides an information service benchmark that Open Source projects can aspire to.

Here is the list of “Best Practice Guides” eBooks…

• Web Design
• Paid Search Marketing (PPC)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Managing an E-commerce Team: Integrating Online Marketing into your Organisation [sic] (Note: Not an error, British Spelling)
• Web Project Management
• Online Retail User Experience Benchmarks

eConsultancy.com also offers a templates for building a “Business Case” for Web development.

I believe that building an “Educational Case” for Open Source, and for the Integration of Technology are missing elements of the wider strategy of driving improvements in teaching and learning.

Here is the model that eConsultancy.com uses…

• Who this Business Case is For
• Their Level of Expertise
• Related Resources

Our work in promoting Open Source Solutions should focus upon developing and documenting an “Educational Case” for each stakeholder group within a school district. These “Educational Case” documents should detail the…

• Instructional Goals, Targets and Benchmarks
• Integration of Open Source with other Technologies
• Project Management Best Practices for Deploying Open Source
• Timelines, Milestones and Evaluation Criteria

Just stating that Open Source solutions offer increased opportunities for improving instructional delivery and increased student outcomes seems inadequate.

We must “Show and Tell” each stakeholder group…

• Exactly “How” this instructional improvement is accomplished
• Precisely “Who” has already shown the improved instructional outcomes
• Precisely “Why” our Open Source solutions are easier, faster, more efficient, more effective than other solutions (Commercial, freeware or shareware solutions)
• Exactly “What” is required to plan, design, develop, manage and evaluate Open Source solutions
• Exactly “What” steps successful implementers took to achieve their successes
• Precisely what professional development will be required, “How Much” that professional development will cost, and “How Long” the development cycle will take before “Measurable Instructional Results” will prove the value of our solutions

….and our message must be different to each stakeholder group!

Educational stakeholders require proof that Open Source strategies and solutions…

• Provide increased opportunities for driving student achievement and for motivating lifelong learning
• Require less effort and energy than implementing competing commercial products
• Have a direct and measurable impact on increased student performance, including high-stakes test scores
• Minimize the risk of failure and minimize the risk that the stakeholder groups that “sign off” on these Open Source solutions don’t “end up looking stupid,” or worse, “out of a job”
• Maximize the use of current hardware and software investments by working seamlessly with other platforms (interoperability)
• Provide a structured and streamlined transition to the Open Source innovations from current “Best Practices” to newer, “Better Practices”
• Provide a structured and streamlined transition to teachers who will need to update their classroom management and instructional delivery skills to adopt the required constructivist, engage-learning, project-based strategies that research shows are more effective instructional options
• Provide an implementation path that is stress-free, and provide the necessary follow-up support
• Provide an implementation path that is scalable, so that pilot project can be rolled out in a streamlined manner once positive evaluation of the project and deployment kinks and hurdles are worked out

Our “Educational Case” for deploying Open Source solutions must address these concerns, allay fears and minimize risks that stakeholders perceive.

We must communicate to each stakeholder using that particular stakeholder’s frame of reference, targeting the issues that impact that stakeholder group. Otherwise, Open Source solutions, no matter how beneficial, will continue to be perceived as solutions only for the few and the proud “Techies” that can put up with demanding technical requirements and “quirky” configuration difficulties.

As technology becomes easier to use and more powerful, the productivity benefits associated with Open Source solutions must keep pace with our commercial competition.

Open Source solutions must free users from technical hurdles and must come to rival commercial products in ease of use and productivity. (Techies probably are the only group that care about technically superior solutions. Other stakeholders care more about what solutions can do for their productivity and care more about what impact any innovation project will have upon student achievement.)

“One Click” installation, configuration and transparent operation is the ultimate target for the Open Source packages that we support. And, promoting the widest possible use of Open Source products means cross-platform support.

Each stakeholder group wants to hear how Open Source will benefit them, and, each stakeholder group wants different benefits.

This is the reason that Open Source struggled to catch on in the past, and why implementation of Open Source solutions lags behind commercial solutions, i.e., commercial companies have multiple marketing campaigns aimed at the various stakeholder groups.

As Open Source advocates tailors our marketing campaign to target each stakeholder group, we need to ensure that every prerequisite and every requirement is in place, so that the Open Source initiative can be successful.

Savvy commercial firms do this by…

• Ensuring that their product works on 98+% of computers with only a need to accept the defaults, i.e., Microsoft(TM) Windows
• Ensuring that their product only runs on their proprietary hardware, i.e., Apple(TM)
• Providing real cross-platform solutions, i.e., Sun(TM) Java
• Providing third-party cross-platform support to expand the value of proprietary hardware, i.e., Parallels(TM)
• Ensuring that their product is an industry standard, then providing the product to schools at 10% of the street cost, i.e., Adobe(TM) Dreamweaver, Microsoft(TM) Office
• Ensuring that their product integrates with industry standard software (MS Word(TM), Excel(TM), PowerPoint(TM) and Project(TM), i.e., (fully) Mindjet(TM) MindManager Pro; (partially) Inspiration Software(TM)’s Inspiration
• Providing discounts that are almost 60% off list to key, large-scale vendors, i.e., Cisco(TM)

And commercial firms devote separate sections of their Web sites for the various stakeholder groups.

Open Source integration projects need to embark on the same strategies that commercial products use to communicate value to the various school district stakeholders.

For example, instead of just offering an office productivity suite, like Open Office, why not offer a complete set of teacher and student tools, the way that Microsoft(TM) or Apple(TM) do? Then, make this set of tools platform independent, and market with different marketing messages concerning the benefits to…

• Teachers
• Students
• Parents
• Curriculum Staff
• Professional Development Staff
• District IT Department Staff
• School District Administrators
• School Board Members
• The School Community at Large

And our message to each stakeholder group must communicate our “Educational Case” for deploying Open Source solutions in educational, not technical terms.

Do we have the data that show how Open Source solutions improve student achievement?

These data can be collected by…

• Case Studies
• Action Research
• Head-to-Head Comparisons
• Scientific Experimental Research Studies

Anecdotal records and testimonials lack the rigor and strength inherent in scientific research methods.

And, the endorsement of technical folks based upon technical requirements and specifications will fall short of impressing any school district stakeholder group, except the “Techies.”

So, even when Open Source advocates shows school district IT Department staff how Open Source projects can benefit their productivity; if other stakeholders are not convinced, the Open Source project can become a “rough row to hoe.” Any IT project can be “more trouble than it is worth” if…

• Users complain (or revolt)
• The projects components remain unused
• Various stakeholders didn’t want the benefits that the project was designed to deliver
• Projects have to be re-developed or redesigned
• Projects have to be dropped and commercial solutions need to be deployed for a substitute or replacement project at greater cost (and with greater urgency)

So, Open Source advocates must craft our packages with patience and deliberation. We must conduct “wide and deep” needs assessments for each stakeholder group, and we must ensure that our solutions packages deliver on the most needed benefits to each group.

Then, we must communicate “Educational Case” benefits to each stakeholder group. And, we must back up our claims with research and real-world data.

Building our movement according to educational “Best Practices” requires planning and patience.

How Open Source advocates markets our Open Source packages to each school district stakeholder group will probably have more impact on our success than the sheer technical superiority of our solutions packages.

It is the “Educational Case” for improving instruction and for increasing student achievement that determines whether a strategy is a “Best Practice” or not. The formula is simple, i.e.,…

• The innovation drives instructional progress, student achievement and positive student outcomes
• The progress can be measured