Re: [libreoffice-marketing] How to approach education

Hi Anthony,

Here would be some possible approaches I would take, just based upon  
my experiences in education.

1.  Try to find out if there are any teachers within the school  
district who are either a) already using open source software in the  
classroom  or b) have an interest in open source software such as  
LibreOffice.  If you are a parent yourself within the school district,  
asking your child's teachers for names of those who teach computer  
studies and then contacting them would be a good place to start.

2. If you find a teachers who is interesting in giving LibreOffice a  
try, first let them do so on their workstation.  Let them be convinced  
that LibreOffice is a great tool for educating their students.

3. Let the teacher ask the IT staff (perhaps with your assistance if  
they desire) if they would be willing to install LibreOffice on a  
select number of workstations, to evaluate its potential.   Giving  
more rational explanations for the desire to evaluate LibreOffice  
could help put IT staff in a less defensive posture and may warm up to  
the idea, depending on the person.  Reasons you could give include the  
software's generous licensing terms, the ability for low-income  
students to have a copy of the software for their not-so-modern  
computer at home to improve their studies, the possibility to squeeze  
a few more years of life out of the school's aging workstations, etc.   
Be sure to emphasize you wish to evaluate it, not immediately trying  
to make a district-wide move to the software in the immediate future.

The adoption of open source software, in my observations, has worked  
best when there is a genuine, organic interest from the teachers,  
administrators, students and/or IT staff.  Schools often have a number  
of mandates they have to comply with.  Figuring out a way to explain  
how open source software can help in meeting those mandates, and do it  
better than proprietary software, can go a long way toward helping in  
its adoption.  It won't be something that happens immediately.  Then  
again, like a lot of things in life, taking a slow, steady approach  
and building a solid foundation (ie people truly interested and  
convinced of open source software's potential in education) I think  
will win out in the end.

Best regards,
Gabriel

--
Gabriel Gurley
Educator and Author
Website: http://www.gabrielgurley.com/









Quoting Anthony Papillion <papillion@gmail.com>:

> My local school district is looking at doing a fairly large upgrade from
> MS Office 2007 to MS Office 2010 (no real reason, just the Microsoft rep
> said it's time) and I'm really wanting to sell LibreOffice HARD as an
> affordable alternative.
>
> Has anyone approached education (specifically in the USA) and how did
> you do it? What are the initial forays that you used and what were the
> results?
>
> Thanks,
> Anthony
>
> - --
> Anthony Papillion
> Advanced Data Concepts
> Remote Technical Support and Software Development
>
> Office: (918) 919-4624
> Mobile: (918) 320-9968


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