The long-term method for promoting Open Source Solutions is to do our homework and find those direct connections where Open Source absolutely and “no doubt about it” improves teaching and learning. Then, we just measure the improvements, record and report the data, and let the results speak for themselves.
The short-term method is to not bother to promote Open Source Solutions because few school district stakeholders care whether the product is Open Source, anyway; but to create “must have” content that teacher and students absolutely demand once they find it. (On the Internet, “Content is King.”) But, we create this content with Open Source tools, and build some advantage into the product that require that Open Source products be used to take full advantage of the contents’ values and benefits.
This strategy would be successful, except there are three difficulties.
  1. The first difficulty is that whoever produced this content would recognize that the content was too valuable to give away for free
  2. The second problem is that STAR Office, although superior to its little brother, Open Office can’t do all the things that the “high-priced spread,” i.e., Microsoft Office can do. Teachers that already have a huge investment in time and research in their own materials and presentations would squawk that the Open Source product didn’t serve their needs
  3. The third reality is that anyone that builds this extensive content would have to use the long-term method to test each and every component to determine what students benefit from the materials, under what instructional methods the materials are successful, what instructional risks are associated with the use of the materials, and which types of teachers and students are successful with the materials (and which types of teachers and students are unsuccessful with them)