User talk:Drew/ed-21st-cent

"I would try to add more facts of the suite that may interest the group. For example * templating and on-line templates for the different modules * very strong form creating tool  * pdf tools and a pdf/odf hybrid file format  * very strong language support  * strong user support through forum/mailist/nntp  There should be enough to entice the group into backing the LibO product. I am sure there are more but I just can't think of them right now.  We should have a worksheet listing all of the different modules attributes and then, if a project needed a customized list, it could be made up of the main list. Is there such a list somewhere? I imagine that there would be." Marc

How to approach education
"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/"