[Linux-aus] [LACTTE] Notes for Council Meeting 2010/02/03

[Peter Lieverdink]

----- "Sridhar Dhanapalan" <sridhar at dhanapalan.com> wrote:
> On 3 February 2010 21:19, Peter Lieverdink <me at cafuego.net> wrote:
> >  * Education Show in Melbourne/Adelaide. Not seen as particularly
> >    effective. Investigate instead running workshops in conjunction
> >    with state based teacher organisations.
> 
> I'd be interested to know what the reasoning was behind this. I ran
> the last Education Expo stand for LA (in Sydney) and I thought it was
> very successful.

Much like Donna already asked, how do you measure success?

I've been on the stand at the Melbourne education show and really all we achieved was to hand out some CDs. People are enthusiastic enough at the show, but back in the classroom they face the reality of not having any teaching materials for the FOSS software we gave them and not having the time to develop any.

Having been involved with various IT teacher organisations over the year, I reckon a far more direct way to enthuse teachers would be to actually train them in the software we would like them to use and to resource them with teaching materials.

If all we need is for them to go home with a CD, we can simply pay to have one included in every expo bag ... and perhaps advertise Software Freedom Day via a flyer as well.
 
> Please refer to my report at
> http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/29/education-expo-report/
> 
> Note that the Melbourne show is not the same as the Education Expo in
> Sydney and Adelaide.
> 
> I was also an observer for LA at the Open Edge conference run by
> Donna Benjamin last year, and I was thoroughly impressed*.
> 
> We are making inroads in education, and I think this is a sector
> where we should be pushing hard.

I don't disagree, but I do think there are far more effective ways than having a stand at an expo.

Cheers,
- P.