RE: [seul-edu] Linux in Education presentation

["TJ Miller jr" <tjmiller@datc.tec.ut.us>]

As it happens, I've been doing something similar within the Utah Educational
system.

However, most of my campaign (so to speak) has been a quiet one. I promote
Linux among my collegues, and include at least a mention of it whenever I
speak with higher-ups in the school system (believe it or not, this included
Gov. Mike Leavitt, who stopped by my school and spoke with us individually
last year during his re-election campaign.) Among all of those who I sing
Linux' praises to, I went out of my way to speak not with the school boards
directly, but with the USOE director of curriculum, Mr. Duke Mossman. Once
he got excited about Linux, it was a simple matter to let him pass the word
along and have everything filter down from there. Also, I volunteered to
host a 5-day workshop to teach teachers how to use Linux in their
classroom - this will occur in June.

Of course, I am fortunate in that the Governor (and as a result the state
offices) are positively in love with high technology, as evidenced by their
latest and greatest effort known as the Silicaon Valley Alliance at
http://www.utah.org/silicon In this, I'm already pushing as much Linux as I
possibly can, because I see a big future for Linux in Utah (not just because
Caldera and Novell are headquartered here, either...)

My best advice would be to lay the "back-groundwork" first, then approach
the school boards with the idea. This way, the buzz will have already spread
about, and you won't see as much (if any) resistance to the idea of Linux as
a curriculum by the time you get up to that podium to speak.

I'm not much for speeches or papers myself, but I do hope that this helps
you out somehow.


TJ Miller jr
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NT/Linux instructor
http://www.datc.tec.ut.us

"You can twist perceptions; reality won't budge..."
	-Neal Peart