The Problem(s)

Open Source Software is not used extensively in most schools in the UK. Where it is used it is mostly used because it is free (as in beer), solving a particular need. 

In addition, teachers are exceptionally time-poor (especially those who hold whole-school responsibilities) and are bombarded with information and offers from companies wanting to gain a slice of a guaranteed market.

Examples from the field

1. A teacher, frustrated with Internet Explorer, looks for an  alternative. She comes across Mozilla Firefox, installs it and is happy. The add-ons/extensions are an added bonus and the teacher makes her colleagues aware of it. 

Later, the teacher (as well as her new converts) attempts to access the school’s Management Information System (MIS) through Firefox, but can’t. Upon approaching an ICT technician she is informed that the MIS ‘only works with Internet Explorer.’ 

After some searching online she finds that Firefox can be configured to work with the MIS. She provides this evidence to the network manager’s team but is rebuffed as ‘Firefox cannot be locked down in the same way as Internet Explorer’.

2. A learning support assistant, looking for ways to assistant in the Modern Foreign Languages department, is recommended Audacity by a friend. He downloads the software and uses it to record some students he has taken out to work with in a small group.

Taking the laptop with the recording home, he attempts to export the students’ work as an MP3 file, but becomes stuck. Looking online he comes across a guide that talks about .dll files and configuration. Confused by the jargon and frustrated that it doesn’t ‘just work’ he either gives up or borrows a friend’s Macbook to use GarageBand.

3. An assistant headteacher, swamped by email, finds that a colleague uses Mozilla Thunderbird to deal with multiple email accounts. Having installed the software and configured it to download email, he sets to work. 

When the time comes to send his first email, a reply to the headteacher, he composes it and goes to press send. An error message pops up:

Unable to locate GnuPG executable in the PATH. 
Make sure you have set the GnuPG executable path correctly in the OpenPGP Preferences.  
Failed to initialize Enigmail.

Usually a fairly technically competent user of technology, he attempts to rectify this in the preferences section. But to no avail. Turning to an online forum - he would be too proud to approach the colleague who initially recommended the software - the assistant headteacher finds a plethora of people who have had the same problem.

Unfortunately, the websites that come up in a quick web search are forums where responses are less than helpful and/or assume such levels of geekiness that the assistant headteacher cuts his losses and tries Microsoft Outlook. When he cannot configure this either he blames the network manager.

Conclusion

What are the three biggest barriers to mass Open Source Software in schools? From the above examples they would seem to be:

Awareness - what’s the difference between ‘free to use’ and ‘free to change’?

Jargon - what does ‘GNU’ mean? why are so many projects confusingly or recursively titled?

Geekiness - where are all the ‘normal’ people using this stuff?

Recommendations

• Campaigns focusing on single issues - perhaps those taken from Miles Berry’s 2009 BETT presentation (i.e. the concept of ‘free as in beer’?)
• Step-by-step guides explaining the jargon involved in Open Source Software (OSS) projects. Encouragement given to OSS developors to stop using jargon without having explained it first.
•  “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC”-style adverts (or similar) to show how ‘normal’ everyday people use OSS and are aware of why they do so. 

[Doug wrote the above as a 'provocation paper' for an open source 'think tank' meeting on Friday. There's a formatted copy on his blog, where comments are welcome, or do respond below. - Miles]