The Education Business Blog

Open Source culture in K12 Education will have a profound impact on our industry over the next 10-15 years. Open source already touches instructional content, classroom management, student information systems, and IT services. Where else will it find a purchase?

Ironically, the attempts by the old guard industries to protect their traditional interests in a digital age are accelerating the change. The more restrictive copyright and trademark laws become the more incentive there is to create open source content. Many education publishers are going to find themselves in a Chinese Finger Trap - the more they struggle the worse the problem will become.

The music industry is proving that no one ever "wins" an argument with their customers - the question for education is whether publishers can remain relevant in this new era by learning from other's mistakes.

Success in this new reality is going to require a new paradigm - one that actually takes a less restrictive approach to copyright and puts more focus on services and support. This upends the traditional economics of education publishing where the customer buys the content and services are freebies tossed in to seal the deal.

Producers As Owners

The other profound difference that we are likely to see in the coming years are producers of instructional content going into business for themselves rather than having to go through big publishers.

Recently I came across a trio of blog posts from other industries that all point to where education is headed.

Matt Haughey commenting on the meltdown of the music world posits that the future of all music is the classical music market. He notes that despite low sales for CDs, zero copyright protection, and tech savvy fans who can download at will "classical music remains an industry and there are tens of thousands of professional classical musicians worldwide that make a living from it. It’s not all glitz and glamor, but there are classical music labels that are doing alright and plenty of live events generate a decent amount of revenue even in modest-sized cities."

Marc Andreeson believes the writer's strike may be the end for Hollywood as we know it - content creators don't need the studios nearly as much as they used to. In education any teacher with page layout software and a Lulu account can print books on demand. Here is an example that addresses professional development for science teachers.

"Any CIO not using open source "should be fired" upends the old saying that "no one ever got fired for buying IBM". Given that IBM has become a global supporter of open source projects including this one in K12 in China it may not be as strange as it sounds. Hat tip to Chris Keene for providing the link.

One of the more interesting aspects of this is that open source may lead to a reversal of the publishing industry consolidation we have seen over the past two decades. Smaller publishers can create brand identity around an editorial voice, and the new economics of production and distribution mean that more niches are going to be mined by new players. This is similar to what has happened in broadcast TV and cable. The big 4 networks remain the largest providers, but their share has been inexorably eroded by the niche channels.

Education Open Source Projects

All systems in K12 are seeing open source solutions come on-line. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, the purpose here is to show how broad-based the impact already is.

Instructional Content

• Connexions currently has 4,846 reusable instructional modules.
• Curriki is a wiki for lesson plans.
• We Are Teachers is a new service that allows teachers to share and recommend resources.
• California Open Source Textbook Project is an interesting idea with pathetic execution so far. Don't judge the concept by this one attempt.

Instructional Management

• Moodle - a complete on-line course management system with worldwide support.

Decision Support

• Focus/SIS is a complete student information system.

IT Infrastructure

• Linux - if you surfed the web today you used it and didn't even know it.
• Web services - a wide range of products that provide the backbone of most web sites are open source.

Conferences

• Open Minds which was this past October focused specifically on open source projects for education.

Support Services - Companies Selling Support Services for Open Source Solutions

• EN@ - Education Networks of America provides a wide range of support services.
• Moodlerooms providing hosting, configuration, and training for Moodle.

None of these projects (with the possible exception of Moodle) are huge yet - but the outlines of a major change are there for anyone to see.

With sometimes patchy support, rough edges, and the freewheeling nature of the open source world it is easy to dismiss it as a fad. Likewise, open source advocates are prone to making claims that the world as we know it has changed. In my opinion neither position is logical. Too much is in flux right now for us to know what the market is going to look like in a few years.

But we know enough to understand that change is on the way. Are you getting ready?

Related Articles:

Education Publishing - A Wave of Change Sweeps Over the Industry

Information Overload

Textbook Price Cure

Posted by Lee Wilson | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (2)

Posted In: Education Technology , K12 Publishing

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I'm thankful that I get to work in a business that actually means something in this world. When we do our jobs well good things happen for teachers and kids. Thanks to my friend and mentor Peter Lycurgus for giving me the nudge in this direction 18 years ago.

I'm grateful for boundless curiosity, mans drive to overcome ignorance. It is the engine that drives learning. I'm also thankful for the endless pool of ignorance out there - without it we wouldn't have a market.

With gratitude I think of all the wonderful people I've met over the years in education. From the pinnacle of power in DC to a 1 building district in rural Washington state it has been a privilege to know people who care passionately about our children and their future.

I appreciate all the idiots and jerks I've encountered over the years. Occasionally their efforts have taught me patience, more frequently they have shown me a mirror into my own capacity to be a moron.

I welcome the battles we have about ideas and pedagogy - without this creative tension we can't make progress and do a better job.

But most of all thanks to all the great teachers who have challenged me to step up to my potential (yeah, I'm still working on it most days).

• Mrs. Sheehan in 2nd grade who ignited a passion for reading
• Mr. Lapine in 4th grade who taught about the solar system and patience
• Mr. Faison at Middle School who shared his love of Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan
• John O'Connor in High School for teaching a college level Russian History course because he thought we were ready for it
• Sean Scully in college who showed me how to see color and paint it
• Professor Steven Cohen in college who tossed off my thesis topic as a parenthetical aside. In exploring how a person's political philosophy evolves over their life I met some amazing folks.
• Professor Van Merkenstein in Grad School who gently tried to show us that in business it is always first about people, second about numbers.
• Marty Shoemaker who gave me the tools to look deeper and to see things from another person's perspective.

This list could go on forever. If our paths have crossed you have shared something of yourself and hopefully we have both come away richer in spirit and understanding.

Thank YOU.

Posted by Lee Wilson | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Culture , K12 Publishing

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Busking teaches fundamental business concepts. As a young man I saw the world by tossing open my banjo case and belting out a few tunes. I played in Boston, Montreal, Tokyo, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seville, New Orleans, and Amsterdam to name just a few spots.

Along the way I absorbed some interesting lessons that have helped me be more effective in the business world.

1 - Make people feel something. People respond to musicians who make an emotional investment in their performance. Laugh, sigh, get that ache in your voice, and share your joy.

• Address your customer's unstated social needs. Will your product make them look better? Will they feel more professional using it? Is it cool?
• Build products and deliver services that go beyond the basic spec. Make your product something people are proud to have around.
• Never check your soul at the door of the workplace. If you have to - find another job

2 - Respect your audience by mastering your craft. The goal of practice is to work so hard that performance looks effortless. When you play well the audience will reward you, not the guy who knows three chords and two songs.

• If you can afford the time, get things right on a small scale before you try to master the universe. Build practice time into your business plans.
• Read, go back to school, fill the gaps in your knowledge in any way that you can. Make opportunities to practice your craft in service work.
• Learn the black art of setting and making a budget.
• Cross train - invest in your career by doing a variety of jobs.

3 - Play well with others. Street scenes are like market niches, you run into the same people every day. Most afternoons in Paris I would trade off sets with a Peruvian pipe flute band in an alcove down in the Metro. It had heavenly acoustics (that I still dream of) and we both made tons of money.

• Get involved with your industry associations. They tackle problems no individual business can.
• Never speak ill of your competition - just out-hustle them. Customers don't want to know about your rivalries - they want a solution.
• Network to find others with complimentary skills and bring them into deals. Most (not all) will do the same for you in return, expanding your deal flow.
• Be loyal to people. Look after each other because the company won't.

4 - No one wants to be the first customer. Buskers always start by throwing $3 their own change into the case.

• Give a new product away to the first two customers. Factor this in to your business model as an expense. If it makes you feel better make them pay for training.
• Donate your time to get started in something new. My first consulting client several years ago paid me a straight commission for business development work. I was able to show up at conferences legitimately representing a client which made it a lot easier to find other clients. That first deal was lousy for me, the other deals were the gravy.

5 - Don't rush to judgement, sometimes it is just a bad day. There are days when the weather is wrong, you are there at the wrong time, your fly is down, or people are just being ornery.

• Give ideas and people more than one chance to make an impression.
• Be leery of a single focus group - if you get the same result from several then you are on the right track.
• Bring job candidates back for multiple interviews and make sure they talk to a variety of people.

6 - Have fun. The purpose of busking is to pay for your adventures. Go see the ruins, sleep in, enjoy a long coffee, stay out late, and enjoy your trip. In the business world this means:

• Take risks that move you towards your personal goals.
• Remember that you work to support your life, not the other way around.
• Have a laugh or two in meetings.
• Take your dog and your office down to the coffee shop by the lake.

Posted by Lee Wilson | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (1)

Posted In: Culture , Marketing Management , Sales Management

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Information Overload is a serious problem in our culture today. People are frustrated and overwhelmed by the fire hose of information they are trying to absorb. But, as the American Philosopher Ann Landers was fond of saying:

"No one can take advantage of you without your permission."

In summary:

• Personally we need to take control of our information diet. We need to discard our old paradigms and seek information only when we need it.
• As publishers we need to create products that equip students to be effective in the conversation economy.
• Professionally we need our customer's permission to have a long-term conversation with them.

I've pulled together some resources that you can tap if you are interested in learning more about this topic.

Blogs

43 Folders - Great site for productivity - a fan of David Allen's work.

Unclutterer - Great daily tips on how to unclutter your life. We can all use this one.

Seth Godin - Marketing maven and a great blog with short punchy articles. It never takes more than a minute to read.

David Armano - An incredibly crisp and visual thinker on marketing. He coined the phrase "conversation economy."

Tim Ferriss - Author of The 4 Hour Workweek - tips, downloads, and worksheets.

Pick The Brain - Ideas for how to be more effective. Another David Allen acolyte.

Marc Andreeson - Wit and wisdom from the founder of Netscape.

Steve Pavlina - Personal Productivity guru. He has some odd ideas but they are worth reading even if it only stretches your thinking.

Books

"Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" (David Allen)

"The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" (Timothy Ferriss)

"Power Sleep : The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance" (James B. Maas, David J. Axelrod)

"The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More" (Chris Anderson)

"Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything" (Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams)

This was an interesting series of articles to write and it represents a summary of what I've learned over the past couple of years. I hope that you got some insights to help you personally as well as some ideas that you can use professionally.

Information Overload Series

Part 1 - It’s all in your head - really
Part 2 - A cure for “a poverty of attention”
Part 3 - 10 Ways to Build Instructional Products For 21st Century Skills
Part 4 - 10 Ideas to For Marketing & Selling In An Age of Infinite Input
Summary - Closing Thoughts and Resources

Posted by Lee Wilson | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (1)

Posted In: Culture , K12 Publishing , Marketing Management , Productivity

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Marketing and selling in the era of infinite input feels like howling into a gale. The average urban dweller is subject to 4,000 ads a day, 1 every 14 seconds. The only sane defense is to tune it all out, to turn it into wallpaper for your world.

Earlier in this series on Information Overload we looked at our broken paradigms of information management, a new personal productivity paradigm, and 10 ways to build instructional products for today's learners. Today we look at what this means for those of us in the persuasive professions. The suggestions here are not just for education publishers - they are what I consider best practices for all marketers.

The fundamental problem is that the signal to noise ratio has gotten completely out of whack. I have an email account that I've been using for several years. Spammers have gotten their grubby little mitts on it and I now get over 3,000 spam emails a week at this address. I have great filtering - less than 100 make through so that isn't the problem. The issue is that I no longer bother looking for false positives - I just delete it all and hope/pray that if it is important the person will find another way to reach me.

So what is a legitimate marketeer to do? Here are some suggestions for how to rethink your marketing and sales mix so that you can stop shouting and start conversing with your customers. Fundamentally it is about what I call Socratic Marketing.

I'm assuming you have read at least the first installment in the series, what is below will make more sense if you have.

Marketing & Sales Concepts For The Conversation Economy

1 - Be remarkable - You should have a winning promise and make sure that everyone in your company understands their role in making it real. Do something worthy of sharing with other people and customers will find you. Seth Godin writes consistently and persuasively on this topic. This is the bedrock of the new approach.

2 - Stop shouting. You can't have a conversation when you are screaming. Beyond the obvious (opt-in lists) you need to look at every communication and ask whether it is relevant, important, and actionable for the target audience. Make sure you hit all three. With the time you save from implementing the ideas in Part 2 listen more. With social media, blogs, and wikis It is so much easier to do today that you have no excuse.

3- Respect people's time. Less is more. Here is a great example.

4 - Be there when the customer is ready. Post information on your web site that maps to different stages of the sales cycle. Initially have general comparison charts that help prospects form a mental map of the market. As they get closer to buying have the detailed specs on hand. After they have purchased send at least one message with tips on how to get the most out of the product.

5 - Relax Grasshopper - This new information economy is not kind to control freaks. The goal is to help your passionate users find ways of communicating with their peers - what they have to say is going carry a lot more water than anything you say. That said, if you open up communications with customers you lose control of some of the content and some bad stuff is going to crop up. This is really an opportunity to engage in conversation. Would you rather they complained behind your back where you can't respond? In the end the benefits of openness far outweigh the negatives.

6 - Make it personal - In a sea of corporate dreck people respond to the genuine and personal. Boeing's Chief Marketing Officer has a blog, Randy's Journal. This forces a more honest interchange - he is speaking from his own perspective. It allows him to talk about issues that he has expertise on (e.g. the fabled 7 extra inches of cabin width on the Airbus translates into a pencil width for each seat). People expect you to have a perspective but they also respect the expertise you bring to their information gathering.

7 - Stir up some channel conflict. In an era when all the rules are changing and no one knows for sure what is going to work you had better get comfortable with channel conflict - you have to try a lot of new things to find what breaks through. Put a few products in on-line teacher communities like We Are Teachers [client], allow customers to build custom bundles on your website, or publish something just for the on-line world.

8 - Don't hide information with the hope that you are going to "force" the start of a sales conversation. You will just frustrate customers who are used to instantly finding what they need. In fact - go the opposite direction and constantly fine tune your site to increase your pageviews and make sure that the navigation is as intuitive as possible for the largest number of users. Don't manage your website as a job protection scheme for your sales reps - you don't do them any favors by pissing prospects off early in the process. If it is a complicated sale the customer will want to talk to a Rep.

9 - Worry more about communicating with your customers than about your competitors. Don't kid yourselves that the competition won't get access to information if you hide it - after all you get your hands on all the competitor's info - don't you? In a world where information flows so easily it will find its way out whether you want it to or not. The only person you will really inconvenience is a prospect.

10 - Its the Web Baby - Optimize. Take a hard look at your web site and the various search strategies customers use to find you. Are you at the top of the search results every time? Do your writers know how to load up searchable text in your titles, tags, and the first paragraph on each page? Is your copy tight, punchy, and hyperlinked where needed? When a customer gets to a product page is there more there than a part number and a price? Measure your results on everything and move resources towards what is most effective, even if it seems counterintuitive.

We hope these ideas help you get started on the road to building a robust conversation with your customers. To find the budget I suggest you downgrade trade shows and invest the savings in on-line presence. Most organizations continue to invest far too much in trade shows out of inertia. Think of the new stuff as building a 24/7/365 trade show booth if that makes you feel better.

If you have tried some of these ideas or have additional tips to pass along comment away!

Information Overload Series

Part 1 - It’s all in your head - really
Part 2 - A cure for “a poverty of attention”
Part 3 - 10 Ways to Build Instructional Products For 21st Century Skills
Part 4 - 10 Ideas to For Marketing & Selling In An Age of Infinite Input
Summary - Closing Thoughts and Resources

Posted by Lee Wilson | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Data Driven Selling , K12 Publishing , Marketing Management , Sales Management

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