Contacting Students, Bypassing Teachers - Liberty.me

Contacting Students, Bypassing Teachers

Artie Duncanson March 25, 2016 at 11:34 pm

My name is Artie Duncanson, and I wanted to create something that could help prevent future generations of young minds from being atrophied by the school system. After 2 years of non-stop working to fund and develop, spending just shy of $70,000 of my own money, my team and I have developed a language learning computer program that will provide real educational value outside of the drudgery of schooling.
The reason that I’m posting is because I’m looking for advice or ideas on how to get our free software into the hands of students who are still mired in the school system.
While I could easily contact language learning teachers and sell them on the idea that our program would be a great tool for them to use in their classrooms, I refuse to go that route. I do not want to provide the schools a tool that could see them improve; I want to see schools eradicated.
Our software is a radical departure from anything else out there, and we already have numerous companies who’ve seen a demonstration of our software and have committed to using it at their various organizations (mostly ESL programs). I now want to get it into the hands of school students, with the hope that they will love it, learn a new language exponentially quicker than they would at school, and begin having the validity of schooling chipped away in their minds.
Point of Clarification: I am not actively trying to keep my program out of the schools, I am just not going to actively participate in getting them integrated myself (so if a student likes the program and decides that he/she wants to show the teacher and use it in class, I will have to accept that as the student’s choice… nothing I can do about that). At this stage my program is little known, so I am hoping the Liberty.me community might have some ideas on how I can let language students become aware that my program exists without having to convince teachers to show it to them in class. Thank you all.

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Randall Chester Saunders March 26, 2016 at 10:45 am

Is there some place (WEB page) with more details about the program and how it can be obtained?

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Artie Duncanson March 26, 2016 at 11:05 pm

Yes. The program is called Viglo and can be found here.

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Randall Chester Saunders March 27, 2016 at 10:44 am

Thanks, Artie. Looks very interesting.

If your interested, I think you ought to do a brief article on it for Liberty.me. It would give it more visibility.

Are you interested in adults using the program? I know there are several individuals on Liberty.me who are interested in learning other languages.

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Artie Duncanson March 28, 2016 at 3:30 am

I would love to do an article on it for Liberty.me, but I fear that that could be an inappropriate use of this website, to market your upstart businesses. That’s why in my initial post I never used the name of my program. I’m quite new to the Liberty.me community, and if doing so is not a breach of conduct here, I would be more than happy to do so. But I want to make sure I respect Liberty.me.

As for adults using the program, I am happy to have anyone who desires to learn a new language use my program. In fact, there is an English Second Language program, comprised of teens and adults, that has implemented my program. I would be very grateful if you were willing to share the website of the program with anyone who would be interested in trying out the program. And also, I would also appreciate it if you could share my initial post with them, as I am trying to find a means of making students aware of my program without putting it into the school system.

Thank you so much for your willingness to help me. It’s truly appreciated.

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Randall Chester Saunders March 28, 2016 at 11:49 am

Artie,

Here from the Liberty.me “<b>Terms of Use</b>”

“D. Advertisements and Third Party Products and Services

Liberty.me does not accept money from advertisers to promote third party products or services. However, Liberty.me seeks to encourage market-based exchanges which add value for our members. Members may post information about products or services they believe would be of benefit to others. Any information, advertisements and solicitations for products or services posted on Liberty.me do not imply that Liberty.me endorses or recommends said products or services. We make no representations or warranties with regards to any third party products or services mentioned, advertised, or featured on Liberty.me.”

Looks to me like they’d be delighted to have you blow your own horn.

If it were me, I’d set up a Liberty.me blog and use one of the graphics from your program to publish the article which will show up on the front page. Good luck!

I have no official connection with Liberty.me. I’m just a member like you.

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  Mike Reid March 28, 2016 at 12:12 pm
  
  Hi, Artie + Randall.
  
  Extra hi-5 to Artie for being a fellow reformed socialist. We are the proof that conversion can happen!
  
  Artie, I’ve got two pieces of advice re Viglo.
  
  #1. Ask the Praxis guys: Isaac Morehouse and Zak Slayback. They are plugged in to the alternative education scene in a big way. The probably have good ideas and they definitely know people who do.
  
  #2. Do write about Viglo on a Liberty.me blog in a classy way. The classy way is to create an article that will be interesting or entertaining to ordinary Liberty.me readers at the same as it promotes Viglo. Tie it into current events or big ideas that Liberty.me readers already care about. Focus on giving them value (entertainment, edification) in exchange for the time they take to read it. And work Viglo in naturally.
  Check out this article (https://tucker.liberty.me/the-libertarian-diaspora/) in which Jeffrey Tucker starts by talking about politics and current events, then weaves it back around to explaining the need for our liberty community in Liberty.me. That’s classy.
  
  (PS: I do have an official connection with Liberty.m.)
  
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    Artie Duncanson April 1, 2016 at 9:22 am
    
    Hi Mike. I listened to an episode of the Isaac Morehouse podcast, and I looked at the Praxis educational program they offer. I was really excited about Praxis, and I just emailed my step-brother, who is a high school senior right now, to let him know about it. I hope he decides to give that a try instead of going the college route.
    
    I will be reaching out to Isaac and Zak when we get the updated version of our language program out there, they sound like just the type of people I should speak with. Until then, I needed to thank you for making me aware of these individuals and their Praxis program.
    
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Artie Duncanson March 28, 2016 at 8:43 pm

Thank you both, Randall and Mike, for your advice on writing up a blog. I will set to work on doing so, and publish it in time to coincide with the beta release of Viglo (and hopefully it will be as “classy” as the Jeffrey Tucker article I just finished).

I will also reach out to Isaac Morehouse and Zak Slayback to pick their brains.

Thank you again for your support, and I will let the two of you know when I am about to publish the article (which will likely be in a month; the expected time for my team to integrate the feedback we have received from the students thus far). Take care

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  Mike Reid March 29, 2016 at 10:46 am
  
  Woohoo!
  
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Jeff Oxman March 28, 2016 at 9:24 pm

Hi Artie,

I’m a college professor and I will definitely be sharing this Viglo thing with my students. We require all students to do a study abroad so this would be a huge benefit to them.

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  Artie Duncanson March 29, 2016 at 6:45 am
  
  I am thrilled that you want to introduce your students to Viglo! Thank you so much, and I have no doubt that Viglo will have them well prepared to speak overseas.
  
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Atlas… March 29, 2016 at 3:40 am

Cross reference post: https://liberty.me/discuss/t/im-having-a-career-crisis-and-could-use-some-advice/

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