I have written several articles (posted here at e-Literate, here at the Delta Initiative website, and as a guest post at WCET) about the significant changes that the LMS market is undergoing, moving from an enterprise-class, mini-ERP, system to a learning platform. The folks at WCET provide a great set of resources for the higher […]
MOOCs: Two Different Approaches to Scale, Access and Experimentation
In part 1 of this series, I described a new landscape of educational delivery models. In part 2 I described the master course concept and how it presents a cultural barrier that most traditional institutions cannot cross, at least without a dedicated online organization or an outsourced partnership. Why does it matter that we describe […]
Summary of Statements by Key Players in Blackboard Announcement, Including Competitors
Given all the news and discussion surrounding Blackboard’s strategy change last week, I thought that it would be useful to collect the public statements from Blackboard and their competitors in one place. No analysis, no interviews, just statements. I have a feeling that this might provide a rich source of analysis 6 – 12 months […]
Blackboard Confronts Erosion of Market Share, Makes a Major Change in Strategy
In a series of announcements that has the educational technology world buzzing, Blackboard reversed their strategy of their core LMS business. Blackboard acquired two Moodle hosting and service providers – MoodleRooms in the US and NetSpot in Australia. Blackboard created an Open Source Services Group, which includes helping “institutions successfully manage open source learning management […]
The Master Course: A Key Difference in Educational Delivery Methods
In part 1 of this series of posts I presented a view of different educational delivery models based on course design and modality. Why does it matter that we describe these educational delivery models with finer granularity than just traditional and online? Because the aims of the models differ, as do the primary methods of […]
The Emerging Landscape of Educational Delivery Models
Part 2 in this series, on a key difference in educational delivery methods, can be found here. Traditional education or online education. In the past decade it seems that the dominant conversation has been around the potential for online learning, both from for-profit and non-profit options, to disrupt education as an industry. What I believe […]
Apple is Playing the Long Game with iBooks 2 and iTunesU App
When Apple made the iBooks Author / iBooks2 / iTunesU app announcement on January 19th, there were many arguments for and against their implied educational market strategy. In the educational technology community, two of the most intense arguments why Apple’s move was faulty, or even harmful, came down to the cost and availability of iPads […]