e-Literate

Present is Prologue

Category: LMS & Learning Platforms

Everything you want to know about Learning Management Systems and whatever comes after them.

  • Pearson OpenClass: Judge It As Disruption, Not As Status Quo

    If the mantra of ‘any news is good news’ is accurate, then you’ve got to hand it to Pearson and their OpenClass announcement for dominating the public discussions leading into Educause – Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle, Campus Technology, countless blog entries – and even NPR Marketplace – all since Thursday.  That’s quite a bit of press for a new, free LMS for higher ed.  I’ve been late to the game in posting on OpenClass, so I’ll dispense with any overview of the news.  I find it interesting to observe how the public discussions frame the issue.  It seems that quite a few discussions are trying to put OpenClass into the comfortable box of today’s LMS model, but some are starting to see the potential disruptive nature of the new service.

    There is some healthy skepticism out there, probably best described by Audrey Watters, Joshua Kim and Music for Deckchairs.  I agree that we should not be convinced of the value of the service before we see more content and description of the service, are allowed to test out a course, and understand whether Pearson’s long-term business interests will support a free and open platform.  We should especially watch for whether the service remains free without hidden catches and whether it truly is content neutral.  Healthy skepticism should be the default mode for any unproven ed tech announcement.

    OpenClass as Disruption

    What I think is important to watch, however, is not whether OpenClass ends up being a free version of today’s LMS, but instead whether OpenClass can change the rules of the LMS game and move the market to a new model of learning platform. (more…)

  • Analysis of Blackboard Response to Recent Disclosure of Security Vulnerabilities

    There’s been an interesting set of public relations based on the recent news of Blackboard security vulnerabilities.  SC Magazine’s Australian edition broke a story on September 16 about an investigation by two or more anonymous Australian universities working with a security firm, Securus Global.  In conjunction with the magazine, this investigation exposed a number of security vulnerabilities with Blackboard Learn 8.0, 9.0 and 9.1 (the mainline legacy LMS from Blackboard, but not the WebCT or ANGEL acquired LMS product lines).  Blackboard has confirmed the majority of the issues are valid and issued a security advisory on September 16, subsequently updated on September 22.

    That is where the agreements stop, however.  Blackboard took issue with the tone of the article in a blog post from September 23, subsequently updated on September 27.  Blackboard disputes the assertions that they were not responsive to customer requests, and further, they are trying to downplay the significance of the vulnerabilities. (more…)

  • Blackboard Mergers and Acquisitions

    This is just a quick post to note the fact of two pretty big announcements coming out of Blackboard. First, the acquisition of the company by Providence Equity has been completed. Second, Providence immediately turned around and executed a merger between Blackboard and Edline, makers of an LMS-like product aimed at the K12 market. I haven’t had time to look into the details of this latest move, but it may suggest that Providence believes the K12 market is ready to experience a growth spurt.

  • Breaking Up the LMS: K-12 District Selects Part of LoudCloud Systems’ LMS

    This is a guest post by Phil Hill from Delta Initiative, follow on Twitter  @PhilOnEdTech or his blog

    It’s been a busy week for LMS announcements, and I expect more announcements leading up to EDUCAUSE.  First, the Hawaii Virtual Learning Network (for K-12) is moving from Moodle to Blackboard, which as Michael Feldstein points out, is a new development to watch.  Then Brown University announced they are moving from Blackboard to Instructure’s Canvas as their LMS.  This morning, Jefferson County school district, the largest district in Colorado, announced that they have chosen a module from  LoudCloud Systems’ LMS as the basis for their Instructional Improvement System.

    That’s right – they purchased a module from the overall LMS.  Normally I cover higher ed more than K-12, but this announcement is worth watching since it shows how the New Mentality in LMS Market is or will be changing our expectations on what an LMS can provide.

    (more…)

  • Brown University moving from Blackboard to Instructure’s Canvas LMS

    This is a guest post by Phil Hill from Delta Initiative, follow on Twitter  @PhilOnEdTech or his blog

    Brown University announced today that they will be moving from MyCourses, which is their branded version of Blackboard Campus Edition (formerly WebCT), to Instructure’s Canvas LMS.  They have already been piloting the Instructure system, and plan to fully move into the new system by Spring 2013.  The Computing and Information Services (CIS), aided by the Academic Technology Steering Committee, started the move to replace MyCourses after Blackboard announced it would end support for Campus Edition by October 2012.  Brown University had been on the WebCT / Blackboard system since 2002.

    (more…)

  • Hawaii Dept. of Education Moving from Moodle to Blackboard

    Blackboard just put out a press release announcing that the Hawaii Department of Education is moving their Hawaii Virtual Learning Network (HVLN) from an open source LMS to Blackboard. The press release doesn’t name the platform, but HVLN is currently running Moodle. This is notable because it’s the first move I have heard of away from open source to Blackboard in the United States and one of a very few that I’ve heard of globally. One data point does not make a trend, but this does bear watching.

  • Sakai OAE 1.0 Released

    I’m a little late reporting this, but the Sakai community has released the long-awaited 1.0 version of its Open Academic Environment platform (formerly known as Sakai 3). Here’s an overview:

    As you’ll see, it takes a very different approach from conventional LMSs. It doesn’t yet have some of the core features of an LMS either (e.g., grade book and test engine), but it clearly is useful today for certain kinds of academic collaboration needs and represents a promising direction. When you throw this in the mix with the new commercial entrants that Phil Hill blogged about recently, it adds up to really interesting times ahead in the LMS space.