e-Literate

Present is Prologue

Tag: WebCT

  • British Columbia Distance Learning Program Recommending Moodle

    According to Robert Fitzgerald, BCcampus, which is an organization that supports distance learning for a number of schools in British Columbia, is recommending that they should support Moodle at an equal level as WebCT:

    We recommend that BCcampus support a provincial implementation of Moodle for all public educational institutions at the same level of support as currently provided for WebCT. Based on the investigations and implementations of Moodle at the local level of institutions involved in this collaborative project, as well as a province-wide Moodle pilot, we believe that Moodle is a viable alternative to WebCT as an on-line Course Management System (CMS).

    Moodle is quickly turning into a juggernaut.

  • Blackboard wins clearance to buy WebCT

    Looks like the Blackboard/WebCT merger has been approved:

    FEB. 6 10:36 A.M. ET Blackboard Inc., an education software developer, said Monday it received clearance from the Department of Justice to buy WebCT Inc., a rival provider of Internet learning software, and expects to close the deal in March or April.

    Up until now, I believe the two companies have been legally bound not to work together too closely or make public statements about detailed post-merger plans. I’m not sure if the gag comes off immediately upon Justice Department approval or only after the merger has been officially consumated, but either way we should be hearing more detailed plans through official channels relatively soon now.

    This should be interesting.

  • Blackboard's WebCT Deal Spurs Antitrust Questioning

    According to the Washington Post, the Justice Department is looking into the possibility that the Blackboard/WebCT merger might violate antitrust laws. Given that the combined company would own 80-90% of the LMS market, it’s no real surprise. This will be interesting to watch.

    (Found via Online Learning Update.)

  • LMOS Services and Service Brokers, Part I

    One of the most important concepts in the LMOS Project Vision and Mission Statements is the service broker. In fact, it may very well be the most important concept. But it can be a little abstract, especially for non-technologists (like me). In the next couple of posts, I’m going to do my best to explain what it is and why it could make a very big difference in the evolution of learning management systems.

    (more…)

  • All Hail the Mighty B-Rex

    Yes, yes, we’ve all heard the news by now. BlackCT Wednesday has hit. Will it be remembered as The Day the Music Died? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, it could be remembered as The Day the Music Was So Badly Wounded That It Became Barely Listenable for a Really Long Time.

    You know. Kinda like the ’80’s. Except with software. (more…)

  • The Long Tail of Learning Applications

    Not too long ago, I introduced the notion of a Learning Management Operating System, or LMOS. I’m going to be blogging about this concept quite a bit in the coming days and weeks, so I have created a theme heading for it on my blog. My first few posts on the topic will focus on the motivation behind the concept, starting with the need to address the long tail of teaching and learning applications. (more…)

  • Now, That's What I'm Talkin' 'bout!

    An excerpt from Sakai’s press release regarding a demonstration of the IMS Tool Interoperability (TI) standard:

    The demonstration included four LMS systems including BlackBoard, WebCT, Sakai, and Moodle. The demonstration included three applications: Concept Tutor, Samigo(Sakai), and QuestionMark. All LMS/Application combinations worked and were demonstrated at the meeting which validates the interoperability of the IMS TI specification.

    The demonstration was the culmination of nine months of significant co-design and engineering between all of the participants.

    Now that the interoperability demonstration is complete, the standard is expected to be published Fall 2005. As long as the standard is finalized in time, we expect that this feature will be present in the Sakai 2.1 release in the Fall 2005.

    (more…)