Desire2Blog

I'd like to throw down a little challenge to the D2L development team as well as all the other VLE providers out there. Yes, even you Blackbeard. In this video I demonstrate the use of document editing tools inside D2L and ask the question of why these tools haven't already been developed inside D2L or any other VLE that is out there. The catch is that these are not your father's editing tools. These are editing tools for students to use while working in the VLE. Why is that such a foreign concept? I'm serious, can anyone explain that to me? The video is slightly more than 5 minutes long. I sort of lose my train of thought near the end. I decided not to edit that out, mainly because I just didn't feel that it was worth the effort. Here is a link to the video at Blip.tv . To view full-screen, click on the little screen icon in the lower right-hand corner of the embedded video.

These are just a few things I've heard about over the past few days. I'm not going to attribute any of these to anyone since I've been asked not to on some of them and on others I just can't remember. These definitely need a grain of salt - rock salt, at that. 1) Blackbeard will declare that the D2L work-around in Version 8.3 is no work-around at all and that the product still infringes. (I heard someone else say this but I've been saying it all along.) 2) Blackbeard will take their sweet time before publicly declaring that they believe the (supposed) work-around is infringing. They want to stretch this out as long as possible. (Once again, I heard this recently, but Ive said much the same since the original ruling was handed down.) 3) Blackbeard's legal counsel Matthew Small has been calling D2L clients to convince them that they need to jump ship (over to Blackbeard) or else be forced to walk the plank. ( attribution to D2L Blog on this one) I wish he'd c...

So far I have found one redeeming feature out of the Blackboard patent debacle. Based on their bogus patent, and their undeserved victory in the East Texas courtroom, and the subsequent efforts by Desire2Learn to develop a work-around to the bogus patent - there is one potentially happy development for my college and the entire state system. Right now we are planning to upgrade the MnSCU installation of D2L to version 8.3 (MR1) in early June. If we stay on track and the upgrade happens, this will be the first time that we have been able to use a new version of D2L without waiting a year or more to do so. We have perennially been about the last client to take an upgrade so we have always been behind (way behind) the curve of getting new tools, new functionality, and that new car smell. The things that I have seen so far in version 8.3 appear to be a major step up from the much older version that we are currently using. The lawsuit has forced us to do something that as a system we have b...

My podcast with attorney Michael C. Smith included a discussion about the effects of the patent re-exam on the rulings and other actions by Judge Clark in the Eastern District (TX) court room. Michael Feldstein asked a very good question regarding Clark's comments which seemed to assume that the re-exam was of the ex parte variety: "the current challenge is inter partes (modified inter partes due to the merger, actually), which operates under very different rules, has very different odds of success, and plays a very different strategic role in patent cases. I'd be curious to hear whether the knowledge that this is an inter partes challenge changes any of Michael's answers, particularly around the odds of ultimate success." Mr. Clark responded as follows: "At this stage, the newer inter partes reexam is still so new that we don’t have any idea whether it will be faster or otherwise any different (including whether it’ll have a higher rate of success). How...

A very amazing student from St. Petersburg College was awarded as the Outstanding Distance Learning Student at the ITC conference in February 2008. Her story and her acceptance speech is all anyone really needs to know about the value of distance learning. Pamela has agreed to let us share this video of her experiences - I think you'll find it inspiring. Best wishes to Pamela and her family.

In the immortal words of Bluto : "Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!" (Germans? Forget it, he's rolling.) "And it ain't over now." For some reason those words come to mind while reading a recent email that I received. The Sakai Project made an announcement last week that makes it sound like they think the Blackboard patent flap is over. Here are a few quotes from that: "This rejection of the patent is good news for the education community and supports what we have believed all along--that the patent in question should never have been issued in the first place." "Because the SFLC request was accepted essentially without modification, their work on the re-examination is essentially complete and this concludes the current relationship between the SFLC and Moodle/ATutor/Sakai." "We believe the USPTO non-final ruling provides a basis to p...

I'll write a longer post when time allows, but it appears that the other half of the story ( see first post here ) is nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of D2L. I can't find any credible evidence or an unbiased legal opinion that indicates that there is any chance that D2L's efforts to to have the jury finding set aside will succeed. Suffice it to say that this particular attempt at legal maneuvering will most likely fail. Apparently that means that D2L's hopes are still resting on two different fronts: 1) that the patent work-around in version 8.3 is determined to be non-infringing, and/or 2) that the USPTO issues a final action that rejects the Blackboard patent. More later.

A little bird whispered in my ear the other day, but she flew away a little too quickly. So far I only have half a story that could be huge - if the other half pans out. Really can't say too much right now but it is part of the ongoing D2L-Blackboard saga. Here are some of the keywords for the story: post-trial motion ignored Markman Judge Clark rejected definition vacate finding? This is fun. Sure hope it turns out to be true. If false? No great loss, after all it is only half a story, filled with rumor and innuendo. Stay tuned. CC photo by geishaboy500

During my lunch hour today (I'm on a diet - no soup for you!) I recorded a phone interview with Michael C. Smith who is a patent lawyer who regularly works in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas - also known as the Rocket Docket for patent cases in the U.S.  This is the court where the Desire2Learn - Blackboard case was tried. This conversation was very enjoyable and informative, at least for me. I titled this post as the East Texas Law School Lecture because I learned so much from it - but it is not a lecture at all, just two guys talking about patent law. I had been reading Michael's blog ( EDTexweblog ) for updates about the D2L-Blackboard case and decided to contact him about doing an interview (his About page ). He readily agreed and a day later we have this recording in the can.  This is longer than most of my podcast entries, weighing in at 30 minutes.  Here is an abbreviated table of contents:  2:25 - Michael explains that he is a n...