Desire2Blog

About a month ago I tossed out a challenge to Desire2Learn and all other VLE developers to build some new functionality into the virtual learning environment. A couple of days ago I received this response from Matt Fisher, a Lead Product Designer at D2L. I will reproduce his response below in its entirety. +++++++++++++++ Barry, A few weeks ago you posted a “challenge to D2L [or other LMS] developers” which called for LMS vendors to provide software that focused on the creation of student content and would allow for students to collaborate in an online environment that had a web 2.0 feel. The challenge that you have proposed is something that we (Desire2Learn) have just recently released – ePortfolio 1.0! An ePortfolio allows users to create and collect digital artifacts that can be shared with others for feedback and assessment. ePortfolio also has tight integration with the Learning Environment which allows users to leverage such tools as Dropbox, Quizzing, Grades a...

This video shows an embedded Zoho Notebook inside Desire2Learn. Zoho Notebook is a powerful and unique tool that allows you to combine just about any type of web content and place that content anywhere on the different pages of the notebook. Audio, video, webpages, embed code from various sites, file attachment, images, text, etc. etc. Very cool indeed. Here is the link to my Blip.tv site in case the embed doesn't work.

... or at least one of the major provisions of the Higher Ed Act. As a board member of the Instructional Technology Council (ICT) I am supportive of an effort under way to oppose the distance education language that is included in the proposed bill. Here is the official text sent out by the ITC Board. Legislative Alert: Contact your Congressman or Senator Today! ITC would like you to be aware of a provision in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that could severely impact our distance education programs. The bill requires institutions “to have processes through which the institution establishes that the student who registers in a distance education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the program and receives the academic credit.” The language is vague, but we are concerned the Department of Education or other regulatory agencies could impose some onerous regulations to force colleges to comply with their interpretation of t...

This is part 4 of 4. In this 13-minute segment I get the audience reaction to six potential myths about online learning. I briefly share my views/opinions about each of these items after the voting is concluded. e-Learning Mythbusters - Part 4 - The Final Segment 13:21 Part 4 of 4 from my Online Learning Mythbusters keynote at ITC conference Follow this link to view the part 4 natively (and full-screen) in Zentation . The six statements that might be myths include: 13) A VLE is an important component of e-learning. 14) Second Life will be the second coming for teaching and learning. 15) Through web analytics reporting, we are learning a tremendous amount of useful information about the behavior and activities of our online students. 16) Through the use of rubrics and standards for related to the quality of online courses (i.e. Quality Matters), we are sufficiently addressing the questions about the quality of online learning. 17) The cost to the institution and the price (tuition) to t...

There's one thing has bugged me about the damages assessed during the Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn trial. Well, clearly there's a lot more than just one thing - but this post is going to focus on just one thing. The damages were set based on lost revenues to Blackboard from D2L winning clients in the U.S. I have no doubt that the lost customers include my employer, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). A little history first. I was the chair of the MnSCU IMS of the Future Task Force that was charged with recommending the IMS (I prefer the acronym VLE) that MnSCU should standardize on and support for all 32 institutions and 50-some campuses. That task force reviewed all the submissions to the RFP, recommended the four finalists, evaluated the four finalists during their dog-and-pony shows, and then made the final recommendations to the MnSCU CIO. It was an exhaustive process, but it went really well and the group had as much consensus as I've ever seen in suc...

The D2L Patent Info Blog reports tonight (May 6, 2008 7:47 PM) that Judge Clark has granted an extension until June 11 of the stay of the injunction against D2L in the Blackboard case. This buys a little more time for D2L clients (such as my employer MnSCU) to install version 8.3 which includes D2L's work-around technology regarding the bogus patent. MnSCU is planning to upgrade to this new version just a few days before June 11. The remaining wild card in the equation (at least short term) is whether there is any legal activity before June 11 regarding whether the work-around is in fact non-infringing. Rumor has it that Matthew Small has indicated that Blackboard's position is that the work-around still infringes on their patent - but then again you can't possibly expect them to say anything different. In other legal news, the judge denied three of D2L's requests: 1) for a Judgment as a Matter of Law (JMOL), 2) for a new trial on the issue of invalidity of the patent,...

Some of the advantages of embedding a wiki inside D2L include the opportunity to deliver content to students inside the VLE and others outside the VLE simultaneously, the ability of managing a series of web pages with a minimum of page creation (coding) knowledge, the ability to allow students to engage in the content creation process by editing the wiki, the ability to have something that allows access long after the password-protected course has been shut off at the end of the term. Some of the advantages of using PBwiki as your wiki choice include a) it is free to use, b) an advertising-free version is available for educational uses, c) it provides for dozens of different content plug-ins (thousands if you include Google Gadgets) making it easy to add various types of content on any page, and d) the company provides solid support to its users. Check out their blog called The Daily Peanut which is a great place to keep up with new developments. PBwiki was my number one in my review ...