Desire2Blog

As many of you know, I am always interested in the comings and goings of the LMS wars. Who's leaving Blackboard and what are they going to? I rarely have to ask the opposite question - who's migrating to Blackboard from a non-Blackboard platform - because it almost NEVER happens. The latest one to catch my eye was the University of Surrey in the UK. Here's their press release about choosing D2L . Nowhere in the release do they mention what platform they've been on - but it doesn't take much effort to find this on their current website: So, yes, this is another school switching from Blackbeard to Desire2Learn. I find portions of their press release to be revealing about their previous experience with BlackCT Vista. "A new hi-tech system is being introduced at the University of Surrey to enable students to learn on computers and mobile devices via a more personalised platform ." "The new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), replacing and vastly improving...

Someone I connect with online and consider to be an essential player in my personal learning network is Laura Gibbs, faculty at the University of Oklahoma. Laura and I are mainly connected through Google Plus as well as a Yammer network. Both of those are fairly new additions to the various learning networks that I attempt to engage in. Laura teaches completely online and is one of the least satisfied D2L users that I know. Most of Laura's issues with the D2L Learning environment appear to me to be things that would also be an issue (IMO) with almost all LMS platforms; primarily related to the closed nature of traditional LMS and lack of true Web 2.0-ish tools. From my reading of her posts, she is also dissatisfied with the lack of a vibrant community of D2L users for sharing and learning. Laura has been engaged in the past few days in making her courses ready for the start of the new semester. I asked her permission to cross-post some of her G+ posts here in an effort to reach ...

While "attending" the D2L Users Conference, FUSION, in Denver this month, there was no other topic mentioned as much as the Action Analytics project that is currently under development. During the Product Launch presentation, John Baker and Jeremy Auger brought Brian C up on the stage to run through a little demo. I was expecting to see the continued build out of a project that was started at MnSCU a couple of years ago, and that's exactly what I saw. I had the pleasure of working on this project with Al Essa and a few other folks while both Al and I were employed within MnSCU. Several things have changed since then: Al now works for D2L, I now work for nobody, and MnSCU killed the development project of what was easily the most innovative thing that has been done there in many years. What we called Action Analytics at MnSCU, is called the Student Success System at D2L. However, before I go on, let me make it clear that although there are many similarities between the two...

Last week I sort of attended the D2L Users Conference (D2L11), also called FUSION, in Denver, Colorado. I love Denver and the surrounding area, but since I grew up in Cheyenne I've never been too impressed by the whole "Mile High City" stuff. Cheyenne is over 6000 feet in elevation, which I believe is higher than one measly mile. I was a presenter at the Unconference (emceed by Kyle Mackie) that preceded the main conference, and I closed the evening with a little ditty titled "If I had a Beer..." This unconventional presentation was half-serious and half not-so-much. The basic premise was that a nickle is not really worth very much, so the whole "If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that" thing just doesn't seem to add up for me. However, if I had a beer for each of those times - then I'd really have something of value. For example - the bit started with the following. If I had a beer... for every stinking time I've clicked a li...

The current (5/18/2011) Wikipedia entry for Blackbeard (aka Edward Teach) is most excellent. It states: "A shrewd and calculating leader, (Blackbeard) Teach avoided the use of force, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response he desired from those he robbed. Contrary to the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, he commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews and there are no known accounts of his ever having harmed or murdered those he held captive." With just a few slips of the fingers on the keyboard, it could easily be: "A shrewd and calculating vendor, (Blackboard) Learn avoided the use of force, relying instead on its fearsome image to elicit the response they desired from those they robbed. Contrary to the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, they commanded their clients with the permission of their crews and there are no known accounts of ever having harmed or murdered those they held capt...

Last week I had the opportunity to chat with John Baker, CEO of D2L for 30 minutes or so. I was telling him how I am frequently contacted by various people about two main questions: 1) my experiences over the past 7.5+ years as a D2L client (now ended, unless an unemployed person can still be a "client"). 2) my opinions about the future of D2L, especially from an investment perspective. In particular, these questions tend to fall into two main categories: => a) do I think D2L is going to sell out to the highest bidder (this Q has been around for all of those 7.5+ yrs.), and => b) is D2L preparing to issue an IPO (initial public offering of stock) and go public? John and I talked at length about these things. I told him that the speculation about an IPO seemed to be especially hot right now. He told me that this is not something that they have even talked about, and that he has no interest in even looking at that possibility at this time. For a company l...

An LMS company with a code name of LPO Co. is for sale , according to the Wavepoint website. I'm pretty sure that it's not the London Philharmonic Orchestra LMS, and I'm also pretty sure that it isn't Desire2Learn. There are always rumors (okay, often, not always) about whether D2L owners are going to take the money and run. At first blush, I think it's pretty easy to see why some people might jump to the conclusion that D2L is the unnamed company on this website, based on some of the sales info related to the mystery company, such as: "a private North American based technology firm" (notice they don't say a U.S. company, so Canada comes to mind, and D2L is privately held). "a leading provider of Learning Management System (LMS) technology with prestigious clients" (D2L is generally considered to be the #2 LMS company (at least size-wise) and all of their user base considers themselves to be prestigious, of course). " Since 2001, LPO Co...