Desire2Blog

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...