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...

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...

Why wasn't I invited to the party? There must have been a Blackboard patent burning party, and I'm feeling pretty badly about not being invited. Seems strange that I can't find any news about the party on the Internets. Y'all did a pretty good job of keeping this celebration a secret. Or did we just let the '138 patent slip into the ether as if it never happened? 'Tis a shame if we missed an excellent opportunity for fun and frolic. I'm referring to the Blackboard (Alcorn) '138 patent . You might remember that they had this little flap with Desire2Learn that played out in a Texas courtroom and at the USPTO, and at the Software Freedom Law Center, and on a couple thousands blogs, including this one. However, it's been really hard to get any substantiated news about the status of the Blackboard (Alcorn) '138 patent since about March, 2010. That's when Jeff Bohrer posted info about Blackboard's last 30 days "to appeal the USPTOs deci...

Over the years I've done quite a few workshops that included some sort of reference to using comic strips in online courses, either as part of the content provided by faculty or as part of the student assignments. This narrated slidecast is a short (5 min. 40 sec.) description of some of the ways that comics can be used to pump up the creativity in an online course. Using Comics in D2L Using Comics in D2L from Barry Dahl