Open-source software gives varsity e-learning edge
,----[ Quote ]
| Faculty and IT staff of the Royal Roads University (RRU) in Victoria, BC
| said they considered proprietary software but found Moodle (Modular
| Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) a perfect fit for their
| e-learning environment.
|
| According to Carrie Spencer, CIO of Royal Roads University, a large
| developer community would be beneficial in building applications for
| their curriculum. "Moodle is the system of choice because it has a robust
| and enthusiastic developer community."
`----
http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/b8f9f389-899f-456e-8c0d-77418aacf68c.html
Microsoft tries to fight Moodle by patent trolling. To quote a recent post
from Nessunu:
------------
Every day, millions of students taking online college courses act in
much the same way as their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. After
logging on, they move from course to course and do things like submit
work in virtual drop boxes and view posted grades - all from a
program running on a PC.
Click to learn more...
It may seem self-evident that virtual classrooms should closely
resemble real ones. But a major education software company contends it
wasn't always so obvious. And now, in a move that has shaken up the
e-learning community, Blackboard Inc. has been awarded a patent
establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software
that powers online education.
-------------
End quote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_hi_te/e_learning_dispute
See also:
http://money.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1333&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060827%2F1457575948.htm&sc=1333
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2362437
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/02/1217219
This may appear to be just a new, obnoxious example of patent trolling
(in this case by Blackboard). However, there are connections between
Blackboard and Microsoft:
http://www.blackboard.com/company/press/release.aspx?id=510542
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/751121
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/04/23/daily13.html
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2001/12/04/news/4013.shtml
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i13/13a02701.htm
Quote:
----------
Charlene A. Douglas isn't surprised that Microsoft wants to get into
the booming business
of online-software systems for higher education, or that it has
recently formed a close alliance with Blackboard, a company whose
software helps colleges put their courses on the Internet....
In what the two companies call a "preferred relationship," Microsoft
will promote Blackboard to its education customers and Blackboard will
suggest that its clients use the Microsoft Windows operating system to
run Blackboard on their servers to take advantage of special features
available only to Microsoft users.
----------
End quote
See also:
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=98283
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