eLearning/CMS
- Is Desire2Learn in the Clear? Blackboard Says 'No'
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7/21/2008
Desire2Learn is reporting the first bit of (tentatively) good news to come out of Texas since Blackboard initiated its patent-infringement suit against it almost two years ago to the day. According to Desire2Learn, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division, has denied issuing sanctions in Blackboard's motion for contempt. But Blackboard told us Desire2Learn definitely is not in the clear.
- Infinity Learning Uses Amazon Web Services, Takes Moodle to the Cloud
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7/21/2008
Infinity Learning Solutions (ILS) said it has used the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform to develop a cloud computing solution for the open source learning management system Moodle.
- Learn.net Expands into Blended Learning
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7/18/2008
Training services provider Learn.net this week announced the acquisition of distance learning and collaboration software from Savant Technology Group. The acquisition is part of Learn.net's move into blended learning to provide training services for public and private sectors.
- San Jose State Works with Angel Learning on Second Life Integration
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7/17/2008
San Jose State University (SJSU) School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) and Angel Learning are collaborating on a project to explore the integration of the Angel Learning Management Suite (LMS) and the Second Life virtual world. The work will focus on how student results from activities in virtual worlds can be securely shared with the Angel LMS. The expected outcome of the project is an Angel dropbox that students can use to share evidence of their work from within Second Life.
- New Mexico Launches Statewide eLearning Initiative
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7/16/2008
As part of its Innovative Digital Education and Learning initiative (IDEAL-NM), New Mexico is launching a statewide program to standardize on a single electronic learning platform--Blackboard--spanning K-12, higher education, adult education, and government. The initiative will also support a new statewide virtual high school.
- North Carolina Adopts Blackboard for Higher Ed
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7/16/2008
The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System have signed on with Blackboard to deploy that company's electronic learning platform across 68 individual campuses.
- Bryant U, Lee College, Wayne State Nab ACUTA Awards for Technology Innovation
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7/16/2008
Three schools received top honors for technological innovation from ACUTA at the organization's 37th-annual conference in Las Vegas this week: Bryant University, Lee College, and Wayne State University. The University of Utah also received honorable mention for its wireless networking spanning 1,400 acres.
- Linden Lab and IBM Teleport Avatars Between Second Life and OpenSim
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7/16/2008
Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, and IBM have demonstrated virtual world interoperability by teleporting avatars between the Second Life Preview Grid and an OpenSim virtual world server. The Second Life Grid is a development platform created by Linden Lab, and OpenSim is an open source server for hosting 3D virtual environments.
- Syracuse U To Develop Blackboard-Sakai Integration; Moodle on Deck
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7/15/2008
Syracuse University and Blackboard have partnered to develop technologies that will allow Blackboard's learning management systems to integrate with the Sakai Foundation's open-source learning management platform.
- Mercer U Renovates Administrative Systems
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7/15/2008
Mercer University will be deploying Campus Management's suite, One Campus Ecosystem. Mercer's implementation of the new system is expected to take 18 months or less and will include all of the vendor's software systems, including the student information system, Web portals, finance and human resources, application programming interfaces, and business intelligence software.
- eInstruction Launches Workspace-ExamView Edition
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7/14/2008
Ed tech developer eInstruction has released Workspace-ExamView Edition, a new version of the Workspace digital classroom suite that couples ExamView's assessment tools with interactive classroom technologies, such as clickers and whiteboards.
- Project Wonderland: Good Avatars Make Good Neighbors
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7/2/2008
Sun Microsystems's Project Darkstar and the Wonderland Toolkit for building 3D spaces show why virtual reality is better for education than video conferencing. And Project Wonderland has announced its first education space.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
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7/2/2008
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
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7/2/2008
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Wake Forest U Aims To Reduce Note Taking with Classroom Capture
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6/30/2008
Students taking a course in venture capital at Wake Forest University have, over the last semester, benefited from the use of Recordant audio-capture technology that allows Web-based archiving, searching, and playback of course lectures. The university said one of the goals was to get students to close their notebooks and focus on comprehension, secure that they'd be able to access the captured lectures later on.
- Lyon's 1:1 Laptop Program Aims To 'Level the Playing Field' for Students
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6/26/2008
This fall Lyon College, a four-year liberal arts school in Arkansas, will join the elite ranks of post-secondary institutions offering laptops to all incoming freshmen. The program is part of a larger initiative, called "The Lyon Experience," which aims to bring "additional value to the education" the school provides. How can a small college roll out such an ambitious technology program? It's all a question of priorities, according to Lyon College President Walter Roettger.
- Podcasting in Instruction: Moving Beyond the Obvious
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6/25/2008
The lightweight, mobile nature of podcasting has the potential of moving education beyond familiar constraints of coursework and promoting a level of networking and input never seen before. But challenges still exist. Can more be achieved with podcasting that would heighten student engagement and maximize knowledge building in instructional contexts? Can we move beyond the obvious in their use?
- D2L: Blackboard's Comments 'Contempt(ible)'
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6/23/2008
On the heels of Blackboard's latest court action, Desire2Learn this week posted a response describing some of the commercial LMS leader's comments last week as "contempt(ible)" themselves and nothing more than a cynical attempt to create "fear, uncertainty, [and] doubt" in the marketplace. Blackboard filed a motion last Tuesday for contempt on the grounds that Desire2Learn had not fulfilled its obligations under a court order resulting from a patent infringement suit.
- Blackboard Continues Pursuit of Desire2Learn
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6/18/2008
[Update 2, 2:30 p.m. PDT] As Desire2Learn predicted last week, Blackboard is indeed continuing to pursue its rival, this time with a contempt motion that claims Desire2Learn's Learning Environment 8.3 did not sufficiently correct its software to remove code and features that infringe on Blackboard's e-learning patent. D2L released Learning Environment 8.3 in March as a "design workaround" in response to losing a patent infringement suit to Blackboard in February.
- Loyola, NOBTS Use Tech To Return to Pre-Katrina Numbers
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6/18/2008
A huge increase in freshman enrollment numbers for the fall semester has Loyola University in New Orleans pleased with its efforts to rebuild its student body after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is also looking at strong enrollment numbers, three years after the hurricane and its aftermath of flooding devastated New Orleans.
- Elicitus E-learning Authoring Tool Adds Embedded Sound Recorder
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6/17/2008
Harbinger Knowledge Products has released version 7.0 of Elicitus, its e-learning authoring tool. The new release provides usability enhancements, including an embedded sound recorder.
- Desire2Learn Pays Off Blackboard, Migrates All U.S. Clients to Learning Environment 8.3
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6/12/2008
Learning management system provider Desire2Learn Thursday said that it's finished migrating all of its clients in the United States to Learning Environment version 8.3. The company also said it's paid off Blackboard more than $3 million for the judgment Blackboard won in court in February. But the story doesn't end there.
- Free Lecture Capture Platform Adds Blackboard integration, Podcasting Features
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6/11/2008
Panopto told us this week that it's releasing CourseCast v2, an update to the company's classroom capture system, and making it available to educators free through its Socrates Project beta program.
- University Distance Learning Brings Flexibility to State-wide Training
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6/11/2008
Conducting disaster preparedness meetings among 14 Pennsylvania universities no longer requires hours or even days of travel time for university administrators. Instead, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is using interactive collaboration software from Wimba to conduct some of its state-wide staff meetings and training sessions.
- Elluminate Launches Learning Suite, Planning Software for Online Learning
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6/9/2008
Ed tech developer Elluminate Monday announced new collaborative learning bundles--the Elluminate Learning Suite and the Elluminate Next bundle--and launched a new tool for planning online learning sessions called Elluminate Plan! The company also told us it's revamping its education licensing structure, moving away from a concurrent user model to a structure based on the full-time enrollment of educational institutions.
