Blackboard's product strategy has moved from that of a course management platform to a suite of integrated, enterprise systems that span a range of institution-wide services from communications to e-commerce. And Blackboard leadership--including Blackboard Learn President Ray Henderson--has placed a new emphasis on client support and openness. Trent Batson spoke with Henderson about the company's new direction.
Developers have released Moodle 2.0.1, a minor update to the popular open source learning management system.
A CIO has introduced his college to a virtual environment where most communications and collaboration take place online, creating a digital working and learning hub while cutting back on paper waste in the process.
As cloud computing comes into its own in the higher education space, at least one university has been quietly pioneering an innovative way to deliver technology services on demand, via the Internet, to other institutions. Since the late-1990s, Drexel University in Philadelphia has been serving as an outsourced IT department for a group of colleges that lack the infrastructure necessary to run their own enterprise-wide systems.
Following more than two years of development, the Moodle community has formally released Moodle 2.0, a major update to the popular open source learning management system.
The Sakai Foundation has opened the call for submissions for the 2011 annual Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award competition, now in its 4th year.
Blackboard has brought its Mobile Central app to the Android platform. The app, intended for smart phones, is custom-built for each institution then made available to the campus community for free.
Desire2Learn is integrating Microsoft's Live@edu service into its Learning Suite, an educational software package that includes a learning management system, electronic portfolio, learning repository, and analytics tool.
A new version of the free and open source learning management system ATutor has been released. Version 2.0.1 is primarily a maintenance update, although it does incorporate a number of functionality improvements as well.
The LMS is an enterprise-wide and critical platform, but it has mostly remained unconnected to the cloud and to the social Web. But now a new management platform, plugjam from CommonNeed, turns the LMS into a truly seamless member of the Web.