D2L Learning Suite Gets Live@edu Integration
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.
Live@edu is Microsoft's free communication and collaboration suite for education. The service, which supports Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux systems, provides a range of hosted solutions for education institutions, including Office Web Apps; mail (with 10 GB inboxes for each user); Windows Live SkyDrive storage (25 GB per user); video chat; IM; alerts; blogs; and various collaboration and document sharing services.
The Desire2Learn Learning Suite includes D2L's flagship learning management system, Learning Environment, which provides tools for course management, development, and delivery, along with a suite of collaboration, learning, and assessment tools. It also provides services like plagiarism detection and integration with third-party tools like iParadigms' GradeMark for markup of dropbox submissions.
It also includes Learning Repository, Desire2Learn's digital asset management and content management tool, used for organizing curricular materials and assessments and sharing digital resources among users; Desire2Learn Analytics, a Web-based business intelligence tool designed to help schools monitor and analyze data from the Learning Environment, such as enrollment trends and demographic information; and ePortfolio, a repository for storing and organizing, as well as presenting, digital artifacts.
The integration is designed to provide an alternative to the built-in mail client in the Learning Suite. D2L said the technology will be integrated into the suite "in the coming months, supporting tens of thousands of students."
Further information about the Learning Suite can be found here.