Keep Your Own Counsel on the Blackboard Controversy

Michael Feldstein, SUNY Learning Network (NY)

As you may know, Blackboard Inc. was recently granted a patent on aspects of Learning Management Systems and filed an infringement lawsuit against competitor Desire2Learn.

There are a lot of claims and counter-claims flying back and forth about what these developments may or may not mean for higher education and online learning. (Full disclosure: I am opposed to Blackboard’s litigation.) However, all sides agree that universities will benefit from educating themselves about the fundamentals of the issue. To that end, this article provides a series of questions that you can take to your college’s legal counsel in order to better understand how patents on educational software in general and Blackboard’s patent in particular may affect your institution...

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Mediasite 4.0 Focused on Enterprise Enhancements

Sonic Foundry is responding to the needs of academic content producers and program developers with several new MediaSite Live 4.0 features to be announced this month. And with a user base that’s scaling up its use of the technology campus-wide, the company is especially focused on enterprise issues, such as security, reporting, enterprise integration, and content management and administration...

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Are Google Apps for Your Domain?

In February 2006 Google unveiled its beta of Gmail for Your Domain, a hosted e-mail service that allows organizations keep their own domains. Now the company is expanding on the idea by offering a broader range of communications applications. Google Apps for Your Domain currently includes Google Talk instant messaging and voice calling service, Google Calendar for collaborative calendaring, and Google Page Creator for Web page design, publishing, and hosting...

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New VP of Research and Technology Initiatives Hails from Homeland Security

Polytechnic University’s (NY) new Vice President of Research and Technology Initiatives Jane A. Alexander served in the federal government for nearly two decades, and now leaves her post as deputy director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency in Washington DC to join the university in New York City...

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