The NOSE

Online Headcount Growth - Minnesota State Colleges & Universities

Here's a chart showing our growth (Minnesota State Colleges & Universities) in online headcount from FY'2004 to FY'2009 (projected). I am very proud of my team that supports the underlying enterprise technology and infrastructure, which at the core is the Desire2Learn Learning Management System.

Last calendar year our uptime for the system, which supports more than just online students, was 99.98%. 

UCLA to Adopt Moodle

Significant news on the LMS front:

"In November, 2006, the UCLA Faculty Committee on Educational Technology decided that UCLA should converge on Moodle as the single open source platform for its common collaboration and learning environment (CCLE)...The decision to choose Moodle over Sakai as UCLA's convergence platform was based on many factors that, over time, led us to believe it to be a better match for UCLA's current needs."

To my knowledge UCLA is the first major university in the US to have adopted Moodle as its enterprise learning platform. Good news for Moodle fans.

Via EdTechPost

Educause's Letter to Blackboard

Educause has published its letter to Blackboard. Brian Hawkins' (President, Educause) letter to Michael Chasen (CEO, Blackboard) asks the company to withdraw its patent infringement lawsuit against Desire2Learn and also "disclaim the rights established" under the patent. The letter is strong and eloquent, noting that "our community feels these actions go beyond to challenging the core values and interests of higher education." The Educause leadership and Board need to be commended for representing the community boldly and unequivocally.

Hawkins' letter expresses "core tenets behind the community concern. One deals with co-creation and ownership; the other deals with innovation." With respect to "co-creation and ownership" the letter notes that "our community has participated in the creation of course management systems. A claim that implies this community creation can be patented by one organization is anathema to our culture." With respect to innovation, the letter notes that Blackboard's actions will "have a chilling effect on the open sharing of ideas in our community."

Blackboard's Patent Scope: A Legal Scholar Weighs In

John Mayer, Executive Director of CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) and blogger at CALIoplis, has done a great service to the community by posting a pithy podcast interview with Professor Vince Chiapetta, an expert on patent law at Willamette University College of Law. Chiapetta is graduate of MIT and University of Michigan Law School (magna cum laude).

I will comment on some of the key themes in future postings, but one item we can lay to rest once and for all is Blackboard's continuing deceptive claim that its patent scope is "limited".

Here is patent scholar and litigator who has read the patent, knows the distinction between independent and dependent claims, and concludes that "the system and method claims are very broadly written. I was pretty amazed at first blush at what ended up in there." Admittedly, Professor Chiapetta's view is only one view but his expert reading of the patent is consistent with what a number of us have been saying all along, namely that the Blackboard patent strikes at the core of essentially all e-learning systems.

The next time Matthew Small, Blackboard's general counsel, says that the patent is "limited", don't believe him and don't be fooled. All he means is that the patent is finite and doesn't cover everything. In that sense every patent is limited because every patent is finite in scope.

Educause Severely Rebukes Blackboard

In an unprecedented action Educause has issued a strong rebuke to Blackboard Inc  over its patent action against Desire2Learn.

As reported in the Chronicle: "Brian L. Hawkins, president of Educause, said the organization's Board of Directors had voted unanimously on Sunday to encourage Blackboard "to drop the patent, drop the lawsuit," and put the technology "in the public domain."

"We think that it is in their best interest and the best interest of the broader higher-education community," Mr. Hawkins said.

Blackboard's Matthew Small replied that Educause's position would not lead to a change in the company's position (i.e. Blackboard doesn't give a shit about what the educational community and its customer base thinks).