Blackboard Does It Again.
So have you heard the big news? No, not that LeBron is going to Miami. Blackboard buying Elluminate and Wimba to integrate into the new Blackboard Communicate. Now the cynical will say that Blackboard will take the best pieces and make them into the worst functions of the new system... you might be right. What's really interesting is the gluttony of Blackboard. Not only is it not enough to lessen the landscape with LMS's, buying up major players, but also the tools that integrate into the system itself. Sure, people want one-stop shopping, but instead of locking them into tools that they may never use, why not use the building block approach that you already cultivate? Allow these other companies to grow and develop, to work with you and others? Oh yeah, the others bit. If Blackboard got a report card, "Works well with others" would definitely need improvement ("works well with clients" would also probably rank pretty low). Blackboard is acting like Google/Apple/Microsoft and any other large software company, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Yet I am.
Multiple LMS Usage
At Mohawk College, we use multiple learning management systems. I know this is odd, not many folks have the luxury of playing with Blackboard, WebCT, FirstClass and Desire2Learn (as well as Moodle). We're closing in on the dates that will eventually close Blackboard and WebCT as our license will be up. I've been alternately happy and sad about this; I'm happy because these are aging systems, and with Blackboard, hasn't seen widespread adoption in the College. Originally it was our upgrade path from WebCT, until Desire2Learn became our platform of choice. I'm sad because I think there was a small opportunity for a program of study to build in flexibility in teaching and learning for their students. I'm disappointed in the usual push-back that multiple systems are clunky and that students don't want to manage multiple sets of passwords and user names. Well, sure, but they do that already with Hotmail, Gmail, Myspace, Facebook and whatever other stuff they're using. Really, isn't it better to simulate real life, where you might have to login to one system for payroll management, but another for communication? Isn't that building a mental flexibility and an ability to adapt to new systems quickly, a crucial skill going forward?
That's not to say that I'm unhappy with Desire2Learn, it doesn't have any performance issues (much like what Stephen Downes wrote about the Sakai vs. Moodle in the OLDaily) and it's been the best of the lot by a longshot. I wish it was more robust in the web 2.0 area, and a built in collaborative document would be a good way to have student collaborate (without their LiveRoom add in), but it's easier to use than Blackboard and WebCT and is web-based, which is a plus for those who don't want to download the client for FirstClass.
Aesthetics as Part of Usability
So the recent past has me thinking about the aesthetics of e-learning spaces, and while that may seem like a non-issue for many people, I believe it will be incredibly important as educators move forward. We rely on aesthetics to assist us in a quick reliability check. We all do this in real life when we meet a person, as they say first impressions are important. Well, this is no different in e-learning or in a face to face class.
Certainly Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle and other modern LMS's allow a creator to exert some control over how content looks. You are somewhat functionally trapped into a frame where content is held with some of these systems, but in many cases those are constraints that you can work with (against?). As an educator you might also have other issues restricting the look of your content; headers are a certain color, color schemes might be imposed by your institution, usability experts tell you what icon to use for a link or even font size might be restricted.
As an educator you have a dual purpose as well, you need to make your content accessible as well. So that means you should consider things like contrast of color, whether your font size is large enough for the visually impaired and whether your images have alt tags to ensure a screen reader can convey the description properly to a user. In fact, your institution might be under law to make your content accessible.
Frames in and of themselves pose problems for stringent accessibility rules, so your LMS might already be screwing you. It's quite possible it's screwing you anyways... never mind that ugly thought...
It's not particularly difficult to make a website accessible. It can be tricky to make it aesthetically pleasing and usable. Seeing as I've brought up visually impaired users, I would be very very remiss to not mention this other blog article about 10 Tools for Evaluating Web Site Accessibility especially for color blind users. While these are for websites, you can use most of these tools within LMS's as well. The Firefox extention (#1 in the linked article) is excellent, and has identified a couple areas that I need to be aware of in my own work. Of course, this doesn't really speak about aesthetics. Well not explicitly anyways.
Aesthetics are pleasing the eye - which can be difficult to hit the centre of the target everytime as we all view things differently. I often get asked, how can I make something look good? Practice is my default answer, but when pressed I will concede that you can't go wrong with the classic black, white and grey. Add an accent color of (one of) red, blue or green and your e-learning space will look professional. If you have a predetermined header, or logo, grab one of the colors as an accent from that. Simplicity is key. It's when people start to get fancy that sometimes people run into trouble.
Blechboard
As Blackboard moves more and more towards a corporate, soulsucking model of managing... in an homage to WackyPacks (which probably has done more to foster my sense of humor, bad puns and everything else)... I bring you Blechboard:
And in the spirit of the Open Ed conference that's going on in Vancouver - my remix of the Blackboard logo is satirical - feel free to reproduce but be aware that your rights might be different than my rights. Blackboard logo is a registered trademark of the Blackboard company.
Tags Used
Administrate Meta-Phor
Twitter Feed
- @jonbecker more likely the edtech network
- @gsiemens bet if you mapped those values (homes, oil, ed) to stock markets you'd see the same overvaluation
- heh, the morning I spent reading and compiling data, it seems the twitter has all exploded with good stuff
- anyone know of good uses and gratification studies of website use? Not just facebook or myspace, but wider ranging studies?
- Education, .. and development are good things, but they don't have to be delivered through an expensive BA program. http://bit.ly/cCgAJa
Blogroll
- A List Apart
- Bava Tuesdays / Jim Groom
- Clay Shirky's Internet Writings
- Connectivism
- Educational Technology.ca / Alec Couros
- Elearnspace / George Siemens
- Howard Rheingold
- Presentation Zen / Garr Reynolds
- The Ed Rush / Ed Webb
