Attaining Mobility-Oriented Features: The Way Forward
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Ken Udas
[Editor’s Note: The UMassOnline blog has evolved into a community of discussion both offline and online through the public blog. Recently we received an ‘offline’ question that we thought would be helpful to answer through a public blog post in hopes we would open this discussion up and gather more feedback from others in our growing learning community.
The question posed: When is UMASS going to upgrade to a newer version of Blackboard that has mobility oriented features such as RSS feeds and mobile clients for smart phones? In answer to this inquiry, UMassOnline CEO Dr. Ken Udas has written the following post.]
You ask an appropriate and timely question. The short answer to your question is, we’re getting there and we will have a solution soon. Optimally, when the campuses make it clear they want a specific functionality, it is our job to deliver it as best we can. That is, whenever possible, the use of functionality within in the learning environments should be dictated by the faculty and students using the technology and not the inherent limitations of the technology. More accurately stated, it is our job to make decisions about technology that liberate opportunity rather than constrain it. But the longer answer deserves a more significant explanation about why this isn’t an automatic thing and how the very sort of question you are asking points to why we need to re-think how and why technology solutions are reviewed and selected by UMassOnline in partnership with the campuses and students we serve.
The Blackboard Learning System we now use was the innovation of an independent third-party software application vendor that Blackboard acquired a few years ago. This older platform version, Vista Enterprise License – Release Version 8, features no PowerLink for instant-on mobility features nor has Blackboard made any commitment to provide this functionality for our version of the Blackboard Learning System. It should come as no surprise that the goal of most software companies is to migrate all customers, especially acquired users, eventually to their core offerings. It makes business sense for them, but can and often does make orphans of those whose applications were acquired. And that makes little business sense for us, especially in this case.
One alternative is to accept a wholesale upgrade to Blackboard’s latest version of their own pedigreed software. Migrating platforms is not a trivial activity. It is expensive and while it solves the issue you raise, it creates a new one: their latest version does not support multi-campus support, which obviously is critical to our operation. But there’s really a much bigger issue. If UMassOnline and its constituencies want to be in the best possible position to meet new and evolving technology opportunities that enhance learning and teaching, we have to make provider choices that grant us the greatest flexibility going forward. Time and again, end-all, be-all software solutions from vendors over which any one institution can have little effect, paints us into corners that significantly limit our options, force migrations, and disrupt our core mission to serve learners and faculty. This, by the way, explains why companies such as Digital Equipment, Wang, Prime Computer, Data General and many others are merely footnotes today in contemporary technology history. Their once-dominant proprietary operating systems, applications and hardware that locked users in to permanent allegiance no matter what, ignited an industry-wide revolt that led to portable operating systems, open software standards, and all-platform applications running on hardware that adheres to standards. We’re in that sort of place right here, right now, in applications for online learning and teaching in higher education.
Our current solution won’t provide the function you are asking for; their new product removes a functionality we have to have. And anything we do with an eye to the future must provide the greatest degree of flexibility, even in some cases for things we may not as yet have imagined either possible or necessary. Although it is possible we may find and source a proprietary platform from Blackboard or some other commercial product that meets these objectives, it is just as likely that a different kind of solution, one, for example, that is built and maintained by like-minded developers, committed to open standards, with common ground in higher education applications and objectives, will prevail.
Now to the specific details that explain the process we invoke to source next generation technology solutions. The features you ask about are currently under review and validation within the context of an all-campus Learning Platform Review process. This process began in January, it is still under development, and its scope is broad, but it does include a careful examination of the appropriateness and usefulness today, and in the future, of platform features such as RSS feeds and mobile clients. This process would also include the consideration of multiple support of mobile clients/platforms as the Blackboard Learn application is only available for the iPhone. I think that most of us have realized that the flexibility of a platform, and its ability to easily integrate learning tools within an open framework, is perhaps more important the static functionality set within a particular application.
The Learning Platform Review process and its pan-campuses participants continue to explore ways that may result in a Blackboard-based solution. But at the same time, we are evaluating alternative providers, potential open source options, and a variety of other avenues. Going forward, the current thinking is that we are not seeking a mere Learning Management System. Instead, we’re pursuing the possibility of a more contemporary idea of a Learning Management platform, or learning management operating system, that would support multiple components such as Content Management Systems, other functions, and a host of standards compliant tools. This approach could prove more productive and have greater architectural and performance longevity and scalability as the world of technology continues to evolve.
Our selection process isn’t entirely open ended and it does not extend forever although at this juncture it wouldn’t be prudent to predict an end-date, a decision, and a solution implementation timetable. But the current plan calls for the issuance of a Request For Information (RFI) in the coming months to be followed in a timely manner by a period of open public comment. Subsequent to that, possibly this coming summer period, a Request for Bid (RFB) will be issued in accordance with the public procurement procedures.
I invite you and all others to use this space to discuss your technology preferences and needs. It is only through an open dialogue all of us can gain the best insights and ultimately make the best decisions going forward.
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This is an interesting topic to discuss. I was here when we switched from prometheus to WebCT Vista (aka Blackboard Vista) and I saw the confusion that is usually caused by a major platform switch among the users of that platform.
I own an iphone, and as a current online student I do hop onto blackboard on the train to catch up on discussion board postings. I think that a full native client isn’t needed, just an LMS that sees that you are using a mobile browser and reformats the page to make things more legible on the screen real estate you’ve got.
One thing that I would like to see is synchronous meeting software that works on mobile platforms. For example we can call into WIMBA now from a phone, but we can’t see the content presented unless we are on a computer that runs java. Blackboard for me works well enough on my iphone. I would love to see is synchronous meeting software that works well on a mobile platform (either through an app, or a browser), that way we can dial into our classes and fully participate without the need to be sitting in front of a computer.