Now that Blackboard has effectively bought out Moodle, they are wasting no time making their presence noticed. Just look at the #Moodle hashtag on Twitter today and it’s right in your face. Moodle sells out and Blackboard takes over…of course, I still don’t see Blackboard in the Official Moodle Partner list over at Moodle.com

MoodleBoard

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I love it when people tell it like it is…especially when that person is the leader of a very successful endeavor and doesn’t care that the truth may offend the “elites” in the industry. Kudos to the Canvas leadership for putting it out there.

But what about open source? Yes Ray Henderson talks a lot about open source, but clearly it’s eyewash. Blackboard hasn’t changed, but hope springs eternal.

So, what’s going to happen now? Expect more confusion. I don’t think it requires much imagination to suppose that the Moodle and Sakai community will become even more jumbled and Blackboard will shove innovation even further back on the burner.

And what about Instructure? Most of our customers are former Blackboard schools. We rarely see Moodle or Sakai make it to the short list of any education institution. We launched only 13 months ago and have just closed our 128th school. Why did Alamo Colleges, Auburn, Brown, Maricopa Community Colleges and Wharton pick us? Because Canvas is the open, full featured LMS platform, built on modern technology, native to the cloud. Instructure is about innovation.

And no, Blackboard can’t buy us – it’s not all about the money. (Yes, that’s my 2011 W-2.)

Keep learning,
-josh

Source: http://www.instructure.com/blog/2012/03/27/blackboard-calls-it-quits/

And in related news, it seems the Moodle lead dev isn’t getting a lot of love related to this sellout and he doesn’t seem to be taking it well…see screenshot below

The Blackboard PR department may have to contact him and provide some training on maintaining the proper corporate image.  Maybe the training department can travel to Australia and provide that training to all MoodleBoard employees like, according to the Chronicle, the BB leadership did when asking for his blessing on this deal:

Officials from Moodlerooms, NetSpot, and Blackboard recently traveled to Australia to tell the inventor of Moodle, Martin Dougiamas, of their plans, and in a way, to ask for his blessing. He is quoted in a press release by Blackboard as saying that he will continue to consider Moodlerooms and NetSpot official Moodle partners.

Source: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/blackboard-buys-2-leading-supporters-of-open-source-competitor-moodle

Source: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=199248#p868841

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Blackboard was bought out by Providence Equity Partners venture (vulture?) capitalists, who specialise in leveraged buyouts, last year. Presumably they borrowed the $1.64 billion they paid and need to see a significant return on that ASAP. Leveraged buyouts are usually about a fast turnaround and how to extract the biggest possible return in the shortest possible time regardless of the long-term outcomes. If they destroy Moodle and/or Blackboard in the process, that’s just business.

Source: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=199248#p868732

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Blackboard announces the purchase of moodlerooms, the largest Moodle partner. For those of you who don’t know, Moodle partners pay a stipend (normally around 10%) to Moodle HQ. Wonder how much Moodle HQ got and will continue to get in this deal?

Not sure why this should surprise anyone…Moodle was never an open source project…it was always about pretending to be one, getting free labor and development from thousands of people, and making a handy profit off a closed business model. However, this announcement takes the business side of Moodle to a complete new level.

I remember years ago, in the early days of Moodle, when the Open University had about 3 million pounds to invest in an LMS and decided to go with Moodle. There was a lot of concern about what that kind of money and influence could do to an “open source” project…many feel it drove moodle development via the development interest of the OU and not necessarily the community. That kind of money and influence doesn’t even begin to touch what Blackboard will bring to the table. I predicted years ago, even before, the ex-BB executive bought into Moodlerooms that this was heading toward BB owning Moodle.

Today Moodle just got Owned!

Of course, the lead dev is already trying to put lipstick on this pig and I’m sure many will pucker up and kiss it, but I’m not one of them…a pig is still a pig, no matter how much you try to dress it up

I would be misleading everyone if I said I wasn’t enjoying this more than just a little…to see the shock on the faces of all those Moodle disciples–and the cognitive dissonance of a couple already is priceless

First disciple in denial: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=199248#p868706

Second disciple (even named himself after Moodle)  in denial:

“@moodler: Bb has NOT bought Moodle itself. I want that to be perfectly clear.” <= @moodler is the project lead of #moodle

March 26, 2012 7:21 pm via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@moodleman

Julian Ridden

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I thought for sure we were headed for a showdown of Blackboard vs. Moodle. However as time progressed, even months before the RFP went out I could tell that there was a big buzz about Canvas. So much that Moodle fell right off the radar of pretty much everyone.

Source: http://blog.usu.edu/kevin/2011/11/04/getting-ready-with-canvas/

Moodle: 1990′s technology in 2011

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This is  becoming an everyday thing now. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all the colleges, universities, and K12 systems that have decided to dump Moodle and move into the 21st century with their LMS, but whether I post about it or not, the move is happening.

For all you out there who are on Moodle 1.9.x now and are thinking about “upgrading” to 2.x, you should really think about making the move to an LMS that was designed for this century. Canvas is open source and is light years ahead of Moodle in about every way. Upgrading to Moodle 2.x will get you no increased functionality; you will have a much more complicated and slower system; and you will still have one of the most insecure systems on the net. If you’re happy with 1990′s technology, then stay with Moodle, but if you want an open source LMS that was designed for this century, then Canvas is the way to go.

A university in Fredericksburg, VA has begun its move to a new open source, SaaS-based learning management system. Several instructors at the University of Mary Washington have started using Instructure Canvas in place of Blackboard software for their summer courses. The campus, whose Blackboard contract ends in August 2011, will move fully to Canvas in the fall semester.

An LMS committee of faculty and students had been meeting since spring 2010 to evaluate alternatives to Blackboard. The college had been running version 8, which was initially released in early 2008. Finalists under consideration included Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodlerooms, and Instructure. In January 2011 each vendor gave a two-hour presentation, in which they were expected to enter a syllabus, upload and manage media, control course and guest access, use built-in and third-party tools, and demonstrate other aspects of the applications. Instructure was announced as the winner in February.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/06/07/u-mary-washington-begins-move-to-instructure-lms.aspx?sc_lang=en

Moodle–1990′s technology in 2011!

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I’m reminded of a line in that commercial…Lost another to Ditech, aka, Moodle lost another to _____________ you fill in the blank

A learning management systems task team composed of 20 faculty, four from each of the colleges, chose Instructure Canvas over Blackboard Learn 9.1 and 10 other systems during the summer.

“We took 12 proposals from various learning management system vendors and narrowed it down to two,” Usha Venkat, director of information and communication technologies, said Sept. 19.

Source: http://www.theranger.org/canvas-program-to-replace-blackboard-vista-1.2639275#.TooNN7K3N2J

Moodle = 1990′s technology in 2011!

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The switch to Canvas represents “a really necessary upgrade to kind of move into the 21st century,” he added.

After analyzing over 1,000 faculty and student survey responses and listening to feedback from focus groups, CIS opted for the Canvas platform. When the committee tested different systems in front of groups of students in the Sharpe Refectory last spring, the response to Canvas was overwhelmingly positive, Kagan said.

In many ways, the new system will be like “a blank canvas,” facilitating the addition of new tools as they emerge as well as having multimedia capabilities, Bergeron said.

Source: http://www.browndailyherald.com/canvas-slated-to-replace-mycourses-1.2637661#.Ton2M7K3N2I

There seems to be a movement in the LMS air these days…a movement from Moodle to just about anything else in the LMS world. Moodle’s 1990′s technology isn’t cutting it anymore. Anyone adopting Moodle these days is literally adopting technology from the last century. Moodle…1990′s technology in 2011!

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Hawaii Department of Education Selects Blackboard Learn 9.1 to Replace Open Source LMS.

The Hawaii Department of Education’s Extended Learning Opportunities and Student Support section has chosen Blackboard Learn™ 9.1 to replace an open source learning management system (LMS) Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced today. The platform provides online courses for over 1,200 students through the Hawaii Virtual Learning Network-ESchool (HVLN-ESchool) and over 500 teachers annually through the HVLN-Project Inspire program.

Prior to moving to Release 9.1, HVLN utilized an open source platform to deliver online content. But the need for additional features, easy customizations, and greater functionality prompted them to explore options for a more robust LMS platform. HLVN also anticipated an increase in student and teacher enrollments, suggesting the need for an enterprise capable implementation.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/20/3925118/hawaii-department-of-education.html#ixzz1ZN9eFQo1

Simply put, you can’t effectively educate 21st century students using a platform grounded in 1990s technology.

“The evaluation conducted by HVLN was a complete assessment of teaching and learning needs, cost comparisons and product performance,”

Moodle: Serving all your 1990′s learning needs in 2011….no thanks, says Hawaii

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The news that someone has offered to buy Blackboard is causing quite a bit of chatter in LMS circles today…not to mention a big boost to some who may own stock. My advice…sell now before the hype wears off Of course, I never was good at reading the stock market–I guess if the phantom buyer turns out to be a big player–think Google, Microsoft, or even a huge textbook publisher, then holding onto that stock may prove to be a very good idea. I love it that the CNBC article mentioned Instructure as one of the most interesting competitors and completely ignores Moodle…maybe they’ve been talking to those who have upgraded to Moodle 2.0 However, just so Moodle Disciples out there don’t feel completely left out, I think the announcement by Instructure last week that it has raised $8 million in capital and is in this for the long haul, did contain several references to Moodle, without mentioning it by name.

The following statements from that announcement has Moodle written all over them…

“Our mission is to relieve teachers and students in all levels of education of antiquated technology.”

– Antiquated/Moodle — synonymous

““We were compelled by Josh and his team’s vision of delivering outstanding user experiences to those in the education market,”

– Checked the Moodle 2.0 satisfaction meter lately? Even some of the hardest of the hard-core disciples, are starting to see the light.

“The LMS market is long overdue for a new learning platform built on the latest Web-based technologies.”

– Yea, that’s what the disciples over in moodleland were saying about Moodle 2.0 during it’s 3+ years in development…are you feeling it yet Moodlers?

“At EPIC, we were searching for a disruptive play to serve the dynamic needs of students in the 21st century,” said Nick Efstratis of EPIC Ventures. “Instructure is that company.”

A “disruptive play”…I love it!

“Canvas leverages the leading edge of web technologies by embracing features such as drag-and-drop file uploads, HTML5 video and automatic speech-to-text conversion.”

Humm…well, Moodle 2.0 has a “new” file system as well, doesn’t it — I don’t think it’s drag-and-drop and I’m not hearing a lot of love out there for it…in fact, it’s reducing  die-hard disciples to tears.

If BB does get bought by a tech giant and if Instructure does push forward aggressively with it’s mission, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy watching Moodle with its 1990′s look, feel, and functionality die a slow death over the next few years.

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