I’ve been swamped (and drowning) the past couple days at work in e-learning management systems (called LMSs) and the standards and specifications that come with them.
Think IQT, IEEE LOR, IEEE LOM, SCORM and the IMS GLC Interoperability Guidelines if you want to get an idea.
However, I was pleasantly diverted from hard work when I hit the Blackboard site, a producer of these LMSs and their spoofs of the Mac vs PC ads by Apple.
The story here is that Blackboard apparently just announced their Project NG (Next Generation multi-user software) which relies heavily on ‘new technologies’ like Ajax and ‘web 2.0′. The videos were shown during BbWorld ‘08, their annual global users conference last July.
One of the ‘ads’ even has Woz in them, advertising how the new BB software even works in Safari and soon on the iPhone.
For some reason, I can’t view these on the BB site anymore and I’m redirected to this obscure disclaimer. Has Apple swung at the little guys again and sent C&D letters tot the education community?
In any case, you can still watch them on YouTube. They’re not that well-made perhaps, and a bit long, but they’re fun and well-intentioned. Shows how makers of the more ‘boring software’ can have a good sense of humour.
And, since they’re going for the Apple look-and-feel, a sense of style too!
Tags: Apple, blackboard, elearning, Funny, mac, pc, spoof, Video, youtube
12 August 2008 at 6:42 pm
Well, one thing’s for sure, the Blackboard system couldn’t get much worse, so I hope the new version is as good as they say it is. There are much better education management systems out there for now, though. Blackboard is used a lot, because it appeals to higher education’s typical snobbery, in that it’s something you pay for, unlike many other e-learning systems (ATutor is one of the better known, and arguably better, open source examples, probably).
BB has a long history of being an asshat company, too…
12 August 2008 at 10:17 pm
Really? That’s interesting because it seemed like a great product (be it too much for what we’d ever need). Thanks for that headsup though. Always nice to get some insights from people who know more about things. For instance, I hadn’t even heard of ATutor, so I’ll be checking that out. That and the asshat track record of BB of course.