Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
On Heels of Injunction, Desire2Learn Releases New LMS, Repository, ePortfolio
3/14/2008
Extra Credit Although Blackboard pledged in February 2007 that it would not assert its patent rights against developers of open-source learning management systems, the existence of the patent and the lawsuit against rival commercial developer Desire2Learn have left many uneasy. Both Desire2Learn and the open-source advocacy group the Software Freedom Law Center have filed for the USPTO to reexamine the validity of the patent. Both requests have been granted. The reexaminations have not yet concluded. More Information Comments on Patent Pledge and Background Information --D. Nagel |
Desire2Learn has released new versions of its Learning Environment and Learning Repository software, as well as its new ePortfolio product. The announcement comes on the heels of two legal setbacks in Desire2Learn's patent infringement case with Blackboard.
The Desire2Learn Learning Environment 8.3 release is a direct result of a March 10 injunction against the company from selling version 8.2.2 or earlier in the United States, which followed the loss in February 2008 in the patent infringement case Blackboard brought against D2L back in 2006. Although it follows the injunction by just a few days, the company said version 8.3 has been in the works for the last year, redesigned to remove elements that might infringe on Blackboard's patent (the validity of which is still being reexamined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and also enhanced with new features.
These new features of the Learning Environment (part of the Enterprise eLearning Suite) include expanded customization options, including in the ares of course migration and "individualized learning paths"; new collaboration through group management (group discussion areas, group drop boxes, and group lockers); and expanded assessment and learning outcomes management features.
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
