An Open Source Alternative to Blackboard? 84
mandrake*rpgdx asks: "The college I work for is looking into creating an all in one online system for teachers and students to be able to take tests, give online courses and do other daily tasks. They are currently looking into the Blackboard system. Is there an FOSS alternative that I could suggest using at their next meeting?"
Re:Sakai (Score:3, Insightful)
Try Moodle [moodle.org] instead.
Many to choose from (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I never liked Blackboard. I learned WebCT back in its infancy (v 1.1, 1.something beta for Win32) after struggling with TopClass for a few months. We were up and running with 12 completely online classes (english, library science, biology, etc) in just 2 weeks using WebCT.
Also, I've been playing with Desire2Learn for a few months - they may be worthwhile in a few years, but not now.
Check with the powers-that-be regarding license costs, server costs (our new webct servers are gonna be about $22k each next fall), whos going to admin them, if publisher prepared courses are desireable (usually are by instructors, but usually include so much as to be overwhelming and therefore nearly useless), etc. Also consider that many of the big players (webct and bb included) can host courses for you on their servers, etc.
Re:Moodle? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd say the main problem with free alternatives is really stupid project names. Moodle? WTF? People need to realize that the name is even more critical than features or capabilities. Having a bad name will get you nowhere. It needs to be simple, non-offensive, non-weird, and describe the product. I wouldn't feel comfortable putting a name like "Moodle" on university publications.
Re:OSS = Free (Score:2, Insightful)
One may not be "looking to" make modifications, but still want the ability to make them if cause arises.
I'm not "looking to" do any serious repairs on my car, but I would certainly take any sort of vendor lock on repairs as a negative feature when next I buy.
Blackboard is awful, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
However, it is very firmly embedded in academia, and I suspect you'll have a hard time dissuading them. There are mailing [jiscmail.ac.uk] lists [jiscmail.ac.uk] a plenty, those conferences I mentioned, a documented API/plugin architecture which already supports a fairly wide market of 3rd party extensions, which could provide another barrier to switching, etc.
So, I would love to see an OSS VLE, because there's surely room for improvement, but I'm not aware of any that's really ready, and even if there is, it faces the usual uphill battle against entrenched investment and long term commitment in terms of extensions, staff training, etc.