"Many view Blackboard as the embodiment of everything wrong with education technology: it's old-fashioned, it's hard to use, and once a school system has bought into it, it's even harder to get rid of."
Maybe there's hope?????? "Which is why, since joining the company in 2012, Bhatt has vowed to refocus Blackboard's products to serve the students who use them and not just the IT administrators who buy them. Now he's ready to show the world just how he plans to do that. Later today, Bhatt will take the stage at the company's annual BbWorld Conference, where he will announce the launch of the company's redesigned core products and the introduction of new ones, all of which aim to make Blackboard a service that its 100 million existing users actually want to use."
"Some may consider online learning to be the anti-classroom. A rebellion against the chalkboard and the Blackboard in favor of virtual classrooms, avatars in sweater vests lecturing in a Charlie Brown monotone… I simply look at it as a different kind of team approach to learning. More opportunities for inputs. If anything, it makes the scholarship more rigorous. As both teachers and students, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide behind airs of academia when the scholarship can be researched, published, evaluated and revised in a nano-second. It makes educational leadership even more important when the skills necessary to synthesize information both in person and on line are changing, and changing quickly."
focuses on Moodle but has some interesting points on the general effect of course introduction videos on online student engagement/participation
"Studies point to an introductory course video from the instructor welcoming students as being able to cause shifts in course evaluations and discussion postings. For that reason, instructors should consider creating short videos greeting the students"
Does anyone have experience using a platform such as Moodle which is mentioned in this article? I'm assuming there's a cost, but would be interested in the benefits (and downfalls of it).
Jody, I've used Moodle as a student. It's free and open source. You'd just need a place to host it. Not sure if AltLab does that--but they should! I liked it, but didn't do a ton with it. This might be useful: http://elearning.guru/which-learning-management-system-comparing-blackboard-canvas-moodle-part-1-course-content/