Using blogs instead of Blackboard

I came across this post on the Chronicle of Higher Ed a few weeks back about a revolt of sorts that is happening in some pockets of academia. Many people seem sick of Blackboard (and in my opinion its anti-competitive tactics) and seem to want to move to different instructional technology media.

I don't blame them. Blackboard has become the Frankenmonster of the LMS world. If a new feature comes out that vaguely competes with its model it either buys it (like it has with other LMS makers) or it tries to replicate it. I have the misfortune of having used the BlackBoard "Blog" which is very unbloglike! Why use it? It looks like an anemic discussion board!

I am all for using freely available tools such as wordpress and blogger for student blogs. There are only two issues that come up: FURPA and Academic Honesty. As much as we hate Blackboard (and other LMS?) when something is due, it's due. All discussions are date stamped and time stamped and you can't go back and edit something without affecting change. In the real world (unless you have a multiuser wordpress blog I think), people can go back and add blog post, edit and delete them. Instructors will need to figure out ways to harvest blog posts and comments (if they are graded) and have a way to prove academic dishonesty.

Comments

Christian said…
I believe a similar argument can be made for Wikis as an ultra-lightweight LMS substitute. Blog or wiki, it's just a simple CMS capable of hosting discussions and widgetized content.

Blackboard's new edition has some Web 2.0 features--about 5 years late (if you date from O'Reilly). UMass Online will begin testing it in 2011. So far, UMass Boston's only real alternative is Wikispaces, and it will have to hold back the waves for a while longer.
June 30, 2009 at 11:28 PM
Apostolos K. ("AK") said…
I actually like wikis better than Blackboard at this point. Most of my experiences are as a student, but I do know how the teacher view works (for this version), and it's clunky as hell.

Beyond the crippled implementation of blogs in the current version of Blackboard, I think that there is something inherently wrong about closing up web 2.0 features behind a walled garden like blackboard - it stifles collaboration. (of course universities doe have FURPA consideration to keep in mind so that may be a good excuse for that)
July 5, 2009 at 10:31 AM
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