"From the analyses that I have read, if you want a complete integrated system, Open Source is no cheaper than commercial packages."
This is possibly true, although one of the benefits is that instead of bundling up your payments, putting them in little envelopes, and sending them to (peoplesoft, microsoft, blackboard) head office you are investing in people who are local to your community. I like that idea.
I know that the money SFU has spent on peoplesoft would buy a LOT of programmer time. Perhaps not enough to build a system from scratch, but as a stake in a collaborative system - and a contribution to a global community - it might be enough.
In the case of Open U's investment in moodle, they will benefit but so will colleges and universities all over the world. And then each of those places can make a small contribution - at the level they can afford - and improve it further or adapt it to local situation. This makes so much sense to me.
It really is the academic model of "standing on the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton would have had a hard time standing on those shoulders if he had to pay licence fees for all his ideas.
(Incidently, have you seen Merton's marvelous derivation of the "standing on shoulders" quote? It goes WAY back before Newton... and in so doing illustrates Newton's point exactly - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226520862/102-3845699-1372923?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance).
Richard Smith
Posts made by Richard Smith
My reaction was: good. Now the dinosaur is even bigger and is more likely to blunder around while the open source mammals (e.g., moodle) start to eat its lunch.
I'm keen to use something new as I've not been impressed with WebCT, which is getting older and older and doesn't seem to change with the times at all.
I am a little concerned, as Heather is, about people just getting comfortable with one platform and being forced to learn another.
On the other hand, this is not the stage in the development of learning management systems when we can honestly say that all the innovation is over and we can converge on a solution. In the mean time, there will inevitably be a lot of flux and we can either sit it out or we can get used to an experience that involves a lot of change in the user experience.
I am somewhat familiar with moodle, and have installed a demo version on my own server, but seeing it here makes me think that sfu will support it and I am interested in having it for my own course - in place of webCT. Can I do that?
I'm keen to use something new as I've not been impressed with WebCT, which is getting older and older and doesn't seem to change with the times at all.
I am a little concerned, as Heather is, about people just getting comfortable with one platform and being forced to learn another.
On the other hand, this is not the stage in the development of learning management systems when we can honestly say that all the innovation is over and we can converge on a solution. In the mean time, there will inevitably be a lot of flux and we can either sit it out or we can get used to an experience that involves a lot of change in the user experience.
I am somewhat familiar with moodle, and have installed a demo version on my own server, but seeing it here makes me think that sfu will support it and I am interested in having it for my own course - in place of webCT. Can I do that?