Amy Severson

As Jason said, many of the users do go off in their own direction. I deliver WebCT workshops at SFU, and when I ask instrutors why they attended, they often tell me that it was at the request of their students.

So who's driving the change? - grin.

However! That's not only the case. Some students are very resistant, and many faculty are technologically far more advanced that myself. This is why I feel that WebCT, or other large and slow platforms have a place. It takes that long for some users to get onboard, and they need a platform that changes as slowly as possible, and gives them a solid structure.

Who is building the open-source stuff, and who are the coders and developers building it for? I suspect that it's not for the instructor who just wants to display the PowerPoints recently displayed in class or deliver the midterm grades online. It's for those who want to expand, fly, and change. Modifying and tinkering are great - but do we run the risk of scaring off the late adopters? How can an LMS support both users described in this post? Should it even try?

Still no spell check?!

I was quite shocked when I heard the news, but over time, I've mellowed quite a bit.

SFU currently uses WebCT 4.1, and eventually the university will upgrade to a different WebCT platform or another platform altogether. Now that Blackboard and WebCT are merging, if we continue with the WebCT platform, we'll eventually just upgrade to a combined system. In short, it's not the change that scares me - that's unavoidable, and once you learn one LMS, it's easier to learn a new one. It's like using public transit in a different city - the routes are different, and some rules are changed, but generally, if I follow the maps, I'll get close to where I want to go.

I agree that WebCT is restrictive, and yet so is FirstClass. This is my only experience with Moodle so far, I've never worked in Blackboard and I have only heard reviews of Sakai, so it's hard to me to understand the different between these different platforms.

I just want the different systems to play together better. I'd like a system in which you can integrate multiple plug-ins, and truly make course shell your own.

Ah-ha, It seems I've missed quite the discussion. I'm planning on coming down to the Rendezvous as well, though I will likely not make it until 3pm, given the long treck from Burnaby!

I work at the Burnaby campus of Simon Fraser University, and I am an Instructional Designer in the Learning and Instructional Development Centre. That's right, I'm colleagues with Liz and Vivian, and know Sylvia through emails sent in cyperspace.

See you soon,
Amy

I found the FAQ!!

And reading this thread answered one of my questions - I was only pretty sure that this was being run on Moodle, and now I know.

I've found this discussion area, and am receiving the daily digests - did I miss anything else? No spell check here? Oh dear.

I found the FAQ!!

And reading this thread answered one of my questions - I was only pretty sure that this was being run on Moodle, and now I know.

I've found this discussion area, and am receiving the daily digests - did I miss anything else? No spell check here? Oh dear.