Several higher education institutions in Utah are part of a Blackboard Vista 4 statewide implementation hosted by the very capable and laudable folks at UEN. While I myself have never been a fan of the WebCT/Blackboard Vista as a Learning Management System (LMS), I recognized early in the pilot that the choice of this LMS was inevitable, and so we roll with the punches.
However, even prior to the official implementation of (then WebCT) Vista, John Krutsch and I began test-piloting Moodle, the popular open source LMS. Both John and I found Moodle 1.6 to be, in most respects, fully the equal of Blackboard Vista 4; though it lacked a couple of important features (e.g. selective release), it also sported some great and forward-looking new tools (e.g. workshops with peer/self-assessments, blogs, wikis, RSS, student-edited glossaries, custom themes, etc). Add to that the fact that Moodle is open source, has a formidable user-base that’s always supportive, and requires no licensing fee, Moodle seemed the likely successor of BB Vista.
Earlier this month there have been orchestrations by a local company called Agilix to woo state institutions towards their new LMS product, GoCourses. Though already in use by BYU’s extensive Independent Study program, my preview of the Agilix LMS struck me as still in beta. But that’s a good thing, for Agilix seems keen to listen to ideas and feedback from state institutions as it urges each of us to the alter.
On the BB Vista admin’s mailing list there have been some questions and some minor grumblings about Agilix, and the possibility of massive change despite the fact that most of us who are involved in educational technology are still licking our wounds from the Vista migration. Here’s my response to all the good folks there:
Though IMS and common cartridge is coming along, I think we’re still a long way from a painless transition, no matter what happens. Whether it’s a change from BB Vista to BB Super Enterprise Campus Miracle Edition, or to Agilix or to Moodle or to whatever, there will be pain. WebCT CE 4 to WebCT Vista 4 is pain. Vista or CE to Moodle is pain. Sometimes even Vista to Vista is pain. I’m about to find out if Moodle or Vista to Agilix is pain. We owe it to ourselves to make sure the pain’s worth it.
From my point of view, migrating to Blackboard Vista has not been worth the pain. Don’t get me wrong: I have absolutely no complaints with the strong support and command of Vista that UEN provides us, but the Vista product itself was hardly a huge advance from CE 4.1, and, as I’ve suggested in the past, Vista took almost as many steps backward as it took forward.
At UVU we too are experimenting with alternatives, and I support these experiments as much out of apathy for Blackboard as out of recognition that change _is_ inevitable. My personal prediction is we at UVSC will see some sort of institutional LMS change pushed down or brought up within 2 years. To that end, I’m excited to play with Agilix, but I’m still very enthused about our successes and experiences with Moodle. I doubt either will be a panacea, but that’s probably true of anything we try. At least with Moodle it’s open source and easily modifiable, customizable, and of course the license is free.
If that seems too much of an endorsement of Moodle, think again: I am after the absolute best LMS that will offer our diverse institutions more of what they need than Vista currently does. I’m also strongly in favor of longevity in a product, and the mere fact that Moodle is open source and does not have a limited license sets me at ease. But if another product had a similar solution (i.e. an unlimited use, perpetual license) that would satisfy me as well.
At any rate, it’s going to be an interesting next few years. I am privileged to be witness to the rapid changes in LMS, and have hope that we’ll end up with something that is ultimately better. Eventually I want to see us go LMS-less, but that, wouldn’t you know, still poses a number of significant challenges, both for IT and regular (non-geek) faculty.