by Julie Kelleher
Last week, Joshua Kim of Inside Higher Ed, posted some thought provoking questions in his blog evaluating Service Pack 8, the latest release of Blackboard Learn. After commenting that the new UI of SP8 looks “clean and modern”, he raised the following question:
“How big a deal would an upgrade be?”
Realizing that some of our clients may be asking the same question, I felt compelled to respond. The short answer is that the new look and feel offered with SP8 would not negatively impact an upgrade decision for 2 reasons:
- Flexibility and Choice
- Early Client Validation
Flexibility and Choice
Change management has been a core focus for us in recent years, and SP8 is no exception. In addition to having the choice to introduce new features and a modernized UI when they’re ready, through our Service Pack model, our clients also have the flexibility to choose which features and UI theme to deploy with SP8. (more…)
by Sheryn Anthes
As the person who helps manage our upgrade resources and change management programs, I am pleased to say that in the past year, we experienced the largest migration of clients moving from older platforms to the latest version of Blackboard’s learning management system. Over 2,000 institutions are now using or in the process of moving to Blackboard Learn™, Release 9.1. They are enjoying the benefits of improved workflow efficiencies for instructors and administrators as well as digital content integrations.
There are a few recent decisions that I want to take a moment to highlight. Both the State University of New York (SUNY) and Idaho State Board of Education recently selected Blackboard as a technology partner for online learning. This represents a trend in more decisions being made at the state-wide or system-wide levels. (more…)
by Mike Lovell
I’ve followed my healthy obsession of learning management system (LMS) evaluations to South Africa, this time, settling my gaze on Stellenbosch University and their recent evaluation of Moodle, Sakai, and Blackboard Learn™ 9.1.
To start, I spoke with JP Bosman, Senior Advisor of eLearning, and Johann Kistner, IT Director, at Stellenbosch University, to walk through their decision making process and understand, in detail, the undertaking of their evaluation from detailed feature parity analysis to final decision.
Stellenbosch University Crest
Pectora roborant cultus recti.
[A Sound Education Strengthens the Spirit.]
(more…)
by Kelly Hamilton
We’ve been talking about ANGEL 8.0 for a while now—since before the merger with Blackboard—and now it’s here. Yesterday we announced the general availability of ANGEL 8.0. So, what’s the big deal (when you’ve been told it’s a small update)?
There are some big benefits for ANGEL clients who upgrade to ANGEL 8.0. First, this is the only fully supported ANGEL release with service packs to be planned through the end of life of ANGEL in October 2014. These service packs will provide continued support of product issues that arise. ANGEL 7.4 moves to Operational Support in October 2012 at which time no further service packs will be planned, though security vulnerabilities will continue to be resolved on both code lines. (more…)
by Mike Lovell
By the end of 2009, Brunel University had come to a crossroads with their flagship learning management system. Their options were clear; either, recommit to Blackboard, the owners of their WebCT virtual learning environment or, alternatively, migrate to an open source platform used by some institutions in the UK.
I spoke with Alex Osmond, Project Manager of VLE Transition at Brunel University, to sift through their internal and external documentation and, most importantly, pick the brain of someone who was involved in one of the toughest decisions an e-Learning Department can face. (more…)
