Blackboard Acquisition of WebCT
Stephen’s Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Blackboard Acquisition of WebCT
Being the lazy commentator I am, I will link to Stephen Downes’ compilation of commentaries on the acquisition of WebCT by Blackboard and write my own commentary when I have had time to think it all through.
It is also interesting to note an article back in 2003 in Xplanazine and a follow-up this week.
My initial cynical take on this is that Blackboard has swallowed the serious Higher Ed vendor competition which has a better toolset but worse usability, and it will now focus on the VET / TAFE / K-12 market for vendor systems rather than developing new stuff for Higher Ed. If you want Higher Ed tools, go Sakai if you can afford it and / or you have an IT team that wants to play with toys, or go Moodle if you want a ready-made simple system that works and is easy to support or modify.
Or you can go to
Blackboard and WebCT Merger - FAQs
and have all your questions answered by Blackboard …
