Comments on: Blogging: The Solution to (most) of Your Classroom Needs http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/ Thoughts on Technology and Higher Education Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:36:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Andreas http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/comment-page-1/#comment-26228 Andreas Sat, 13 Oct 2007 21:51:08 +0000 http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=183#comment-26228 Oh, yes. I agree. At my university our online system for course managment is absolutely frustration. Clickety-click, trouble, impossible to use, littered with features noone uses. Now I hear they are implementing wikis into the system. Wikis! Listen: The people that want to create and maintain a wiki would probably know how to put up a wiki themselves. Why not make the basics work? Then let people figure out solutions for their advanced needs themselves. Oh, yes. I agree.

At my university our online system for course managment is absolutely frustration. Clickety-click, trouble, impossible to use, littered with features noone uses.

Now I hear they are implementing wikis into the system. Wikis! Listen: The people that want to create and maintain a wiki would probably know how to put up a wiki themselves. Why not make the basics work? Then let people figure out solutions for their advanced needs themselves.

]]> By: I’m stuck…. « peregrina historiae http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/comment-page-1/#comment-16696 I’m stuck…. « peregrina historiae Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:31:41 +0000 http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=183#comment-16696 [...] Using a blog as a course website. [...] [...] Using a blog as a course website. [...]

]]> By: Cathy Garland http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/comment-page-1/#comment-13726 Cathy Garland Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:39:37 +0000 http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=183#comment-13726 I suggest that schools stop investing so much money in monopolizing companies such as Blackboard. (Simple economics says that they can charge so much money because they think they are the only one and the schools will pay it.) There are other CMS/LMS out there that are much less expensive, far more easy to use, and have all the features schools need. I recommend a good look at Scholar360. It offers all the academic features professors and student need, along with a social networking feature that student love! Cathy P.S.: Many universities pay well over a million dollars for Blackboard before all is said and done. There are plenty of LMS/CMS under 10K. I suggest that schools stop investing so much money in monopolizing companies such as Blackboard. (Simple economics says that they can charge so much money because they think they are the only one and the schools will pay it.) There are other CMS/LMS out there that are much less expensive, far more easy to use, and have all the features schools need.

I recommend a good look at Scholar360. It offers all the academic features professors and student need, along with a social networking feature that student love!

Cathy

P.S.: Many universities pay well over a million dollars for Blackboard before all is said and done. There are plenty of LMS/CMS under 10K.

]]> By: Laura http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/comment-page-1/#comment-13692 Laura Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:58:01 +0000 http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=183#comment-13692 I so agree with you about the clunkiness of cms's and am constantly frustrated by my own university's continued investment in a system that doesn't really meet people's needs. I, too, would rather see that money go into staff to develop or customized software that's useful and easy to use. I, myself, use blogs whenever I teach and IM for virtual conferences. I have used the cms only for administrative tasks--grading, collecting papers, storing copyrighted materials. It seems there must be a system that's cheaper and does the administrative tasks much more simply. I so agree with you about the clunkiness of cms’s and am constantly frustrated by my own university’s continued investment in a system that doesn’t really meet people’s needs. I, too, would rather see that money go into staff to develop or customized software that’s useful and easy to use. I, myself, use blogs whenever I teach and IM for virtual conferences. I have used the cms only for administrative tasks–grading, collecting papers, storing copyrighted materials. It seems there must be a system that’s cheaper and does the administrative tasks much more simply.

]]> By: James Farmer http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2007/blogging-the-solution-to-most-of-your-classroom-needs/comment-page-1/#comment-13592 James Farmer Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:19:57 +0000 http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=183#comment-13592 Thanks for the nice words and pointers - the presentation was for a keynote and so deliberate in it's attempts to stir up discussion (noone wants to listen to balanced arguments for 50 minutes do they ;) To be honest I'm not so concerned that Unis won't use free services but that they won't invest in simple, effective and customisable OS solutions, but are happier throwing hundreds of thousands at cumbersome, shoddy, managerial driven solutions. Thanks for the nice words and pointers – the presentation was for a keynote and so deliberate in it’s attempts to stir up discussion (noone wants to listen to balanced arguments for 50 minutes do they ;)

To be honest I’m not so concerned that Unis won’t use free services but that they won’t invest in simple, effective and customisable OS solutions, but are happier throwing hundreds of thousands at cumbersome, shoddy, managerial driven solutions.

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