Blackboard needs a new motto.
I’ve used Blackboard before. I was forced by my institution to use it. I can excuse applications that are dumbed-down to be usable, but I cannot handle systems that are neither capable nor usable. I won’t go into too much on that, but Bb brought me my most Dilbertesque moment:
A couple of years ago I was speaking with an employee at my institution whose organization supports Bb. I told him I had heard that Bb showed off a SCORM player at a meeting in Zurich (something for which we had waiting a long time). He smiled smugly and quipped, “Blackboard may be expensive, but they’re coming along.”
On August 2nd, Slashdot reported that the makers of this subpar system, following their acquisition of the number two player in the market, have patented certain aspects of their learning management system and plan to sue companies who infringe. (Press Release) Most of their patent claims are ridiculous, but it is obviously not the duty of the U.S. Patent Office to check the validity of applicants’ claims.
The company they’re suing, Desire2Learn, now hosts a page where interested parties can submit proof of prior art (which would invalidate the patent claims). A member of my doctoral committee pointed out Frank Tansey’s Thoughts on CMS Patent Controversies and a point by point dissection of Bb’s claims. Wikipedia is once again proving its worth with a History of virtual learning environments
Some of the functionality Bb patented was present in the two early (late 1960’s) learning systems: Illinois’ PLATO and the lesser-known TICCIT first at Texas, then at BYU. The latter project was led by another member of my committee who had this to say about the situation:
[All sources need to be searched] for prior art to each of the tedious and ponderously worded claims of this terrible patent. The idea of patenting these old ideas in slightly new garb (and many confusing words) is extremely offensive to those of us who thought of them years ago, and shared them widely.
Thus, I suggest that Bb change their motto from:
Blackboard: Educate. Innovate. Everywhere.™
to:
Blackboard: Patent. Sue. Everyone.™
or:
Blackboard: Prior. Art. Everywhere.™