Blackboard patents elearning technology
The mind boggles. Blackboard has filed a US patent (and is filing elsewhere in the world) that claims they invented the VLE – courses available on a computer network remotely, the roles of administrator, instructor and student, announcements, course info, online forums, chat and whiteboards.
How serious is this? It depends on what you read whether all VLEs will have to cave in and pay royalties or go to the wall (Blackboard are already suing the unfortunate desire2learn) – or it’s all a storm in a teacup – is Blackboard’s position unsustainable?
I’m wondering if a change in nomenclature and viewpoint would work. Maybe this is the heads-up to the industry to move away from attempting to recreate the face-to-face classroom environment in electronic form – we could be innovating and producing whole new models more suited to learning styles and practice in the world today.
What a useful blog, Helen!