For Blackboard, the popular provider of collegiate course-management systems, new clients don’t come cheap.
A new study estimates that Blackboard spends about $259,000—mostly on software demonstrations and proposal writing—for each college it woos. To make that fee worthwhile, writes the blogger Michael Feldstein, the company tries pitching its wares to university systems rather than individual campuses. And Blackboard makes it a point to "upsell and cross-sell like crazy," aggressively offering additional products to institutions that already use its learning-management system, Mr. Feldstein says.
On the one hand, that’s just capitalism at work. But on the other, it’s in sharp contrast to the economics of open-source digital course management, in which the virtues of new products are self-evident and require little promoting. (e-Literate)
5 Responses to The Economics of Blackboard
jliedl - January 30, 2012 at 9:02 pm
I’ll feel empathy for the Vassar folks beyond the front-line individuals who had to man the phones and tell the truth when the jerk who authorized the test acceptance letter and this method of testing it owns to her or his stupidity. Agency’s missing in this story, as you note, and until someone on behalf of the institution admits that someone on Vassar’s staff made this mistake, they’re tarring everyone with the same big brush of jerkitude.
It’s not uniquely digital, mind you. I’ve heard tell, back in the good ol’ days, of hard copy packages getting mixed-up. The difference now is that everyone knows nigh-unto instantly and that journalists can also get on this story quickly which otherwise might not have come to their attention.
physioprof - January 30, 2012 at 10:19 pm
How you know you’re a fucken olde codger: you love Mr. Bill! OOOOOOOH NOOOOOOO MR. HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
historiann - February 1, 2012 at 3:11 pm
SPAM
historiann - February 1, 2012 at 3:13 pm
jliedl makes a great point: the internet just makes the screw-up more comprehensive, easier and faster to correct, and also something that might come to the attention of a New York Times reporter in real time.
I wonder what the reaction of applicants would be if a school did business only through hard copies in the U.S. mail? (And I thought you were down on the U.S. Mail, TR!)
mrsnorthernbarbarian - February 3, 2012 at 3:20 pm
This actually happened at the large state university where my father worked, back in the dark days of snail mail. Being a large state university, this happened with over 400 applicants who got the acceptance packet instead of the rejection letter. But in this case, the university did the right thing: they admitted the students who had gotten the acceptance letters by mistake, and then sent out the other acceptance letters to the students who had been mistakenly rejected. I don’t think that they ever even bothered to tell anybody that they’d admitted 400 people by mistake, and who knows? probably most of them did just fine (given that much of the admissions process is a lot of guesswork — at least the part that isn’t reserved spots for legacies, etc.).
One final note: The admissions office and the IT department are also entirely different; don’t assume that IT had any control over what someone in the admissions office did. When the “IT man” (or woman) shows up to get you connected, just say thank you, and be happy that someone is keeping watch so that your network doesn’t get taken down by trolls. :-)