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[larryc]

Friends:

Let us proceed in this discussion from a common assumption: Blackboard sucks. I can expound on this in another thread if you like, but for here and now, let this be gospel.  Blackboard sucks.

Can anyone suggest an alternative? One that would work for a non-geeky academic with limited computer skills and time? I want a platform where I can give timed multiple choice and essay tests, just as in Blackboard, where my students can discuss the topics at hand, where I can then sort those discussion topics to see only new posts (a feature that Blackboard has eliminated!) or only posts by a given student or all the posts in alphabetical order, and where I can post images on the front page announcements and within discussion comments (which Blackboard does not allow).

Most of all, I need to be able to use the multiple choice question banks that the textbook publisher provides.  These come as files that are uploadable to Blackboard, but also as plain text files (I think).

Has anyone broken free from the clicky, buggy, sluggish, suck-tastic straight jacket of mediocrity that is Blackboard?

[dept_geek]

Has anyone broken free from the clicky, buggy, sluggish, suck-tastic straight jacket of mediocrity that is Blackboard?

Wow. You're not asking for much, are ya? :-)

WebCT will look like BB (and vice versa) soon enough

I don't the admin restrictions (I suspect some level of geekiness will come in handy), but look at Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai.

Stumbled on this page while looking for an answer: http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-learning/alternatives.htm

Or you can roll your own. But that takes some work.

I don't know if any of the above have what you are looking for. We are pretty entrenched to BB here. Good luck.

[expatinuk]

Moodle rocks

[bone_gal]

My school uses eCollege and I love it!  I've also taught on Blackboard and WebCT (which has been bought out by BB), and I don't like them as much as eCollege. 

[helpful]

Moodle is great. It is open source and has a great tech support via the Moodle community. Check it out. (Our university uses only moodle; it found webct way too expensive).

[antiphon]

I third Moodle.  Easier by far than either WebCT or Blackboard and very supportive.  You can do the timed multiple choice and essay tests.  I've even stipulated "window of opportunity" for my tests.  Works great.

[csguy]

Moodle works well but:

• It might be a bit much for the "non-geeky" to run themselves
• You will need a server (though you can work with a hosting service)
• There have been some issues with BlackBoard import. I would expect these to be resolved both by further development of Moodle and also by publishers and test generation software makers support Moodle (it is very popular)

[zharkov]

My school uses eCollege and I love it!  I've also taught on Blackboard and WebCT (which has been bought out by BB), and I don't like them as much as eCollege. 

I'd second eCollege....

In my experience, BB, WebCT, and eCollege are similar in many ways, each has  a feature or two that the others don't.  I think the annoying thing about BB is that it wants you to click OK all the time. But I like its ability to display class stats.

[americanist]

I am also a fan of the Moodle, although it takes some getting used to.  I was used to thinking in folders, and Moodle is organized in weeks.  Once I got over that, though, I was a Moodle fan all the way.

[helpful]

I am also a fan of the Moodle, although it takes some getting used to.  I was used to thinking in folders, and Moodle is organized in weeks.  Once I got over that, though, I was a Moodle fan all the way.

I wish I could adapt Moodle to work in months, not weeks. Anyone have any idea. The only options I see are weeks or themes.

[zharkov]

An alternative to using the standard course management system (CMS) approach (eg, BB, WebCT, etc.) is to use a wiki for a course (eg, Twiki).

If you basically need a site for sharing documents, discussions, and group collaboration, a wiki is a nice way to go. (I used Twiki in a seminar I attended this past summer.)

[jester17]

Could those of you working with ecollege express what it is exactly about that platform you find so appealing? Also, if you wouldn't mind, please let us know how long you've been working with ecollege, and how long your school had the platform in place before you started teaching through it.

Thanks!

J

[dept_geek]

An alternative to using the standard course management system (CMS) approach (eg, BB, WebCT, etc.) is to use a wiki for a course (eg, Twiki).

Wikis are cool :-)  But to properly set up & administer (to avoid "those who shouldn't" from modifying content, etc) does require some level of geekiness. larryc, how non-geeky are you?

Rolling your own does require some administrative IT buy-in.

[larryc]

larryc, how non-geeky are you?

I am pretty confident using applications--making a web page with Frontpage, editing photos and putting them online with Picasa, designing a Powerpoint presentation.  I used wikis to put together two conference proposals recently, and will never do it any other way.  But--I don't know any HTML for example, and do not know how to host a website on a server.

My school is deeply invested in BB, and I enjoy the support of a pretty good campus BB support staff.  But I hate the damn clickiness of it. If a student goes over the time limit on a quiz for instance, I need to go through seven screens to fix it.  I hate that I cannot tart up my site by putting images in an announcement without doing back flips. And the final straw for me was when the new version of BB eliminated the option of viewing only the unread posts in a discussion board. Now you have to drill down through each individual discussion thread and click on each new post to read and respond. I teach as many as 160 students online and monitoring the discussions has become practically impossible.

I have the Moodle site up and am starting to explore. Ecollege is a commercial product, yes? I don't think my school will buy a second e-learning platform just for me.

Thanks for the tips and keep them coming!

[bone_gal]

About eCollege... I believe my school was one of its first clients, and has been with the system for about 10 years.  I started teaching online with them about a year ago, so I guess they had been on the system approximately 9 years before I jumped on board. 

Another poster was right that all the systems have much of the same stuff, and some slight variations here and there on how things work, which is better, etc.  But I'm not a tech-geek and I find eCollege much easier to develop in and manage than WebCT or Blackboard.  It's just easier to work with.  Also, it's a unit-based system (so everything I want in one unit is all there together in a unit), rather than having my students have to click all over the place to find their discussions (in one area), their assignments (in another area), their assessments (in another area), etc.

I've also never had the eCollege server go down, and their help desk is available 24-7.  I think their services are better than Blackboard (help, training, customer service), but since I'm not an admin I can't say from personal experience.

I can also say that another school I teach with is transitioning to WebCT Vista, and it is AWFUL! It has been the semester from hel*!!!!!  The system was down all the time, filled with bugs, the help desk was non-existent, and I still can't figure out how the heck to do many things.  It is just awful.

Could those of you working with ecollege express what it is exactly about that platform you find so appealing? Also, if you wouldn't mind, please let us know how long you've been working with ecollege, and how long your school had the platform in place before you started teaching through it.

Thanks!

J