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Opinion
A Milestone in the Higher Ed Software Market?
8/8/2006
By Scott Siddall, Denison University (OH)
We are at an important milestone for technology in higher education. I urge you to take stock of your campus’ position on the cost of licensing software and ask if we all couldn’t do better for our students – more choices, better outcomes, and lower cost.
In the past month, several major software vendors have taken steps to increase their “footprint” on our campuses. Wrapped in positive verbiage, these strategies seek to capture more of our budgets in exchange for the perception of comfort and safety of commercial software from large firms. For instance, on July 26, Blackboard announced their patent on many of the methods used in course management systems that we recognize today as crucial tools for online services. At the same time, Blackboard filed suit against Desire2Learn, a progressive competitor, asking for an injunction only a month or two before classes resume. Good business strategies? Yes, certainly, but many of us hoped for a more defensive patent strategy that recognizes the high value higher education puts on collegiality and collaboration.
Scott Siddall, Denison University (OH)
At the same time, Oracle has announced new alliances to develop tools and systems that improve campus information services, based (of course) on the Oracle database. This serves to maintain their position, if not capture more of the market.
Many commercial applications are innovative and effective, and even cost effective. We wouldn’t be where we are today as institutions or even as individuals without corporate investment in technology, and for that that we must be grateful.
So what has changed? What brings us to this milestone in higher ed technology?
- Large and important software firms appear to want a greater slice of the higher education market.
- Many in higher education have realized that it is a core competency for us to design and implement innovative software, and share it freely.
I’m not sure which of these two is cause and which is effect, and frankly, it may not matter as long as we keep firmly fixed in our sights the learning outcomes and value that we can bring to our students through technology.
Many of our institutional technology leaders have begun to openly express their concern about software monopolies and dependence on proprietary solutions that span our campuses and lock us into costly and inflexible solutions. The blogosphere ech'es with commentary about the topic, and formal studies reveal even more.
Recommended Reading
- Getting the Money Right
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- Technology and Campus Services
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- Ad It Up
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- What Is the Purpose of an Electronic Portfolio? Is the Answer the Key to Your Successful Implementation?
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- Making Faculty Smarter about Smart Technology
If you’re not also enabling the ‘why’ or ‘what’ behind the tech tools you give your faculty, you’re not enabling effective use of those tools.
- Smashing the Shackles of Intentionally Dysfunctional Technology
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