Comments on: Did Blackboard Just Buy Elluminate and Wimba?

By: Stein

Stein — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:05:33 +0000

I saw on Twitter that D’Arcy Norman’s trying out an install of BigBlueButton–tempted to do the same myself, but based on @Brian’s description I may just wait.

By: Brian Whitmer

Brian Whitmer — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:39:13 +0000

We looked at both DimDim and BigBlueButton for integrating into our LMS — the plan was to work with Wimba as soon as somebody asked us to, but that might be out the window now. At the time BBB still needed a ton of work. It looks like they’ve improved some, but their UI needs some attention and they still need a better answer for the Whiteboard feature. It still feels a bit too… technical, and it’s really easy to lose windows. Even the limited community version of DimDim is technically still better, although that will probably change in the next year or so.

If a school still wanted to use Wimba with Instructure Canvas, then we’d probably be the ones to build the bridge anyway. If there’s a connector for Moodle then there’s bound to be a way to connect it to Canvas as well :-).

By: Blackboard Does It Again. « All The Young (edu)Punks

Blackboard Does It Again. « All The Young (edu)Punks — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:53:14 +0000

[...] the big news? No, not that LeBron is going to Miami. Blackboard buying Elluminate and Wimba to integrate into the new Blackboard Communicate. Now the cynical will say that Blackboard will take the best [...]

By: Tyler Clair

Tyler Clair — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:36:48 +0000

Given their track record with acquisitions I wonder which product will get mothballed in a year or two? I hope they at least keep the tandberg integration from Elluminate, that was sweet and I wished Wimba could do it without using extra hardware.

I think we will see Moodle community shift towards using DimDim or BigBlueButton for collaboration but i have heard rumors that DimDim is limiting the community version even more. So as far as i know BBB is the only OSS collaboration tool, there may be others but these are the only”OSS” systems I have found.

By: Stein

Stein — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:57:19 +0000

Moodle is one thing, since so many institutions rely on it and there’s already a plugin in place. I.e. the demand will likely force them to, at least at a crude level.

It seems less likely that Bb’s going to be willing to develop such plugins for new competitors like Instructure! Maybe that doesn’t matter, but Wimba/Elluminate penetration probably covers a fair percentage of the market that is not already served by Bb, and this seems like an easy way to encourage adoption of Bb. In the letter Chasen writes “it is our strategy to sustain those bridges with other commercial LMS providers”–sustain those bridges, not continue to build bridges…

Of course, this could also be how Bb, Wimba, and Elluminate all dig a six-foot-deep hole in the ground as some have suggested, but I’ll have to see it before I believe it.

By: Brian Whitmer

Brian Whitmer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:14:53 +0000

I’ll admit, I was surprised :-). Makes sense, these are getting to be pretty integral parts of the LMS. This is totally an acquisition, though, not a partnership.

I’m curious if Moodle users would consider using Blackboard Collaborate as a Moodle plugin, even if the functionality were offered…