Google and Pearson Announce Free LMS Service to Compete with Blackboard/Moodle

A free service from Google? Is the source code available or are institutions going to be screwed if/when it gets canned?

For those who have forgotten: Code Search, Google Video, Wave, Buzz, Google Labs, Google Desktop, Google Notebook, Google Sets, Google Squared, Google Catalogs, Google Answers, Audio Ads, Google Base, Browser Sync, City Tours, Click-to-Call, Google Dashboard Widgets, Dodgeball, Jaiku, Google Mashup Editor, Google Directory, GOOG-411, Joga Bonito, Aardvark, Lively, Music Trends, Ride Finder, Google Shared Stuff, Sidewiki, FastFlip, Google Translate API, Writely, Google Health, PowerMeter, Google University Search, U.S. Government Search, Slide products (Disco, Pool Party, Video Inbox, Photovine, Slideshow, SuperPoke! Pets), Google Pack, Image Labeller and Google Dictionary. I'm sure I have missed a few things, but you get the idea.

I use Blackboard everyday. Blackboard is a scam.

It has an interface from 2002. To many users this might not be a problem. To the hundreds of students I work with, this is.

It is counter intuitive to use, has poorly designed features and has terrible email, calendar and document integration with any other client. Professor complain, students complain and universities shell out millions.

With the advent of Google/Pearson - This could solve alot of these problems and reduce barriers to adoption. However it will not be revolutionary in terms of enabling education. Such software has been around for a while and better execution will not enable better education.

However if google can integrate the following two factors, we have an education game changer, not just a free substitute

- Live work collaboration with Teachers/Teaching Assistants/Students on google docs.

This will allow students to work on documents and have teachers etc check-in and help them out.

- Google Hangout : A feature that is often left out of Google apps suite. But the potential to video conference with students across the city country and the world is a real game changer (As YCombinator knows)

I just want to point out that Canvas is doing a rather good job of modernizing LMS software: http://www.instructure.com ...It took me a long time to find that tool when I needed to spin up an LMS, so I wanted to make sure folks were aware of it.

p.s. Canvas is foss https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms/wiki

From Blackboard's patent pledge:

"Blackboard hereby commits not to assert any of the U.S. patents listed below, as well as all counterparts of these patents issued in other countries, against the development, use or distribution of Open Source Software or Home-Grown Systems to the extent that such Open Source Software and Home-Grown Systems are not Bundled with proprietary software.

<snip>

"The commitment not to assert any of these named U.S. patents and all counterparts of these patents issued in other countries is irrevocable except that Blackboard reserves the right to terminate this patent pledge and commitment only with regard to any party who files a lawsuit asserting patents or other intellectual property rights against Blackboard or its parent or subsidiaries. This pledge is binding on Blackboard’s successors and assigns."

I really wonder if Blackboard will try anything shady a la its dance with Desire2Learn a few years ago. Limiting this commitment to open source/home grown systems not bundled with propriety software provides Blackboard an opportunity to launch an infringement action against Google, which in a certain light would be hilarious to watch.

[1] http://www.blackboard.com/about-bb/patents/patent-pledge.asp...

I think the title of this submission and that of the article overstates the degree to which Google and Pearson are working together. Pearson are merely using Google's API for Docs and App integration. This integration is open to anyone, as far as I know. Google are not co-sponsoring this as their own product.

"People will sign on to their Google Mail accounts and see OpenClass as one of their available products at the top of their Web browser. They will also be able to use Gmail and Google Docs from within the program."

Is it just me, or is this a bit of a Trojan horse to get students signed up for the Google ecosystem in bunches of 25 at a time?

As both a teacher and a student, I've never been happy with any LMS I've used. I try to avoid them whenever possible.

>“Anytime Pearson and Google are used in the same sentence, it’s going to get people’s attention,”

Yeah, even when apparently this isn't a collaboration between the two, but just launching through Google Apps. It certainly doesn't sound that exciting either, sounds like a press release for a costly new service. Moodle is open-source already and is running many good services on campuses.

I always thought that the major issue with getting into the LMS space came from Blackboard's portfolio of software patents surrounding such a service.

Blackboard has pledged that they would not enforce those patents against Open Source projects [1][2], but pay services might have trouble coming their way...which would explain the lack of innovation/modernization in the area.

[1] http://www.blackboard.com/about-bb/patents/patent-pledge.asp...

[2] http://www.blackboard.com/about-bb/patents/frequently-asked-...

I knew something like this would eventually surface, but didn't realize it'd come from Pearson. We actually launched a very similar business model/site a year ago. I've been waiting to post anything on HN, b/c we are in the process of releasing a few changes (payments, channel updates) that I think would be helpful; but can save that for another time. We are really intrigued by this announcement b/c it is pretty much a direct competitor to what we are doing at NIXTY (www.nixty.com). I posted some thoughts on our blog and will highlight them here. I'd love to hear any thoughts/criticisms on this analysis.

There is ONE big difference between Pearson and NIXTY. Pearson’s main focus is on Pearson’s content. They are trying to make the LMS a commodity, so they can sell more of their content. NIXTY is focused on open education content.

Pearson’s OpenClass = Selling more of Pearson’s Closed Content/Courses

NIXTY = Supporting/Promoting Open Content/Courses

Pearson has the name ‘open’ in the title, but the real goal is to sell more closed content. Will it work? We don’t think so. Why?

1. Open Content is transforming education. It is free. Pearson will marginalize open content and focus on their own content. This will ultimately prove to be the undoing of OpenClass.

2. As the Inside Higher Ed article discussed, other publishing companies will not put their content in Pearson’s OpenClass ecosystem. We are hoping that they’ll look for a neutral alternative like NIXTY.

3. Pearson hasn’t exactly been awesome in the LMS space. eCollege is not what we’d call a market leader. I’m not sure, but it seems like eCollege folks might be in charge of the OpenClass product. Do they have the chutzpah to blow up eCollege to help OpenClass. Will the revenue streams from eCollege (tho likely decreasing) be sacrificed to help them grow OpenClass? Doubtful. They’ll likely try to keep both systems working and consequently end up doing a half-way job with OpenClass.

4. The comments around this from most folks in the articles and on Downes’ Google + post have been less than positive, suggesting that folks don’t necessarily have a lot of trust in Pearson.

Now, to at least try to be fair, let’s consider what Pearson has going for it.

1. They’ve got one BILLION dollars (said in my best Dr. Evil voice). Seriously, they’ve got A LOT of money.

2. They’ve got a lot of strategic relationships with other organizations and institutions. They seem to have done a nice job of rolling this out with their 9 design schools. Nicely done!

3. They’ve got great content!

4. They are good at marketing! You’d think Google co-designed this thing from the get-go; really, however, OpenClass is just another app just like learnboost or any other number of education apps in the Google ecosystem. In sum, Pearson’s OpenClass is an innovative approach to help Pearson sell more of their closed content. We believe that they’ll be forced to marginalize open content and competing closed content. Consequently, they’ll end up doing students, educators, and colleges a disservice. NIXTY offers the same functionality, same price (free!), has been around for over a year, and doesn’t have any content to hawk. Consequently, we can provide a better service to students, educators, and schools.

The LMS Service market for higher education is surely right for disruption. Personally, I would have been more excited if there was a startup, instead of Google had taken this initiative.

Marketplace reported on this Thursday: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/10/13/pm...

While my company focuses more on the events aspect of a university, I can say that time and time again, our partner schools go with us because our platform requires no training. We designed it to be easy to use, while still being a helpful product. I'm convinced that if a startup set out to build an LMS that is extremely usable, yet meets most requirements, it'd disrupt the heck out of the space.

So you need a Google account to login? That's going to be a problem.

At my college Blackboard isn't tied in to the administrative processes (there's another system for that), so hopefully they will consider this. "Free" is a word that they like to hear. I don't know too much about the guts of Blackboard but it doesn't seem to be as customizable as a Google system will be.

This is interesting. At Virginia Tech, we switched from Blackboard to an in-house system built on Sakai about 2 years ago. It's much better than Blackboard, but even as a student, it's dreadful. Our professors apparently have it much worse though.

It would be nice to see a system that uses Google Apps. This would be a big step up versus the systems in place now.

First question that comes to mind is: Will Google collect data from students to enhance their other products (i.e. Adsense, G+)?

Anything that makes it easier for faculty to communicate with students is a win-win. Bb is a difficult system to use on multiple fronts - for the student, instructor and administrators. It's also a very compelling add-on to schools that were on the fence regarding Google Apps for Education. This should provide a nice boost for Google.

My question: Is OpenClass going to be hosted by Pearson or are they going to leave that up to the schools like Moodle does?

Just reminds me that "there's no such thing as a free lunch"...