Likewise, I share the same sentiments as James having also 'been there' with a
previous employer.
By the time we had knitted together all the pieces (scripts, discussion boards,
video server, hybrid CD-ROM system etc) and organised all the staff training
and related systems it cost about £50K p.a. to maintain in staffing alone
despite 6 other institutions buying into it!
Admittedly that was 5 years ago but compare that to the £3.5K I now spend on
Blackboard Level 1 and the fact that I spend more time reassuring a new staff
user than I actually do demonstrating the admin system to them, I can't ever
see a time when I would go back to developing a VLE from scratch.
Bearing in mind the increasing number of sophisticated free/open source options
now becoming available i.e. Bodingtons (Leeds Uni) & the MIT/Stanford OKI
initiative etc., paying out for even this relatively small amount might
eventually seem extravagant.
Should be interesting to see how commercial vendors deal with this
development...
Paul.
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Paul Blackmore
Information & ICT Manager [Deputy Director:Operations & Projects]
Lancaster University
Careers Service
Reception Lodge
Lancaster LA1 4YW.
Email: [log in to unmask]
Websites: http://careers.lancs.ac.uk/ & http://emplex.lancs.ac.uk
CDL-Net!: http://careers.lancs.ac.uk/cdl-net.htm
Shameless plug! http://www.aslib.co.uk/pubs/2001/08/06.html
Tel. (+44) (0)1524 593046; Fax. (+44) (0)1524 592072
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Clay [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 08 May 2002 13:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: RBL & VLE
>
> > I agree James - the things you can do with a VLE can be done
> > piecemeal
> > elsewhere. You can link your Yahoo Group to your Bravenet
> > minipoll, to your
> > Hotmail email, to your msn messenger, to your CASTLE-made MCQ
> > test, and you can
> > track broad usage from your free sitmeter statistics.
> > Perhaps VLEs grew up
> > partly as a solution to the nightmare that would entail.
> >
> > Sam
> >
> I have actually been there.... ...before I did my current job I was a
> lecturer and ran my own website and attempting to piece all these web
> type things together made me wish I could have had access to a VLE at
> that time, alas they weren't really available... and therefore my
> students had to cope with what was there.
>
> James Clay
> Director Western Colleges Consortium
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> www.westerncc.ac.uk
>
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