I am somewhat surprised at Peter, Whom I know to be a sensible and
knowledgeable chap, attempting to show a trend from a one off single
survey. Had he done this survey two years ago when I was still working
for an RSC and trying to promote open source solutions, I suspect that the
results would have shown Blackboard and Learnwise in top positions with
only one or two colleges looking at Moodle.
Had this been done then it would seem to lend weight to Peters apparent
prediction. However, it begs the question of should we be looking at
those at the top of the list or those appearing at the bottom. As you all
know I am not unbiased, though I would hope no more biased than the Moodle
zealots. However, there is nothing biased about the statement that Raw
data tells us nothing when trying to predict trends.
I find the Moodle phenomenon interesting and have to ask why it is so
successful. IMHO it is because
1 It is a good product
2 It is free,(the bean counters are happy to let staff experiment with
something that appears to cost them nothing)
3 The commercial rivals did not support their product (much of my time at
the RSC was spent doing work the VLE supplier should have been doing. If
you are going to get no support you might as well go with something that
never promised to give you any.
4 Commercial rivals had a take it or leave it attitude. If you did not
wantwhat the developers thought you should have tyhen it was just tough
luck.
I shall continue to watch with interest to see how things pan out.
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