>On Behalf Of Geoff Minshull
>
>What the article does seem to be saying is that once
>organisations have invested heavily in a particular product,
>there's a disincentive to move away from that product - and
>that may well be the case even if it is technically easy to
>move the content from one VLE to another. The problem will
>surely be that in an institution where VLE use has moved
>beyond the pilot stage, maybe hundreds of staff, and thousands
>of students, will have got used to using a particular VLE - to
>make the shift to a new one, with all the disruption and staff
>development that might involve, could be very timeconsuming
>and expensive. So in that sense, I think there probably is
>lock-in to a given product. It's always easier to stay with
>what you know. That's why most of use use Word, rather than
>free word processors, or IE, rather than some other browser.
>
>Of course, lock-in, as the article points out, works for other
>companies and products too!
>
>Geoff Minshull

I originally posted this comment to the FE ILT Champions list, but it is
valid to this discussion.

One thing I would be interested in and this is aimed at everyone and not
just Daniel, but what do people do about the transition costs when moving
from one VLE to another.

For example

Transition costs moving from old VLE to the new VLE

Transition can costs involve:

        Creating the relevant course structures on new VLE
        Creating the relevant learning packages
        Uploading and organising learning content
                College Content
                NLN Materials
                Commercial content such as ECDL
                (this of course implies content created for one VLE will
work on another,
                even with standards this is not always the case)
        Transferring communication tools (not to mention previous
communications)
        Creation of Staff User Ids and distribution
        Integration of MIS system with new VLE
        Creation and distribution of student user ids
        Training VLE staff and VLE Manager
        Re-training staff on new VLE
        Re-design of support network and materials (re-training support
staff)

What strategies do people use?

What are the driving factors behind the change, are these used to justify
the transition costs?

How do you cover the costs or are they "hidden"?

For those that have done it, how long did it take (I know a how long is a
piece of string question, so put it in context).

BTW I got one reply from FERL saying it would be a good article for the
website.

My current issue is less with transferring content from one VLE to another
(with IMS and SCORM that is relatively simple), but what is more difficult
is moving a structure of an online course from one VLE to another without
having to re-build from scratch.

For example in Virtual Campus, content (chapters) is uploaded into subject
areas which can then be "placed" into packages (folders). However there is
no way to export the folders for use in another system. I can export the
"content" (if I have a local copy) for use on another VLE, but not the
structure.

Of course moving the structure of discussion groups, live chat, virtual
noticeboards, surverys, quizzes (non-SCORM) etc... is also an issue!

Regards

James Clay
Director Western Colleges Consortium
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.westerncc.ac.uk

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