"If we're disconnected, we can't Twitter. If we can't Twitter we don't exist"

Today's attacks on Twitter and a reported slowdown of Facebook changed the day for many.



Today reminded me of this video I had seen earlier:



It's a good reminder to keep our social connections real and pay attention to how true friendships are formed and maintained.

Oh, and if anyone wants to follow me, I'm @jbohreruw.

;-)

The Spinmeisters

You gotta love the quotes in Campus Technology's coverage of the federal appellate court's decision in favor of Desire2Learn.

From Blackboard's Matthew Small:
"...we believe they are infringing multiple patents of ours, and we will continue to pursue what we believe is a fair result in the appropriate venues. This is really just a blip in the overall intellectual property dispute between Blackboard and Desire2Learn. I don't think it changes their prospects as a company one bit."

And from D2L's John Baker:
"It is a definitive win. We are celebrating this victory for Desire2Learn and education as a whole. We are incredibly appreciative of the support we have received from the educational community. We look forward to the day that Blackboard will return the judgment paid."

Hmmm.

Great news for Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn just announced:

"We are pleased to announce that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled on the appeals that resulted from the trial in Texas. The Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of Desire2Learn across the board and confirmed that all 38 patent claims asserted by Blackboard are invalid."

D2L CEO John Baker proclaimed via Twitter:

"We won our federal circuit appeal! Posted on #Desire2Learn patent blog at http://tinyurl.com/kro8vn Thanks to all of you for your support!!"

This could be the first in a series of victories for D2L in their litigation saga with Blackboard that began in 2006.

The findings from the appeals court apparently will be useful to future patent applications in their construction of "means plus functions" claims.

Self-proclaimed as "The Nation's Leading Patent Law Blog" states:

"Defendant Desire2Learn wins a complete victory (after a few million in attorney fees)."

Update: D2L files complaint against Blackboard

Update: The complaint filed by Desire2Learn on July 6 2009 reveals a lot of interesting information including the fact that Blackboard has just been issued another patent (#7,558,853) -- another extension to its two previous LMS patents ('138 and '396) which are not only controversial, but also currently being contested in the courts.

D2L posted their explanation of filing for this "Declaratory Judgment" against Blackboard. This action is an attempt to prevent Blackboard from further lawsuits against D2L under their latest patent ('853). D2L is formally appealing to the courts for protection due to "the existence of substantive, actual controversy".

From D2L's complaint:

This history of Blackboard’s strategy of litigation and intimidation creates a substantial controversy between D2L and Blackboard of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment as to the noninfringement and invalidity of the ’853 patent.

Desire2Learn files lawsuit against Blackboard

It appears that D2L has filed suit against Blackboard in a Maryland District Court on Monday July 6, 2009.

I don't have any details other than what is publicly posted here, so I'm not sure yet if this is related to other filings such as the one with the US International Trade Commission or if this is new litigation.

This is the first time in this saga, I believe, that D2L has filed a lawsuit or complaint against Blackboard.

D2L provides litigation updates

Desire2Learn just posted some quick updates, as well as some legal documents, regarding the ongoing litigation with Blackboard.

Blogs? Yes! Just don't forget the value of the CMS

Jeffrey Young at The Chronicle continues his coverage of the course management system landscape by highlighting discussions about using blogs as a substitute for the traditional CMS.

Open course blogs offer lots of interesting possibilities: convenient dialog among students, feeds (why haven't our CMSs incorporated these by now?), serendipitous participation by "outside" experts, simple interfaces, flexibility, etc.

At UW-Madison, I've seen a number of faculty use blogs as the centerpiece for their courses. Greg Downey's courses provide excellent examples of engaging students through course blogs.

However, blogs themselves will not overthrow the traditional CMS. There will always be the need to provide online exams, drop boxes, gradebooks, secure feedback, and all the complex integrations with various campus systems.

As the article above noted:

But despite a slew of jokes about Blackboard throughout the day, many attendees admitted that when the course-management system works, it offers easy-to-use features that students and professors have come to rely on. Even those speakers who encouraged professors to use blogs instead of Blackboard said that universities should probably support both.

Blogs have their place. The next generation of course/learning management systems will need to take cues from tools such as these in order to be relevant and provide useful user- (and especially learner-) centric environments.