Imagine this. I can proudly announce we've negotiated a national license for Blackboard, WebCT, or whatever is your preference. So now I look forward to full integration across the primary, secondary, tertiary and higher education sectors. Couldn't happen? … Oh yes it could. The extract below sets the context for this post.
The Connecticut implementation of WebCT Vista is expected to expand over time to include private institutions and K-12 schools in the state, all of which will be able to leverage the existing contract by participating in a consortial purchase, thereby reducing their costs.
Now for the full story read the April/May 2005 edition of Innovate (free registration required) which includes Ed Klonoski's Cost-Saving Collaboration: Purchasing and Deploying a Statewide Learning Management System.
This contains such gems as:
The current financial pressure that is topic number one in the public sector is leading these same legislatures to pressure their state schools to stop emphasizing their differences when they are purchasing what are essentially expensive commodities. In the end, an ERP system or an LMS exists to solve the same set of problems at whatever institution it is deployed.
Comment: So there you have it. VLEs/LMS' have all now matured to such a point that they are just commodities. Hello? … where have I been? Has something magically happened that's transformed what are still first generation products into mere interchangeable commodities in which all the problems have been solved? Or are the educational institutions involved now being perceived as a potential commodity, so that diversity needs to be eliminated? Or is there some confusion with BB and WebCT now being so similar that some consider them to be expensive commodities; in which case, instead of opting for one of them, why not look beyond these rather limited and expensive choices? Connecticut could have eliminated licensing fees altogether if that had been the primary concern. No, their HEIs were already pretty locked in and so, to some, this was the next logical step. This is a good reason not to get 'locked in' in the first place because, if you do, someone at some time in the future is going to make the conceptual leap based on the argument that 'since we are this far along the road anyway we might as well go the whole hog'. And then your next door neighbour (or state, or region) then says to themselves 'well if they've gone the whole hog it must be ok so why don't we?'; which might work wonders for the value of your supplier but eventually, if not challenged, results in a monoculture. Just in case you think I'm being a bit Eyorish here's an extract from WebCT's own site which states “We look forward to supporting the success of Connecticut’s new e-learning initiative, and watching other states and regions follow suit“.
Ed's article then goes on to state:
… collaboration ideally allows for a realignment of costs and benefits that can work to the shared advantage of different educational sectors.
Comment: Notice that word ideally. The trouble with ideally is it's just so well … ideal.
So a real question emerges about whether advanced LMS systems should be a hallmark of academic distinction for select campuses or institutions…
Comment: So if you've got WebCT or Blackboard it's a hallmark of distinction? … oh come off it! … you're just yet another institution with WebCT or Blackboard. On the contrary, the hallmark of distinction now belongs to those who haven't gone down this route.
We also discovered that chief information officers (CIOs) have learned that choosing and deploying enterprise-level software is fraught with career danger. Consequently, there is a real advantage to making such choices in tandem with other systems and users because those choices “belong” to the group, not to individuals.
Comment: So it's ok guys, if we've to this wrong there's strength in numbers. Back to basic organizational psychology folks … study 'risky shift' and 'groupthink'. History is littered with groups (consortia) who've made the most horrendous decisions.
By sharing a single software license for WebCT Vista—which allowed for a greater statewide uniformity in technology architecture, administration, implementation services, and training programs, as well as the future development of a repository of learning objects such as Web pages, media clips, and curricula—the state of Connecticut reduced the costs of deployment by more than $250,000.
So what do I think?
Just think what these savings on those nice Japanese motor cycles did for the native motorcycle industries and then say after me: 'Monopolies are bad and state-sponsored monopolies are even worse'.
Follow that with a re-read of my 2004 ALT-C paper E-Learning Frameworks and Tools: Is it too late? and then revisit Scott Wilson's The VLE of the Future? and his later supplement to the original post Future VLE: the Visual Version.
Where then e-tools? Where then syndication? Where then distributed systems and aggregation? Where then portals?
Connecticut offers us the best example of 'lock-in' we are ever likely to see. What a fine case study they are going to be. The problem is they see it as a solution not a problem. They may think they are making savings but the costs may be greater and different in nature than they think. And do remember that once you are so dependent on your monopoly supplier it's theoretically possible to change horses but, in practice, all but impossible … and, oh yes, when your supplier decides to eventually boost your annual fees then I hope the negotiations go well (if not go back to the start of this sentence).
My advice, for what's it's worth is to these other states which are apparently expressing interest is to leave it for 4-5 years so that the negative consequences have a chance to show themselves.
So folks enjoy what the good ship WebCT allows you to do and remember that one of the advantages of diversity is that small failures are survivable, but when you make this kind of commitment, particularly when the Connecticut initiative is expected to expand over time to include private institutions and K-12 schools in the state, then the emerging e-learning monoculture has taken another step forward.
Do you want to join? … well do you? … it's just so much simpler than having to worry about 'career danger' isn't it? … And do remember that 'hallmark of distinction' argument which, along with saving costs, was the rationale for joining.
