Sin City Synopsis: Doubling Down, or BbWorld 13 epilogue

BbWorld '13 Epilogue

I've been back in the saddle (ok, the desk chair) for over a week, which is probably enough time to gestate, percolate, or otherwise regurgitate some overarching themes and miscellaneous asides from the Blackboard World client conference. So, here goes, in no particular order:

Being a VIP Blogger
My chief concern about being picked as a blogger was "did anyone at Bb actually read my entry"? I still suspect the answer is "no", but Bb middle and upper management are by now well aware that my sarcasm-tipped darts are delivered in order to address a particular end-user concern. In session with Bb reps from support, development and product management, when I took the floor to pose a particularly vexing question about a lingering bug, one Bb staffer acknowledged "Greg always asks the hard questions". Yes; yes, I do-because they need to addressed. And to be fair, Bb listens and typically finds a resolution to our needs.

The odd bits of this self-selected tour of duty? I have no issues reacting to presentations or sessions on the fly via Twitter. The amusing thing is when your snark gets picked up and redistributed by the masses. It moved from somewhat surreal to downright Dada-esque when an Inside Higher Ed reporter hit me with "your tweets are funny; can I interview you about OpenSUNY"? Uhm, sure...I guess.

The only regret is that I didn't spend a great deal of time getting to know my fellow bloggers. A very interesting bunch, with at least one Google Glass tester among them. As much as I love to make new contacts and form relationships, there's always the warm snuggly blanket of my existing network (who at this point I'll see once a year if I'm lucky). So, again, sorry to my paparazzi circle that I didn't get to know you better as individuals.

(Bloggers chatting with keynote Clay Shirkey)

The More Things Change..
This particular user conference marked the change in leadership from Michael Chasen to Jay Bhatt as CEO. Aside from personality differences that drive one's podium style, the biggest change was somewhat unspoken. Although Mr. Bhatt emphasized a renewed focus on innovation, driving needed functionality changes within the core products, and closing (some very evident) gaps across product lines to move towards tighter integration, there are some interesting things that underscore this strategy that were not immediately evident. Let's take a closer look:

Mobile matures
We saw needed changes forecast for Mobile- namely, grading access for faculty, and polling functionality for students. But another change was apparently in place- namely, the absence of Mobile General Manager Kayvon Beykpour from the keynote podium. Phil Hill reports that Beykpour is on a "leave of absence"; in the past, he seemed to equally share the spotlight with Chasen and Ray Henderson. This may signify that the rather independent and Wild West direction of the Mobile line may indeed be pulled in to support Learn better than it has to date.

Hello, my name is...
I really couldn't tell you exactly how many VPs or AVPs still under warranty I was introduced to, but it would appear that a pretty good sized shakeup of upper/middle management is underway.Not surprisingly, some of the talent comes from Autodesk, one of Mr. Bhatt's former leadership posts. At least one of these new hires had been on payroll only a handfull of days prior to BbWorld. I'd also say that Mr. Bhatt is still in the midst of his own learning curve, as some of his comments in the Chronicle interview demonstrate (hint: don't refer to higher ed as an "industry"; we even find "business" to be a dirty word).

Who's afraid of Canvas?
Previous years saw the co-opting of open source platforms Moodle (via the acquisition of MoodleRooms) and Sakai (via leveraging the credibility of "Dr. Chuck" Severence, otherwise known as the godfather of Sakai). While MR had booth space on the tradeshow floor, I don't believe I heard one reference to the hosted Moodle offering from the keynote stage the whole week. Even more interesting, the Sakai booth from past years had completely disappeared. Wherefore art thou, open source alliance? A particularly well positioned source (who I'm not going to identify b/c I wasn't wearing my "Press" card in my fedora) posited this answer to me:  previously, Canvas was perceived as the Disruptor Who Will Eat Our Lunch. Canvas pretty much played to it's own self-defined smart-ass new kid approach, staging a guerilla event under the Bb Overlords' noses at the '12 confab in Vegas. If you can connect the dots, you'll see how alignment and acquisition of highly visible open source alternatives was a move to keep Bb's on the fence legacy customers (ANGEL and WebCT) in the fold by offering "in house" alternatives. My informant told me that while Canvas still continues to demo well to prospects, the actual conversion rate from potential dance partner to paying customer hasn't exactly been stellar.

Couple this with a refocused effort on fixing wonky issues in Bb while actually adding needed functionality, and you can see the scales begin to rebalance themselves. One barrier to progress may have been the former CEO himself; another source related to me that unless new product development could demonstrably drive adding new customers, then requests for enhancements or fixes were often vetoed by Mr. Chasen. Mr. Bhatt is clearly rebooting the system, clearing the clogged pipes, whatever metaphor you wish to deploy -with the goal of retaining customers and demonstrating competency

Taking these two things in tandem - Canvas revealing it's own flaws over time, and rejiggering the organization to increase the speed of innovation - and you can see that the need to offer alternative LMS platforms has actually lessened. It remains to seen what the long-term strategy for MoodleRooms is in terms of growing it's own market share. It also remains to be seen whether Josh Coates, Instructure's CEO, can move from his bratty teenager phase to a more mature adult role.

Is this really a sea change?
From my perspective, putting Mr. Bhatt in the driver's seat, and retracting the need to focus on revenue by pulling back from being publicly traded, Blackboard has the opportunity to really charm it's existing customer base by enhancing the core products, making an actually integrated suite that supports different use cases (asynchronous, synchronous, and "on the go" mobile touch points), and shoring up some antiquated underpinnings of Learn. Moreover, some development under the umbrella of "personalization" should align Learn well with evolving needs for flexible or alternative delivery models in the higher ed space (full disclosure: I have been a constant nag with product about these concepts, and I couldn't be more delighted in terms of where it's headed). Maybe there's a little tail wagging the dog in terms of "bolt on" ideas from the marketplace such as MOOCs and badging (again, disclosure: SUNY's OER-101 MOOC helped drive the investigation on integrating badging), but overall the ship seems to be sailing in the right direction.

(ps. yes, I did enjoy "the Streets of San Francisco" as a kid, for those who can spot the reference)

from a hole in a wall to Granny Clouds

From a hole in a wall to Granny Clouds

notes from Sugrata Mitra's keynote at BlackBoard World, 2013:

And now we find ourselves at journey's end...

Sugatra Mitra ("the hole in the wall") opened with a metaphor -why his project was "minimally invasive" vs using helicopters, underscoring that the operation of said helicopters (by children) is dangerous ( I wonder if he's heard about the proliferation of drone pilot schools in the .edu space).

Findings of the project: children could achieve the average skill levels of a secretary in a mere nine months. The bullies may dominate initial monopolization of the computer, but then ironically are unable to understand its actual use. The secondary effects of game playing are language acquisition skills and developing search strategies (to find new games!).

Again and again Dr. Mitra provided examples of utterly startling learning gains by students who were offered next to no scaffolding or prompts, instead communally developing their own pedagogical approach to I treating with and mastering g the subject matter.

Even more interesting, when using a method of encouragement (but not prompts) labelled the "grandmother method" Learning gains jumped to an amazing 50%.

It appears that these self-organizing learning environments can be effective; but to push past the 30% mark, the emotional support and reward system of the "granny cloud" (actual grandmothers providing a surrogate service of positive affirmation and praise). 

painting by the numbers...or not.

painting by the numbers...or not.

Notes from the CEO Keynote, BlackBoard World, 2013:

OK, maybe an odd metaphor to open my coverage of CEO Jay Bhatt's keynote, but stick with me..

Much of what's typically delivered in a corporate keynote has all the sexiness of an SEC filing. Props to Mr. Bhatt for trotting out the family snapshots to underscore the fact that in his house, as in most of ours, we're increasingly wired all the time.  Thinking about the future potential of the intersection of  mobile tech and learning, Bb crafted a white paper on six trends:

global education

• by 2020, 4 in 10 learner s will come from china and India
• non trad learners
• 85 percent non trad enrollment by 2020
• consumer preference for alternative models
• learner centric models
• competencies
• big data in the mainstream
• importance of analytics
• online and mobile everywhere
• online is 10X the growth of traditional enrollments

findings

• Bb believes they have phenomenal products. well, ok, they could be better (that's Jay talking, not me)
• great customer relationships
• focus on the continuum of learners

issues

• lack of product line integration
• not working with customers in a coordinated manner
• be a better citizen in the Ed Tech industry
• constraints on Bb employee creativity and innovation

What is core? A product company (hmm, deemphasizing services)

and here's the mantra

• accelerate
• integrate
• innovate

How?

• accelerate investment in products
• address product integration
• drive innovation

Next up, the always erudite Ray Henderson...

In tradition, Ray walked through the report card. Interestingly, the need for innovation was echoed by Ray-adding "innovation" to the report card this year.

statements regarding something like a course creator wizard made me think of the semi-mythical LAMS. I think we heard a hint about the efforts currently underway to think about personalization. I do get a kick when what seem like no-brainer revamps to adress issues get a round of applause. "yay! you fixed something we all knew was problematic".

Bb meeting room (baby Collaborate?) will be bundled in Learn-nice touch!

Major improvements in Learn/Collaboration integration:

• every course will have a permanent room
• every instructor will have a permanent room

polls via Mobile-lots of buzz from the Twitterati on this Tuesday. Maybe the clicker killer? Only if it also takes attendance...

Usability issues in the grade book are being addressed; scrolling a d look ahead search should aid in super sized lecture sections.

(now, I'll take a minor bow on this next one)
OpenBadging integration is coming- mainly because SUNY drove this need in our OER101 MOOC. (damn it, I said "MOOC". sorry.)

Student behavioral pattern recognition in development, building on the new Retention Center. I'm still fuzzy on how this plays against their own analytics platform or third party systems like Starfish (or D2L's predictive analytics, for that matter.

next up, Katie Blot of Ed Services...

disclaimer: I always get a little squirmy when a corporate type starts painting a shiny future in education. After all, BillGatus of Borg got booed at SXSWedu by the crowd. And no offense, but these talking poi st are what I think about every day. And I know what the non-trad enrollments look like, so unicorns and rainbows don't play well  with me.

Ok, so MOOC MOOC MOOC... ah wait...10 or so minutes in we're talking about a platform for MOOCs that will support 40 million users. And it will support split credit/non-credit delivery. And it's free to Bb customers. Holy sh...

Paging Arthur Fonzarelli

When is a shark officially jumped? Another take on the Coursera announcement

Ah, I love the smell of punditry in the morning; it smells like...uninformed bs.

(Disclaimer: what follows are my own opinions and speculation and are not representative of my institution nor my overlords and masters in Albany. Professional driver on a closed course; do not attempt. Your mileage may vary. The Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Mr. Phelps)

Ok, now that we've cleared that particular tank...

Higher Ed punditry is focusing on what the "second tier strategy" announced last week by Coursera really means. A sign of the coming Higher Ed Apocalypse? The inevitable MOOC Meltdown? Or , more simply, has Coursera jumped the shark?  None of the above, methinks...

It's been fairly well circulated that Coursera was interesting in expanding their portfolio, specifically in terms of attracting large state systems. Are they trying to nudge Blackboard out of existing u-wide contracts?  Not in the sense that you might immediately think. After all, have we had even one little peek inside their kimono to suggest that large scale student analytics are in place to support persistence? If so, then why do MOOC persistence rates continue to...how shall I put this-suck?

Instead, let's imagine a different scenario that isn't based on displacement of entrenched commodity services. Picture instead a programmatic need by a large scale system that's seeking to achieve it's own economies of scale. Let's further suppose that Big State U inventories it's catalog and discovers it has about 30 or so localized delivery instances of a fairly generic Gen Ed course. Let's say Big State isn't keen on redundancy, likes the idea of sharing common resources, and heck, I don't know, maybe is interested in large scale data collection and analysis of learning outcomes. Hmm, now, does a centralized scalable platform make sense? Could it even be integrated into a blended delivery mode?

Crazy talk, I know. Remind me not to bring it up in tomorrow's cross-institutional meeting to explore development and delivery of shared curriculum.

Oh, Canada…

Much hay has been made of late of the “American-ization” of MOOCs, as Yank-led xMOOCs have largely displayed  (Canadian originated) cMOOCs in the media spotlight, or at least in the  (almost) daily op ed pieces published by the NewYork Times.

I would argue that this particular spin on the origination of the MOOC movement  is really nothing new when it comes to the dynamic tension of Canadian-American relations. Just this week we’re treated to breaking news involving applying a “visitor surcharge” to border crossings and the latest toe-stomping event by our esteemed Governor over the Peace Bridge.

But the sad, little know truth is that known of this is really new. Attempts to throttle our northern neighbor into submission are in fact key moments in the development of the United States, to wit:

1745 Conquest of Louisbourg

Although arguably not the first attempt to wrest Canada and the lucrative fur trade away from France (a rather pathetic attempt from Albany in 1689 went off the rails quickly), this first shot at conquest is notable largely due to its purely mercantile intent. Justified under the now all but forgotten King  George’s War/War of the Austrian Succession, this was a land grab pure and simple, launched by men of wealth and power in New England.  The victory gave New England control over access to the St. Lawrence, and thus the Great Lakes and access to the fur trade. The treaty that ended the war reverted Louisbourg to French control

French and Indian War

By the time of the Seven Years’ War, the fur trade initiated by the Dutch in New Netherland had largely trapped the beaver out of existence in much of its native habitat, particularly in New York. The balance of power favored the French due to their military control of the Great Lakes.  Again, the English launched mixed expeditions of colonial troops and Redcoats, first taking Kingston, then Quebec and Montreal.  English dominion over Lower Canada was established in the ensuing peace treaty.

American Revolution and the “second invasion” of Canada

As the American Revolution roiled into being in 1775, Upper Canada and it’s French speaking populace were regarded as prime targets of acquisition due to their alleged unsatisfaction with English rule. (Never mind that the Quebec Act guaranteed their religious freedom and perpetuated the seignier  system of near-fiefdom-which actually wasn’t a horrible thing). A rather complicated two pronged invasion approach –Gen. Richard Montgomery moving his force up the Champlain watershed with Gen. Benedict Arnold hacked and portaged his way through the wilds of Maine- ended in disaster and defeat at the walled gates of Quebec. Montgomery was shot down (a valiant bantam-sized aide de camp named Aaron Burr attempted to recover his body) while Arnold  suffered a debilitating leg wound (that in it’s own odd way led to eventual infamy).

War of 1812

Despite the relative permeability of Upper Canada to American Loyalist (and “late loyalist”) expatriates, Americans once again turned their avaricious eyes toward Canada with yet another poorly planned attempt at annexation during 1812.  Ironically, as before in previous wars, illicit trade between the two countries continued to flow across their shared waterways. The last grand scheme to annex “the 14^th colony” went down in flames under the laudanum hazed command of Gen. James Wilkinson (and now we’re back to Aaron Burr again) against a relatively small number of Wellington’s seasoned regulars at Crysler’s Farm.

Rush-Bagot Treaty and demilitarization of the Great Lakes

The treaty that ended the War of 1812 largely demobilized and mothballed the naval fleets both sides had ramped up. Military posturing was displaced by economic development on both sides of the border.

Modern warfare: patents and lawsuits

Well, you knew I couldn’t get away without talking about patents and subsequent infringements, right? But let’s start with a different patent:  Henry Woodward, a Canadian, was the first co-patentee for the electric lightbulb. Interestingly, Woodward sold his patent to Edison (sure, we all thought Edison came up with that one on his own, eh?).

 So, what do we know, eh?

Intriguingly, there are far more Canadian-American Studies programs out there than I’d imagined: at

Western Washington University, University of Buffalo, SUNY Plattsburgh, University of Maine, Franklin College, and quite further afield UC Berkeley, Duke and Vanderbilt

And the flip side, American Studies Programs offered by Canadian universities. (Interestingly, “American Studies” is inclusive enough to include Latin American Studies progams. And perhaps that’s really the root question: who or what is “American”? ).

Blackboard will want me to be a BbWorld VIP blogger because

…

Despite my well-known FaceBook profile pic that parodies NASCAR's endorsement strategies as applied to Higher Ed, I'm not one to lend my name, face, and social cred to just any ol' .edu startup. I will, however, probably poke under the hood of any HE app you want me to test drive, and then give you my unadulterated feedback on what works and what doesn't.  I'm at the point of feeling slightly nauseated by any blind email that starts with "Dear Greg - are you satisfied with your LMS strategy"? 

Well, yes, I am satisfied. I'm satisfied that SUNY has selected a partner (Blackboard) who has been wise enough to realize their organizational culture needed to shift, and tough enough to make those changes happen. I'm content that the customer-centric values of ANGEL have been brought to the fore.  I'm wise enough to know that I can dig my heels in on issues that matter, and that Bb will listen. 

So, honestly, would Bb want me as a blogger? And if so, why? Well, if we assume someone at the mothership reads this, and passes it up the chain, the following points will likely be well known inside the beltway:

1. I need to add more conference pins to my obsessive/compulsive collection
2. I need to validate my theory that Vegas is simply a plastic imitation of NOLA. This can only be done via an extensive field observation
3. The last time I flew to Vegas was heading into SuperBowl weekend. Do you have any idea what's it like to spend 6 hours on a plane with drunken fans of both teams on both sides of you?
4. I never collected on that "ANGEL users can come for free" comp - just sayin'. 
5. Ray follows me on Facebook - God help him
6. They already have my FB and Twitter feeds up on the Customer Support heads up displays in the NOC
7. Product Management visibly winces when they see me coming
8. I missed out on the beads, damn it
9. I enjoy snickering at Bb Learn "updates" that announce incorporating  existing ANGEL functionality
10. My loyalty can't be bought, but I have published rates for hourly rental
11. I often wonder why when talking open source, people say "free like free beer" or "free like a puppy", but they never say "free like a lasting communicable disease"
12. BbWorld is sort of like ComicCon, with the nerds, minus the cool  fanboy costumes
13. I secretly adore 70's disco
14. I really enjoy hearing Ray say "we're getting the band back together, man"
15. I will seriously debate you on the needed functionality of LTI 2.x after a few rounds
16. Some midwestern Bb users mistook me for their account rep while I was wandering down Bourbon St. No, I don't understand it either, but it got me free drinks, so it was all good
17. Someone in Bb senior leadership needs to appear in an Elvis jumpsuit, and I seriously need to see that
18. I can listen to Dave Mills and understand at least 50% of what he's talking about
19. As an ambassador for my institution, I get the chance to exclaim in my best "He-Man" voice "by the Power of SUNY!"
20. Lastly, and most importantly, Mike Buchanon will be very sad if I'm not there