Getting content out of LMSs has been an issue for as long as LMSs have been around, in both commercial and open source systems. Still, many years after their introduction, implementations of “true” content interoperability (importing and exporting) are rare. Many systems will ingest content, but once in, its locked in. The only explanation I can come up with, for this lack support for interoperability standards, is fear on the part of LMS developers of loosing clients, giving them a way to get out of the system. Maybe this is a issue for IMS to deal with. Their standards after all only reward the ability to import content into a system, providing no motivation to provide exporting capabilities. When choosing an LMS, elearning practitioners need to be aware of what they're getting into. If they choose a system without true interoperability, they're going to have great difficulty getting their content out of the system and into another should they choose to move or diversify their elearning practices.

One system that that has taken on true interoperability is ATutor, a relatively small player in the LMS market. ATutor is open source, making its code available and encouraging other systems to copy or mimic it. Since 2003 ATutor has had IMS Content Packaging importing and exporting. Shortly after IMS QTI (Question Test Interoperability) was introduced so tests could be imported and export. Recently ATutor once again leads the way with importing and exporting of IMS Common Cartridges. Still adoption of exporting in other system is virtually non-existent.

There is really no excuse for systems like BB not to implement common cartridge. If a relatively small system like ATutor can do it relying on grants and donations, surely a multi-million dollar company like BB can come up with the funds to add true interoperability, and free its content. Or, is BB worried about loosing its monopoly on the large institution LMS market?

http://www.atutor.ca

Getting content out of LMSs has been an issue for as long as LMSs have been around, in both commercial and open source systems. Still, many years after their introduction, implementations of “true” content interoperability (importing and exporting) is rare. Many systems will ingest content, but once in, its locked in. The only explanation I can come up with, for this lack support for interoperability standards, is fear on the part of LMS developers of loosing clients, giving them a way to get out of the system. Maybe this is a issue for IMS to deal with. Their standards after all only reward the ability to import content into a system, providing no motivation to provide exporting capabilities. When choosing an LMS, elearning practitioners need to be aware of what they're getting into. If they choose a system without true interoperability, they're going to have great difficulty getting their content out of the system and into another should they choose to move or diversify their elearning practices.

One system that that has taken on true interoperability is ATutor, a relatively small player in the LMS market. ATutor is open source, making its code available and encouraging other systems to copy or mimic it. Since 2003 ATutor has had IMS Content Packaging importing and exporting. Shortly after IMS QTI (Question Test Interoperability) was introduced so tests could be imported and export. Recently ATutor once again leads the way with importing and exporting of IMS Common Cartridges. Still adoption of exporting in other system is virtually non-existent.

There is really no excuse for systems like BB not to implement common cartridge. If a relative small system like ATutor can do it relying on grants and donations, surely a multi-million dollar company like BB can come up with the funds to add true interoperability, and free its content. Or, is BB worried about loosing its monopoly on the large institution LMS market?

http://www.atutor.ca

From there the next step would be to create non-LMS plugins that play nicely with CC. That’s the beauty of an open standard. I should be able to throw my course into WordPress or Facebook (ClassTop folks, are you listening?). But for now, creating a way in and out of Blackboard is where we start.

In any case, I look forward to hearing more about this particular project, because you are 100% right, if you wait for Blackboard to provide a CC export, we’ll all be old and grey before we see it. The people I feel even more sorry for are the CE6 and Vista customers (not the Blackboard ‘proper’ product) – you can bet that their exit strategy, which they will be forced to employ in 12-24 months, is an “exit” directly into “BB NG,” ugh.