Report from Coventry Forum (Part 3)
My overriding feeling after spending a day focussed on WebCT CE6 and the new Portfolio was why does everything have to be so complex?
I really do think we need some simpler interfaces for lecturers and designers to use and CE6 fails to deliver. It may just be a question of time and a need for familiarity but CE6 is overly or badly designed in places… It may be easier than 4x in some ways and perhaps even overall but it is still way more complicated than it needs to be.
I think it’s down to the usual battle between making it simple and making it flexible. Some people will want flexible (and hence usually more complex) features, while others just want to plonk their files in a folder and be done with it.
I guess they could implement a ‘basic mode’ and an ‘advanced mode’. I think this is where Blackboard (in its current form) possible scores, although some might feel it’s still a bit too simplified.
You’re right of course. Maybe I’m just a Blackboard fan at heart…! At the moment I feel it’s a minority that need the flexibility and a majority who need the simplicity. Perhaps in the future BlackCT will operate in two modes…
We’re moving from a homemade CMS that has supported teaching for 10 years allowing us to post supporting materials weekly. The following best describes our model:
“I want timed release so I can stay one (maybe two) week(s) ahead of the students. I’ll give a vague schedule for the year and then update it depending on how students are getting on with the stuff and adding it new case studies and news articles as they happen/as I find them.”
Suddenly turning staff into Vista developers as opposed to content providers, when they were happy being content providers is an issue. We want simplicity first, flexibility can come later when we want to start using all those Vista features!