Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Web 2.NO - Why doesn't Blackboard Have a WIKI



So the latest version of Blackboard is out. Version 9. The company is showcasing all of its new web 2.0 features. AJAX controls that allow you to drag and drop the item to customize your views, greater web accessibility, blogs and journals. There are several other features but I just wanted to name a few. 

However, when I think of Web 2.0 and online collaboration I think of WIKI's. Blackboard still has not included these!  In my current position of employment which uses blackboard quite a lot and consults with faculty, the most common question I get is "does blackboard have a wiki?"  I figure if I get the question, they must get the same question.  Their answer is "No, we do not have a WIKI, but we have blogs and journals."

Okay, so blogs and journals, that sounds promising. Not really, they are almost the same exact thing in blackboard. The exceptions are that journals have a nice notepad background image and are private by default. Only the user that creates the blogs or journals can edit them so any wiki functionality is cut out. 


In all my internet searching I can not find an answer to the question, "where's the WIKI." Hopefully one day they will buy another LMS company like they just did with Angel, and get the secret technology apparently needed to add WIKI functionality.

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