Proprietary Course Management Systems and Learning Management Systems
Proprietary CMSs are “software products that are purchased or licensed by one vendor.”36, p. viii These vendors provide a license either to install the system on the customer’s servers or to host the customer’s license on their servers. For many years, proprietary CMSs were the dominant systems on the market. Many of these original systems merged, and only a handful make up the current market of proprietary systems.
Most CMSs provide content management, user management and enrollment, assessment of learners, communications such as e-mail and discussion forums, and social learning tools such as wikis, blogs, journals, and mobile features. Three examples of proprietary CMSs and LMSs are presented in the following sections: Blackboard, Desire2Learn (D2L), and SharePoint LMS.
Blackboard
Blackboard (www.blackboard.com), founded in 1997 as a small educational technology company, is the market share leader in proprietary CMSs. Blackboard’s Learn provides a full range of CMS service (Fig. 31.3). Blackboard is used across domestic and international markets that includes K-12, Higher Education, Governments, and Businesses. Their goal is “to make learning more desirable, accessible and meaningful for learners.”37
FIG 31.3 Blackboard home page with the platforms menu. From www.blackboard.com. Property of Blackboard and used with permission.
Desire2Learn
D2L Incorporated (https://www.d2l.com/), founded in 1999, markets itself as providing innovative learning solutions to K-12, higher education, corporate, government, and healthcare organizations worldwide.38 D2L’s Brightspace includes a variety of modules for managing the creation, delivery, and management of courses. The functionality is robust, but the learning curve for novice users can be more challenging than Blackboard. An example of the products offered by D2L can be seen in Fig. 31.4.
FIG 31.4 D2L product menu. https://www.d2l.com/. Copyright 2013 D2L Corporation. Used with permission.