in the ‘huh? how does this happen?’ category… blackboard patents.

for those of you who aren’t in the academic or elearning space, blackboard is a company providing web-based course management software.

my most recent uni used it (although not all the functionality available). it was used as a document repository (where professors dropped their lecture notes, the syllabus, where articles or article links were stored). i think one professor once had our class list up there with individual contact details but 99% of the time it was only used for document/link sharing (by profs, not by students. very 1 way communication).

the software has more to offer including message boards, chat, ability to post grades, etc. recently they were granted at patent on their e-learning software. this has caused a bit of an uproar. blackboard is already the largest company of this sort and once you look at what they’ve patented, you realise they could shut down any software company that contains really basic items. the best explanation i’ve seen is michael feldstein’s explanation of the 44 patent claims. these include things like the ability to have async chat, sync chat, assigning different levels of access (ie student vs prof), students being able to upload files to the prof, etc. REALLY basic stuff. amazing how stuff like this can be patented.

for more info, see the collection of images from the patent and stephen downes site. in fact, read the great post on stephen’s site and special section for much more complete details. plus small blurb on smartmobs by howard rheingold .