Scott Leslie comenta l'anunci d'una versió beta de WebCT Campus Edition 6 (directament des de la versió 4, sense passar per la 5). Tot i que la publicitat parla d'«unprecedented advancements» i de «cutting-edge teaching and learning functionality», a colp d'ull les novetats semblen menors i escasses. Leslie interpreta que es tracta de guanyar la posició i conservar l'avantatge en un sector cada dia més competitiu, per culpa del programari lliure. Pronostica que durant el pròxim any o any i mig veurem moltes coses. Pel que fa als protagonistes dels esdeveniments...

Add to this the upcoming release of Sakai 2.0 in June (on which the scoop is we'll finally start to see more of the promise of Sakai), the maturing of various 'service-oriented' visions and practices, more folks experimenting with blogs, wikis and 'community' systems like Drupal to deliver their online courses, and not to leave out options like Moodle and ATutor, and you get what looks to me like a CMS landscape increasing in instability (and not in a bad way).

In some ways, it's all about timing. From where I'm sitting, many current licensees of the big CMS are frustrated with the costs associated with these platforms, and more than a few instructors express frustration as well. The migration from current Campus Edition platforms to WebCT 6 will not happen overnight, and will present the opportunity for a new round of decision making for many instituions.

-Scott Leslie: «WebCT Announces the Beta Release of WebCT Campus Edition 6».

-Business Wire: «WebCT Announces the Beta Release of WebCT Campus Edition 6».