Blackboard, monopolies and walls

Don't look now but some storm clouds are brewing around networked learning. First the assault on net neutrality. Then the DOPA Act. Now Blackboard, makers of a widely used course management system, has recently been awarded a patent for the very idea of a course management system. Immediately, Blackboard sued competitor Desire2 Learn for patent infringement.

Now I am no patent law expert, but the entire claim -- which was filed in 2000 -- seems completely absurd. In my view, Bb has cobbled together a collection of common practices in file and user management and claimed they invented something new: a course management system. To me it is same as if an architect tried to patent a collection of rooms, cafeteria, HVAC system and a library and called it a "school."

Michael Feldstein at e-literate has had a number of good posts on the issue, including a nice translation of the legalese of Blackboard's claim. The buzz elsewhere in the edtech blogosphere has been overwhelmingly negative. See some comments from Mark Oehlert and Dave Cormier. I think Jay Cross has the best satirical remark so far:

I'm filing a patent on learning. It's a process by which the brain of a human being connects neural pathways in response to outside stimuli. The patent includes, ipso facto, hearing, sight, smell, taste, talking and feeling. If you don't cease learning immediately, you will hear from my attorney

What are the implications of this? If Bb succeeds in defending its patent claim it opens up the possibility that they could enforce it against open source platforms and even particular arrangements of other social networking tools -- such as blogs, wikis, IM -- that are used in any experience that can be defined as a course. Imagine the chilling effect this will have on the creativity and innovation that so vibrantly alive among technologists in the education sector. Imagine the chilling effect this will have on schools who want to expand online learning and have to make decisons on elearning platforms. Moreover, Bb has patented the old way of learning. It is built on the "teaching as transmission and regurgitation" model. To the extent that it succeeds in stifling innovation and competition it also retards the transformation of our education into relevance for the networked 21st century world.

I am optimistic and hopeful that this patent claim will be struck down. It is interesting to note this is just one of several instances of monopoly and control threatening education right now. The US House recently passed DOPA (Delete Online Predators Act) that blocks use of all social networking software in schools that receive federal money. No blogs, no wikis, no publishing to and interacting with the larger world. Then there is the Telecom legislation through which telcos want to lift local franchising rules and netneutrality provisions, effectively turning internet access into cable TV service.

I have to believe this will all pass into the dust-bin of history. I believe we are in the middle of a transformation in which openness, collaboration and sharing is becoming the model for doing business and for learning. Some out there are still stuck in old way of doing things and they will fight to gain all they can before they have succumb to change.

That is my belief and my hope.

Technorati Tags: Blackboard Patent, Net Neutrality, DOPA

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