Desire2Learn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Desire2Learn Inc. is a corporation founded in 1999 that supplies enterprise software to allow users to build E-learning environments. Corporate headquarters are in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Desire2Learn (D2L) clients include colleges, universities, and schools, as well as associations and other organizations. The company claims more than four million users of their technology worldwide.

1 Products
2 Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn
3 Services
4 Other e-learning platforms
5 External links

[edit] Products

Desire2Learn's products include:

[edit] Learning Environment

A web-based learning platform that combines both a Learning Management System and a content management system. It consists of a suite of teaching and learning tools for course development, delivery, assessment, communication, and management.

The Learning Environment has many features including:

Customizable Branding and Pedagogy
Discussions, Grades, Statistics, and Feedback
Quizzing
Competencies
Rubrics
Reporting and Data Warehouse
Survey System
Conditional Releases and Learning Paths
Dropbox
Course Imports & Export Components
Blog
Email
Content Conversion
Glossary
News

[edit] Learning Repository

A repository for storing, tagging, searching and reusing Learning Objects. It allows organizations to manage and share content across multiple programs, courses, and sections.

Learning Repository incorporates standards and specifications such as IMS-Content Packaging, SCORM and IEEE LOM. The metadata editor also supports other metadata application profiles such as Dublin Core, GEM, CanCore and others.

Other features include:

Object Status
Peer Reviews
Federated Searching
Browsable Taxonomies
Metadata Administrator, Editor and Views
Event Logs and Reporting
Personal Display Preferences

[edit] LiveRoom

A chat, presentation and whiteboard technology which allows for particpants to communicate in live online learning activities.

Features include:

Resource sharing
Participant management
Integrated web browser

Additional Desire2Learn Products Include:

D2L Portal System
D2L eCommerce & Registration System

[edit] Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn

On January 17, 2006 Blackboard was granted US patent 6,988,138 on "Internet-based education support system and methods" (with other multinational patents having been issued or pending) with extensive claims over many features of VLEs (U.S. Patent 6,988,138 ). On July 26, 2006, the company issued a press release regarding its patent portfolio and on that day filed a lawsuit against Desire2Learn(D2L) for patent infringement, using the above patent to assert its rights under US patent law. The Complaint was filed in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division, a rural East Texas judicial district.

Desire2Learn have posted a Patent Information page which comprehensively documents Blackboard's complaint against them.

Many members of the elearning community felt that the patent award ignored the extensive (and enabling) prior art on elearning and distance education and started a Wikipedia page, History of virtual learning environments, and a Moodle Docs wiki page, Online Learning History, to document the extant examples of VLEs. The elearning community has further supported Desire2Learn's defence by calling for a boycott of Blackboard. See, for example, BoycottBlackboard.org.

A web site against education patents, with a lot of information about the patent has been created: Noedupatents.org.

[edit] Services

Desire2Learn offers services including implementation and integration, hosting, training, content development, help desk support, and support for their user community.