Re: [seul-edu] HighWired vs. AUC

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

Jason Mellen wrote:

> Recently I began work to implement AUC at our high school. A teacher here
> also showed me this web service called HighWired.com. It is very similar in
> content except that AUC is resident at the school and HW is provided by a
> company. Both have a few features the other don't.[...] Logically the school
> is
> cautious about letting students use bulletin boards but they are just as
> cautious about sending students to a semi-commercial site. I don't blame
> them and being the webmaster I want to do what is best. Thanks for your
> thoughts.

These are just my personal thoughts, so don't take them as anything
particularly weighty.  I've looked at HighWired, BlackBoard, etc., before and I
think they share a few things that I don't care for.  First, their websites are
way over-"designed."  I'm sure they look nice on Netscape Navigator and MSIE,
but I doubt they'll work nearly as well on anything else (no hard data here,
only supposition).  Second, they have all sorts of graphical intrusions, mostly
commercial, on the information they're supposed to get across.  Third, and my
biggest problem with them, is that you can only get whatever the site offers
and not what you want or need.

With AUC, LearnLoop, Zschool (when it's ready to use), you get a functional
system that can be expanded in whatever direction you wish.  We can see that
with Steve Tonnesen's integration of K12Admin with AUC.  As to the concern
about letting students use bulletin boards, so long as there's some
accountability for the posts (non anonymity, strong passwords, etc.) I don't
see how this is different from allowing them to speak in public.  If they say
something that should result in disciplinary action, then the school should
take that action.  You'll need a clearly-worded acceptable use policy (AUP)
that everyone is required to read and sign before getting an account, of
course.

--
Doug Loss                 Even if you're on the right track,
Data Network Coordinator  you'll get run over if you just
Bloomsburg University     sit there.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Will Rogers