Internet learning system dropped

By PETER GRIFFIN

Auckland University's home-grown e-learning platform Cecil is being dropped in favour of software commonly used by educational institutions overseas.

The decision to drop Cecil has outraged some within the university, who say it undercuts efforts to promote locally developed technology.

University staff have been told that Cecil will be replaced by one of two well-known e-learning platforms, WebCT or Blackboard.

The further development of Cecil has not been ruled out, but it seems unlikely that plans to make Cecil widely available will proceed.

Cecil was developed as a management studies teaching system in 1995 by a team within the university's business school.

Since then, the system, which supplies course information and learning materials through the web, has developed a user base of over 5000 students and academic staff.

Roderick Girle, associate professor in the university's philosophy department, said the decision flew in the face of Government policy on supporting the knowledge economy.

"If Cecil were developed, there is the possibility of a multimillion-dollar income for the university.

"If it is dumped, then the university will export dollars for a system that was not developed to meet local needs.

"Big international companies do not want Kiwis to be independent, they want New Zealand to buy, buy, buy.

"The knowledge wave is, it seems, wave goodbye to Kiwi knowledge, expertise and innovation."

In a memo to staff members, the university's vice-chancellor, John Hood, pointed to potential compatibility problems and said the majority of educational materials were now designed for WebCT or Blackboard systems.

Cecil was able to offer some features its heavily financed and marketed competitors could not.

He said the university wished to put some features of Cecil into commercial products, if possible.

But a source with the the university, who did not want to be named, said companies were queuing up to invest in Cecil and that the university did not want to take the financial risk of developing it further.

The university will undertake a technical evaluation of WebCT and Blackboard over the next few months, and one of the systems is expected to be installed for the beginning of the next academic year.

Links


Blackboard

WebCT

Cecil