Financial Management in Online Course Design and Implementation Group Project IA July 2, 2005 Blackboard Academic Suite vs Self-developed System

Group D Matt Carbone Tushar Mehta Ann Powers Jessica Strahl

Agenda Scenarios Pros and Cons Evaluation Criteria Methodology Needs Overview Examples of Application Cost Considerations Purchasing and Maintenance Recommendations

CommunityU Two-year liberal arts college Staten island, NY 3,000 students with 45% attending part-time 25% of all classes currently being offered online Plans to upgrade LMS due to growth foreseen in the online segment LMS Implementation planned for fall 2006 Small but highly-sophisticated and effective technology support staff

ZippityZ Corporation Worldwide supplier of zippers with headquarters in NYC Manufacturing plants in Europe and Asia Manufacturing simulation and English language courses Course for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation required ASAP

Out of the Box Pros Open Standards compliant (SCORM, AICC, IEEE, IMS) No development costs Professionally developed helpdesk and support systems Training available for purchase Multiple people with varying levels of expertise Cons Inaccessible source code Dependant on vendor and technology Installation and implementation fees Customization costs extra

Self-developed System Pros Accessible source code Flexibility in choosing desired technologies Customization can be done in-house Easy implementation and integration – if developed correctly Cons Unlikely to be open- standards compliant Development costs are high Under-developed helpdesk and support Must develop necessary training from scratch Expertise reside in small number of people -risky

Evaluating an Online Platform Functional Ease of use Diverse educational tools Implement-ability Supportability Foreign language capabilities Technical High availability Scalability Interoperability Use of industry learning standards Security

Methodology Considerations and their definitions are agreed upon Need factor calculated: functional and technical consideration ranked 1: low/no need 10: essential need Quality ratings assigned to blackboard and in-house developed LMS 1: very poor, undeveloped 10: outstanding, robust Weighted score = need factor[1-10] x quality rating[1-10]

ZippityZ Needs Functional Authentication Course authorization Registration integration Student tracking Accessibility compliance Content sharing/reuse Course templates Technical High availability Hosting options Maintenance: services offered Enterprise integration Scalability Interoperability Security Online Journals/Notes Student Portfolios

University Needs Functional Discussion Forums Authentication Course Authorization Registration Integration Accessibility Compliance Content Sharing/Reuse Course Templates Technical High Availability Hosting Options Maintenance: Services Offered Scalability Interoperability Security Online Journals/Notes Enterprise Integration Ability

Meeting the needs

ZippityZ s Considerations

Blackboard "BB" Cost Considerations

In-House Built "IB Cost Considerations

Analysis of Purchasing and Maintaining Purchasing Blackboard System: The estimated cost for CommunityU to purchase Blackboard is $449,059 and $555,459 for the ZippityZ Corporation In-House Built System: The estimated CommunityU, the cost to build an LMS/CLMS comes to $729,094 a difference of $291,489 from the Blackboard total purchase. The total difference for the ZippityZ Corporation was $306,761 both in favor of Blackboard Maintenance is 3 years for the University and 5 Years for the Corporation regardless of the system - costs differ accordingly Both of the above systems include network, server and maintenance costs among other costs

Platform Recommendation

Any Questions???? References Macromedia - Flex – web development platform Flash for simulations and streaming (video FLV format) FlexBuilder/Dreamweaver MX - with Coursebuilder extension to build SCORM compatible courses Captivate - screen captures for simulations. Contribute - Easily to create content from Dreamweaver Templates Articulate: Presenter creates Flash files from PowerPoint - supports SCORM and allows for voice narration Articulate QuizMaker - creates Flash format SCORM compliant Quizzes for self- assessment Articulate Knowledge Portal - the glue to hold it together