OPENCLASS UPDATES: Some updates from Pearson's OpenClass learning management system straight from Adrian Sannier (the company's Senior VP of Learning Technologies), who kindly dropped us a line from EDUCAUSE: now roughly a year after its launch, the LMS has been used in over 5,000 K-12 and higher-ed institutions in over 70 countries, with over 100,000 students onboard. Not bad, suggests Sannier, who believes these numbers attest to OpenClass' chops as a viable self-service platform. But he says the LMS is "merely a vehicle for users to deploy learning applications," and the second year will be spent concentrating on working with content creators to deploy their courses at scale on the platform. Content is where Pearson hopes to monetize, it seems--not a far-stretch from outgoing CEO Marjorie Scardino's comment back earlier this year's SXSWedu that "we do not believe content wants to be free." (Although, Pearson did make some overtures to OER resources with its announcement of Project Blue Sky last week.) Joshua Kim at InsideHigherEd shares his thoughts on OpenClass' strategy.
