FlexTraining vs. Blackboard
One of the popular e-Learning products in the higher education market has been the "Blackboard" learning management system. Although it has been on the market for some time, it suffers from design and feature deficiencies and has a very high price tag. Here is a summarized comparison of the FlexTraining Total e-Learning Solution and Blackboard:
FlexTraining |
Blackboard |
One-time permanent license fee of $14,900 for 5,000 students (unlimited courses), $10,900 for 1,000 users. |
License fees start at $15,000 annually for a server version, more than twice that for hosted/subscription arrangement. |
Built-in Learner Profile features allow education planning, tracking, warnings/notices, as well as printable grade book. |
Very limited student/course planning functionality. |
Designed for full planning, content delivery, tracking, education, reporting and analysis. |
Better suited for student "clubs" or communities, casual groups chatting and exchanging files and e-mails. |
Learner Interface works with any recent version of Internet Explorer or Netscape browser. |
Learner must configure browser to handle Blackboard interface - many browsers not supported. |
Easy to customize - open source code included in product and graphics easily replaced for "branding." |
Very limited customizability, even for user interface. |
Uses only HTML and JavaScript in student's browser - all Java removed in 1999. |
Still makes use of unstable Java "applets" which freeze up learner's computer and raise browser compatibility issues. |
Every course includes an online, personal, downloadable student notebook. |
Students can only make "global" annotations for entire course. |
Searchable document libraries included, based on user-defined document types and attributes. Set up per-course and/or per student documents. |
No search function. |
"System options" management screen lets you enable or disable system modules or features. |
Difficult to configure or alter system behaviors. |
Handles video and other multimedia with a variety of templates and layouts. |
No multimedia screen layout support. |
Includes built-in, template-based, multi-user authoring tool. |
Direct content authoring not supported. |
Uses standard SQL or Access database - design distributed with product, allows custom reports and interfaces. |
Widely-published database integrity/corruption problems, resulting in frustrating system down time. |
Available as an installed server product or as an online subscription. |
Also available on a subscription service, at MUCH higher prices than FlexTraining. |
Be sure and ask about special FlexTraining licensing discounts for customers who are replacing high-priced systems from Blackboard.
