Blackboard course on standalone network?

August 5, 2008 10:57 AM

I need to find a course management system to deliver course materials over a network that is NOT connected to the internet

(students are in prison and don't have access). I have loads of faculty with great independent learning courses designed using Blackboard. Can I set up Blackboard to run on a standalone network? Some other product? Can work students submit via blackboard be easily downloaded and moved out on physical media? This is my first post on the green--I'm so excited to access the hive mind!

posted by midwestguy to Education (7 answers total)

I don't have any information specifically on the Blackboard product, but most web-based systems don't require "the internet" to run. If you set up a web server on a closed network, it will function just like web servers that you are used to using.
posted by demiurge at 11:11 AM on August 5, 2008

Demiurge is right. Even Microsoft IIS or Apache Web Servers can be setup so they're behind a firewall, only accessible from internal devices. Once they're setup properly, you need only type the IP/PC name in a browser from another PC.
posted by alcoth at 11:42 AM on August 5, 2008

moodle is open source; requires a server, but should be able to sun on a closed network. I haven't used it, but have started to look into it; have heard positive reports.
posted by theora55 at 11:43 AM on August 5, 2008

Blackboard has a few features, like SafeAssign, that require Internet access to work, but in general it will work just fine without it. Generally speaking, any LMS, or almost any web application for that matter, will work fine on a closed network. Internal DNS service might make things easier.

If you are interested in looking at free or open source applications, someone should mention Sakai as well.
posted by dreadpiratesully at 12:00 PM on August 5, 2008

And as for the last part of your question, assuming you are talking about assignment submissions that are made by uploading attachments, yes you can download them and deal with them like any other file. Using the built-in assessment tools or assignments where students answer in a text field would make extracting the submissions more difficult.
posted by dreadpiratesully at 12:04 PM on August 5, 2008

Seconding the "Blackboard/Moodle/Sakai on a local webhost" answers

Try XAMPP. It's the simplest way to host webpages on a Windows box (any XP computer from the last 2 years could easily support all your users.)

Prison computer lab setups have been some of the most fun projects I've helped out on. Are you using thin clients?
posted by mysterious1der at 1:08 PM on August 5, 2008

Thank you for the input everyone! It sounds like this might just work out. I am the head of the independent learning area, and was approached by the head of the corrections program with this question. The issue is that its quite difficult to find enough faculty who will go into the prisons to teach courses, particularly in areas where faculty are already well paid (like accounting, for example). but, there are many classes already in place for students to complete independently via distance ed.

I would expect the lab equipment to be full desktop machines, running Windows, with the network serving mainly to provide centralized storage space and printer access. Upgrades for the servers should be possible, if it were needed.

The University already has Blackboard, so that will probably be the way to go as far as the course software. Now I just need to figure out a good way to have the work students submit pulled off the standalone system and hauled back to campus for the faculty to grade and provide feedback.

Again, my thanks for the input and the software links, which I'll be checking out as well.
posted by midwestguy at 7:02 AM on August 7, 2008