Stephen Downes

Two comments: it's about time, and welcome to the party. Blackboard has "announced plans to add a 'Share' button that will let professors make those learning materials free and open online." What's significant is that institutions will be able to share access without cost to themselves. "In the old contract, colleges could have been charged extra for every additional person who viewed course materials placed on the Blackboard software platform... [now] any outsiders who are invited to look in will not bring extra charges to a college, says Mr. Henderson. 'If it’s non-revenue for you, we understand it’s going to be non-revenue for us,' he says." See also Inside Higher Ed on the same story. Here's the Blackboard press release. See also this Audrey Watters article and her Google+ discussion. Also, a short notice on the Creative Commons blog.