Question two this week comes from Michael, and he's asking a question about where some technological platforms sit between open and institutionally supported. Because there are a few things out there that tend to straddle both in some ways. So he's talking about ones that are quite functional or they may be adapted by an institution widely. But they're not something that's necessarily supported. So how do we actually classify those? >> So not every technology, first of all, has to be classified neatly into whether they're open or institutionally supported or closed, for example. Some of the examples that came through in that particular thread were, such as, Udemi, Skill Share, the Pearson products, in terms of My Math Lab, My Econ Lab. Those sort of things where students will have access to the technology and often times are quite similar to a learning management system because they have a combination of resources, quizzes, sometimes even video, and students can only access it if for example, they purchase the textbook that goes along with that platform or the instructor provides a code for them to use. So in a sense, they're closed in terms of it not being available for the public to use, unless they bought the textbook for example or it's part of a course. But they're not institutionally supported. And I think that's one of the main things to consider when selecting the technology you want to use in your course, is whether it's institutionally supported or not. >> So if I'm a teacher, the classification is one thing. >> Yeah. >> It' nice to know but. >> Yeah. >> If I'm a teacher and I'm trying to start something in one of these environments, what does that really mean for me? If it's institutionally supported for example, does that mean I walk down the hall and see my IT team, and they can fix something for me. And that's why that would be advantageous or. >> So every institution's different so I can't exactly provide an answer that would cover all institutions but generally speaking if it's institutionally supported like if Moodle is supported by your institution, Blackboard, anything like that that's actually supported. Maybe even a Pearson product, who knows? It's mostly your IT department is potentially hosting it or supporting it. It's more likely that you have that kind of access to support readily available. I can't say 100%, because it depends on your institution. So for example institutions that I've worked at the IT units, whether in my faculty or centrally are available to answer questions such as, what happens if the quiz doesn't work? What happens if I want to learn how to modify the quiz questions and I don't know how to? When they're non-institutionally supported, for example, like MyMathLab that came up in the thread, you may need to then go to that publisher or to that company to get the support. They might provide great support, in which case, great. You just need to pick up the phone and maybe you even have a local representative that can help you. But you just need to think of these kind of considerations when you're making your decision. Do you want to pick up the phone and try to get a hold of somebody? Do you have access to somebody down the hall, in your building, on your campus to get support. If you do, you might want to use the institutionally supported ones. If you don't, then you don't need to consider that. >> So it's about asking the right questions. And even thinking about what happens to the data if it's in a system that is not hosted by your institution and you need it for seven years after the fact. >> Yeah. >> Or something. So just think about those sorts of questions in terms of whether it's used or not. The level of support, the access to the data, privacy. >> The ease of use as well. So if your students are doing quizzes, for example, on different platform that's not integrated with your online grade book, for example, you'll then have to manually put the grades in. You just have to think, is that an issue for you? It might be, it might not be. So it always depends on your own circumstance, but you just want to make sure that you're considering all the factors when making your decision.