Online-ed guru makes software free

Glenn Jones spent
$35 million developing software that helps schools
and colleges offer classes online.

He’s now going to give it away for free.

By Andy Vuong
Denver Post Business Writer

"The best thing we can do to accelerate the
adoption and use and growth of online education
is to give the world a free platform," said Jones,
founder of Arapahoe County-based software
developer Jones Knowledge and online school
Jones International University.

"Universities, and specifically high schools, can’t
really afford to spend a lot of dollars on a
platform. So it’s holding them back from doing
what they really want to do and what they need
to do," he said.

Some of Jones Knowledge’s 125 customers pay as
much as $400,000 a year for the software, he
said. The company will announce today that it
plans to make the source code freely available to
all educational institutions worldwide, including
existing customers, by the end of the year.

"Let’s not get carried away with the technology,"
Jones said. "The technology is just a tool to help
and assist educators."

But Jones will continue to run his for-profit online
learning university and a consulting business that
may reap the benefits of wide-scale adoption of
his software.

More than 2 million students take online courses,
a number that may reach 5 million in four years,
according to the U.S. Distance Learning
Association.

"It’s estimated that over 90 percent of higher
education institutions have some version of online
included in their course offerings, whether it’s a
100 percent online course or there’s Web
components to a course that’s delivered in a
classroom," said Heather O’Mara, president of
Jones International.

Jones said his goal is to increase the number of
institutions that offer online classes and
eventually have them offer entire programs
instead of just a few courses.

"Instead of just one or two or three or four
courses, whole degree programs, or whole new
virtual programs, will be formed," he said.

But a local competitor said it takes more than just
software to implement a successful online learning
program.

"Software is a small component of the entire
solution that an institution needs to use to be
successful in a full online program," said Bob
Haimes, senior vice president of product and
market management for Denver-based online
learning company eCollege.

Other components include information technology
support as well as support for administration,
faculty and students, Haimes said, all of which
eCollege offers as part of its online learning
package.

Haimes added that other companies also have
tried to offer free online learning software in the
past.

"That proved unsuccessful, and often people got
what they paid for," Haimes said.

WebCT, Blackboard and eCollege control the
majority of the higher education online learning
market.

Gull Stanford, a member of the Colorado Board of
Education, called the move "visionary."

"I think it’s a visionary move and will result in
exponential growth in online education," he said.
"This is Glenn Jones’ philanthropical way of closing
the digital divide. On behalf of the state board of
education, I welcome their generous move."

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