Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Two Paths Diverged In the Woods

People who know me have probably been wondering why I have been so silent about the whole KualiCo issue.  I’m typically very opinionated and am not afraid to speak my mind.  The reason is that I have been thinking very deeply about what is happening.  I have come to the conclusion that Kuali Student and KualiCo were created with two very different goals in mind.


Kuali Student’s main goal, from its charter, is:
To support a wide range of academic and related business processes, including those that cross departments, systems and institutions, in ways that work best for each institution, and make it easier, faster and less expensive to change existing processes and introduce new ones.


KualiCo’s goal, from its mission statement, is:
KualiCo’s mission is to provide amazing software that lowers the cost of higher ed administration and improves the learning experience for students, faculty, and staff.


Now those are very divergent goals.  KualiCo with its very laser focus will hopefully achieve success and volume.  I hope they do because KPlus2 plans on selling add-on products through them.  However, as dictated by their mission and as reinforced in their marketing they will have to create a system that is simplified and streamlined (their words not mine, see KualiCo’s website).  Their student system, when finally delivered, will most likely meet most of the needs of most of the schools in the United States.


But I also believe that many institutions are not like most schools.  These are the Institutions whose faculty and culture require that their systems be much more flexible.  These are institutions who see that their ability to compete and differentiate themselves is not based  solely on saving dollars. These schools differentiate themselves by their ability to experiment educationally and they rely on processes and systems that enable this flexibility.


From my perspective there is room and a need for both Kuali Student and KualiCo.

What's your perspective?

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