The Resources Button in the CourseInfo

The button appears in the image to the above. It is pretty innocuous but also significant. It has it's own color, indicating that it is not really part of the course Web site. It is also smaller than the buttons above for "functionality." These functionality buttons can all be removed by an instructor. The resources button appears as both different from and incorporated with the individual instructor's course site.

Selecting the Resources button sends the instructor or learner to Blackboard resources. An intervening screen indicates the loading of the resources and their value:

The message above clearly conveys a sense of leaving the course, but upon arriving at the Blackboard resources, the reader is shown screens that indicate that the resources are still part of the class site:

The coursename is displayed clearly at the top of the resources page. The resources page, however, is as much a corporate message (see "products and services") and a platform for promoting commercial partnerships as it is a part of an instructor's class Web site. Further, the specific resources compiled for this composition course may or may not mesh with the instructor's goals.

The resources also open questions of canonicity related to the partnering of the courseware provider with content providers. Full text articles are readily available but limited to those offered by content partners. The resource page also connects the instructor or student with these partners directly:

The partner is contained within the frame of the Blackboard Resource Center (a little brother?). The partner, XanEdu.com, also blends the human and the resource in their icon. They also promise more blending by offering both applications and content. The name resonates with earlier hypertext utopias and suggests more blending with the Edu dot-com construction.

I see lots of blending. Lots of branding. Lots of partnering. I see that perhaps it is not as far fetched as it once seemed to consider resources agents of influence.