Biography of John Baker
John Baker is the founder and CEO of Desire2Learn.
Desire2Learn Incorporated, also known as Desire2Learn or D2L was founded in 1999 by John Baker who desired eLearning or a Learning Management System (LMS) that was not available when he was studying systems design engineering in his third year at the University of Waterloo. Baker grew up in Eastern Canada. He moved from Newfoundland to Ontario when he was in Grade Five. Baker did well in school and had thought he might want to become a doctor. His parents suggested instead that he do something more applied or hands-on for his first degree. Baker chose the field of Engineering where Systems Design appealed to him because of the integration of knowledge and design. What sets Baker apart from other entrepreneurs in the realm of education is that he chose to focus on problem finding rather than problem solving. He wanted to find something that he could do differently and make a positive impact on society. When faced with a ruling of a Texas jury to pay his competitior Blackboard $3.1 million dollars over a patent dispute, Baker remained confident and appealed the decision. His company eventually won in 2009. Reinhart, a writer for Communitech writes that Baker’s “willingness to go with his gut and adopt total transparency throughout the case, against the advice of his lawyers, also helped distinguish the young executive as a true entrepreneur”. When asked what qualities saw him through this difficult period, Baker responded with “integrity, openness, hard work, dedication, persistence, [and] passion” (Reinhart, 2012). It seems that Baker has been able to grow with his company through the good and the bad.
Desire2Learn’s leadership team is diverse. Each has a strong background in various areas such as financing, administration, marketing and sales, SaaS, IT, engineering, planning, legal counsel, and services and support. Their biographies include multiple degrees and relavant and extensive work experience with other leading technological companies.
D2L provides eLearning solutions and develops online LMS for more than 650 institutions in 20 different companies around the world. It is a stable and growing company which has been named one of Canada’s Top 50 Small & Medium Employers for 2011. D2L markets to K-12, Higher Education, Corporate, and Government enterprises. D2L has many different product options including a user friendly LMS, ePortfolios, Analytics, Learning Repository Resources, which can be access through mobile devices and through an open platform. Some of the services it offers are: cloud services, learning and creative services, customer service and support, implementation and customization, advisory and consulting, and training.
Personally this analysis has not inspired my own entrepreneurial potential. I think some of the reason that this company has been successful is that Baker not only had the creative idea, but also had the ability to build and design it. For myself, I might be able to come up with an idea but would need others to create it. This activity has perked my interest in this company as I see the need for students in K -12 setting to have an E-Portfolio that holds their work throughout the years and includes report cards, etc. I have a familiarity with Blackboard in Higher Education but would love to see what this looks like at the Elementary School Level.
References:
Reinhart, A. February 14th, 2012. D2L’s John Baker: Desire To Make A Difference. Retrieved September 24th, 2012 from https://www.communitech.ca/d2ls-john-baker-desire-to-make-a-difference/3/
Posted in: General, Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Doug Connery 9:31 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I was at the D2L Users conference this summer and saw John Baker speak several times. He speaks just as he looks with confidence and passion about his company. It is interesting as at the conference he was introducing some of the new members of the D2L management team. Many of them were from Research in Motion (RIM) which is located in the same area of Kitchener-Waterloo in southern Ontario. I can only imagine that these people felt the uneasiness of RIM and decided to move over to a different technology company that is currently more stable than RIM.
Doug.
jenbarker 11:43 pm on September 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Doug – From what I have read about D2L, those people who moved from RIM will likely not be disappointed. Do you use D2L in your area of work?
Just want to let anyone else who is taking ETEC 511 know that I just realized that we are reading about the D2L and Blackboard court case this week. I am actually geek’d about the serendipitous connection. I plan to read the article tomorrow and will repost if it sheds any new light on John Baker.
Doug Connery 8:23 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jen:
Yes we use D2L; we migrated from WebCT two years ago and have not looked back.
Doug.
tomwhyte1 8:09 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great synopsis of the D2L product, I got a good sense of what the founder/CEO is like and his overall approach in various aspects of the educational technology business world.
On a side note though, I am wondering, did you notice if this company has any true educators, or people with classroom experience in their core group?
jenbarker 10:49 pm on September 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I did notice that indeed there are no executive team members with educational backgrounds. I think the way they get around this is the meet with educators from within the classroom and listen to their needs and concerns to develop a personalized LMS that fits their school’s requirements. It is an interesting point you bring up. Thanks Tom.
tomwhyte1 9:49 am on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I guess, if done properly, this would not be a big deal. However, too many times, both personally and professionally I have used Educational Software created by non-educators and have been easily frustrated, for these products have been designed, developed, and deployed from a non-educator perspective. Again this may seem not a large issue, but the intuitive feel is not educationally focused, creating frustration for many users, forcing them to avoid or potential drop the program entirely.
Thoughts?
Peggy Lawson 6:50 pm on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I believe that Blackboard finally did buy out Desire2Learn, did they not? Or perhaps just a very close partnership. Blackboard also absorbed WebCT (a UBC initiative!!! And my 1st experience with an LMS when I became a provincial online teacher for Saskatchewan), among others.
This is another topicthat is perhaps beyond the scope of ETEC 522, but clearly related. Is it good practice for an entreprenuer to think to the future – what company do I want to impress, that will absorb me down the road? In the Web 2.0 world, would this not be a critical consideration?
Doug Connery 8:52 pm on September 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Peggy:
Blackboard has not bought out Desire to learn. Rather Desire to Learn keeps luring Blackboard customers over to them. The mantra of many new Desire to Learn customers at their recent Users conference was “Bye bye Blackboard”!
Doug.
adi 6:16 pm on September 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I often wonder like Penny about what happens down the road. Do some of these entrepreneurs design these products for long term success, or in the hope of threatening to compete with a big company in order to be absorbed. I’ve looked at Desire2Learn and for me it’s just yet another LMS to add to the list that is already out there. As I student and teacher, it just makes life harder having to get used to yet another platform, so unless it’s drastically different, or free, I’m not sure I’d bother. I think that more than ‘bye bye Blackboard’, Blackboard will end up buying this one, too.