WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc.
(Nasdaq: BBBB) today announced the program for BbWorld®
2010, set for July 13-16 in
Orlando, Fla., which will
emphasize practical, hands on training and development for
attendees – particularly around the company's new online and mobile
learning platforms.
Bestselling author Greg Mortenson
will keynote the annual user event, which will include over 140
sessions on a range of key issues. Many will focus on building
understanding and know-how around Release 9.1 of Blackboard
Learn™, the latest edition of the company's leading online
teaching and learning platform, and Blackboard Mobile
Learn™, a new offering that extends and enriches the Blackboard
Learn course experience for world's most popular mobile
platforms.
"In the last year we've delivered some important new solutions
that were engineered with a great deal of input from clients," said
Michael L. Chasen, president and CEO
of Blackboard, who will deliver a corporate keynote with Blackboard
Learn President Ray Henderson. "This
event is a big part of how we listen for feedback that helps drive
the course for what comes next."
At BbWorld, attendees will learn about Release 9.1 from
Blackboard executives, technical experts, and especially their
peers – many who have already begun evaluating or implementing the
release at their institutions. Sessions will focus on the social
learning and Web 2.0 features that come with Release 9.0 and 9.1,
upgrade paths for different types of institutions, and a variety of
new resources Blackboard has created to ease the upgrade process
and help clients manage the changes the comes with it.
"I am looking forward to BbWorld and the opportunity to share my
experiences from my initial work with Release 9.1," said
Kathy Saville, Director of the
MUOnline Design Center, Marshall
University, who will present a session at the event. "I am
excited to see Release 9.1 support varying styles for teaching and
learning, plus its capabilities to interact with social networks
and mobile devices."
A range of client and staff led sessions will also focus on
Blackboard Mobile Learn and Blackboard Mobile Central™, the
company's student life and services application, and the company's
mass notification platform, Blackboard Connect™, which has
been integrated into Release 9.1 to let students choose how they
receive course notifications and updates, including through
messages to their mobile devices.
Greg Mortenson, author of
Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, will
deliver the opening keynote address. An advocate for education,
Greg co-founded the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, an
organization that promotes education and literacy programs and has
helped to establish or significantly support 131 schools in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education to children –
particularly girls – where few education opportunities have existed
before.
BbWorld will include more than 100 client-led sessions and
special program tracks for clients running Blackboard Learn, WebCT
and ANGEL platforms, and for K-12 and professional education
clients. The event will also provide an update on Blackboard's work
on the open database for Blackboard Learn and to advance open
standards in e-learning including Common Cartridge and Learning
Tools Interoperability (LTI).
A series of pre-conference workshops on July 12-13 will engage attendees in hands on
development opportunities with Blackboard training and consulting
staff and exemplary clients on topics ranging from Release 9.1 and
assessment and grading efficiencies to course delivery and ways to
engage learners. The Blackboard Developers Conference (DevCon) will
also take place July 12-13, bringing
together the community of institutional and third party developers
who create customizations and enhancements to Blackboard Learn that
are used widely throughout the Blackboard client community.
More information on BbWorld is available at
http://www.BbWorld.com.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise
technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of
millions of students and learners around the world every day.
Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12,
professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend
teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and
security, and communicate more effectively with their communities.
Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia
and Australia.
Any statements in this press release about future
expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other
statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans,"
"expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
as a result of various important factors, including the factors
discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-Q
filed on May 7, 2010 with the
SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this
press release represent the Company's views as of May 13, 2010. The Company anticipates that
subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views
to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company
specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These
forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to
May 13, 2010.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.