WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackboard Inc.
(Nasdaq: BBBB) today announced the launch of CourseSites by
Blackboard, a free, fully hosted and supported online course system
featuring the Company's latest teaching and learning technologies.
The offering gives individual K-12 and higher education instructors
an innovative, high quality cloud-based option to host online
courses or add a Web-based component to traditional ones.
The simple, easy to use system gives educators greater choice
and flexibility for online courses in a system with cutting edge
features that encourage experimentation. CourseSites is designed to
support instructors who may not have access to a learning
management system at their institution or school, or who may have
access to an older platform system from Blackboard or a competing
course management provider. There is no license fee, no hosting fee
and no additional setup required for instructors to get
started.
"We want to reduce all barriers, whether technical, financial or
administrative, to getting our best technologies into the hands of
educators new to online learning products or unfamiliar with our
latest offerings," said Ray
Henderson, President of Blackboard Learn. "We're investing
with a belief that CourseSites can become the most accessible
option for introducing new educators to online instruction in the
market."
CourseSites presents an option for instructors looking to
preview and test Blackboard's teaching and learning software before
their institution makes a purchasing decision. It can also serve as
a production-quality teaching and learning pilot environment for
instructors at institutions preparing to upgrade their
implementation of Blackboard Learn™.
“We heard from many individual instructors whose schools had not
yet purchased a learning management system that they felt their
only choice was to download an open source product,” said
Lara Oerter, Vice President of
Blackboard Strategy. “But the challenges of learning how to
technically install and manage an open source product on your own
server are significant. With CourseSites we are removing those
technical barriers since the set up and hosting are all provided by
Blackboard for free.”
Based on Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 – the Company's newest
platform for teaching and learning – CourseSites features a range
of social learning tools and Web 2.0 functionality. The system also
features integrated technologies from Blackboard partners and
platform offerings that will be expanded over time, including
Blackboard Collaborate™ instant messaging, live
collaboration, conferencing and voice tools; assessment,
self-assessment and locked browser tools from Respondus, Inc.; and
content authoring tools from SoftChalk LLC.
CourseSites also features a range of innovative,
instructor-focused features including dedicated homepages and URLs
for instructors, templates to guide course development, themes to
allow instructors to customize the look and feel of their courses
and the ability to login using credentials from popular Web sites
like Facebook and Twitter. In addition to being fully hosted and
offering live support for users, CourseSites comes with a
complement of training resources and course development resources
and tools.
"CourseSites opens up so many possibilities with a host of new
educational tools and communication vehicles," said Lou Tharp,
an instructor at Long Beach City
College that has been using an early release version of the
system. "I taught in the traditional classroom for over 30 years
and truly believe that my online course enables me to teach even
more effectively. I am more available than I was before, since
students can contact me at any hour in any part of the world."
For more information about CourseSites, please visit:
http://www.coursesites.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 November 5, 2010 with the SEC. In
addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views as of February 10, 2011. 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
February 10, 2011.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.