Blackboard Learn (previously the Blackboard Learning Management System) is a web-based
virtual learning environment
A virtual learning environment (VLE) in educational technology is a web-based platform for the digital aspects of courses of study, usually within educational institutions. They present resources, activities, and interactions within a course stru ...
and
learning management system
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learni ...
developed by
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. was an American educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Reston, VA. It was known for Blackboard Learn, a learning management system. It merged with Anthology in late 2021, with the future name of the combin ...
The software features course management, customizable
open architecture
Open architecture is a type of computer architecture or software architecture intended to make adding, upgrading, and swapping components with other computers easy. For example, the IBM PC, Amiga 500 and Apple IIe have an open architecture support ...
, and scalable design that allows integration with student information systems and authentication protocols. It may be installed on local servers, hosted by Blackboard ASP Solutions, or provided as
Software as a Service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is con ...
hosted on
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Amazon that provides Software as a service, on-demand cloud computing computing platform, platforms and Application programming interface, APIs to individuals, companies, and gover ...
. Its main purposes are stated to include the addition of online elements to courses traditionally delivered face-to-face and development of completely online courses with few or no face-to-face meetings.
History
On January 21, 1993,
Stephen Gilfus and
Daniel Cane
Daniel Cane is a founder of Blackboard Inc. and CourseInfo LLC. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of Modernizing Medicine.
Biography
Cane grew up in Lake Worth, Florida United States, attended Lake Worth High School and graduated from ...
started a company called
CourseInfo LLC
CourseInfo LLC, one of the two companies forming Blackboard Inc. was founded in 1997 by Daniel Cane and Stephen Gilfus while at Cornell University. They joined together to officially form the partnership known as CourseInfo and developed the ...
and were developing a software product that would power online education and be scalable for wider institutional application. At the same time, Matthew Pittinsky and Michael Chasen formed Blackboard LLC and were contracted to help lead the formation of the
Educause IMS standards group for online education technology. The two groups merged to form
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. was an American educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Reston, VA. It was known for Blackboard Learn, a learning management system. It merged with Anthology in late 2021, with the future name of the combin ...
, which then developed the Blackboard Learning System.
In October 2005,
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. was an American educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Reston, VA. It was known for Blackboard Learn, a learning management system. It merged with Anthology in late 2021, with the future name of the combin ...
and WebCT, the two leading providers back in the day of course management software for e-learning services to the education market, announced plans to merge their companies, which ultimately led to a combined LMS.
In May 2009 Blackboard learn purchased the privately held competing learning management systems company Angel Learning, inc.
ANGEL Learning
ANGEL Learning, Inc. was a privately held educational software company specializing in eLearning. Its main products are the ANGEL Learning Management Suite (LMS), ANGEL ePortfolio, and services offerings. In May 2009, it was acquired by Blackboa ...
.
In 2015, the company announced a user experience update, called Ultra.
In October 2017, Blackboard partnered with OpenEd to integrate OER with Learning Management Systems.
Learn Ultra
Ultra is an optional
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
sitting on top of the existing Learn 9.1 architecture, only available for
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is cons ...
installations. It is the largest change to Learn's front-end since its inception. It uses a
single page application format, which significantly changes the user experience and the ways in which 3rd-party tools can be included.
Blackboard has begun offering additional products such as Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (a video-classroom service), Blackboard Ally (an accessibility assistant), and a
chat-bot
A chatbot or chatterbot is a software application used to conduct an on-line chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of providing direct contact with a live human agent. Designed to convincingly simulate the way a human would beha ...
support service. These are designed to integrate with Ultra to deliver contextually-relevant interactions.
The interface added features which allow teachers to create assessments and course content within the application, such as assignments, grade books and learning modules. also added features like the ability to post announcements and discussion threads, the introduction of mail and chatrooms, and messages between students and teachers.
Criticism
Blackboard Inc. has had several legal issues, including faulty patent rights claims. In addition, a number of educational institutions, teachers, and students have expressed concerns about the reliability of Blackboard.
McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has replaced their Blackboard system after multiple problems during one year of use. Citing numerous glitches and high costs, many universities are turning to the cheaper, open source alternative
Moodle
Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in sch ...
, including
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...
,
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
,
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
, and many other schools.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
's implementation of the system notably suffered sporadic outages in the Grade Book section during the finals of the Fall 2014 semester.
In Spring 2020, during the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
,
Fairfax County Public Schools
The Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS's headqu ...
, one of the largest school systems in the United States with 189,000 students,
abandoned Blackboard Learn 24/7 after weeks of unsuccessful attempts to use it. The issues included poor security allowing live sessions to be hacked and disrupted,
and inability for the system to cope with the volume of students and teachers
even on the days when only
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
s were using the system.
See also
*
CourseInfo LLC
CourseInfo LLC, one of the two companies forming Blackboard Inc. was founded in 1997 by Daniel Cane and Stephen Gilfus while at Cornell University. They joined together to officially form the partnership known as CourseInfo and developed the ...
– the precursor to Blackboard Inc.
References
External links
*
{{Classroom management software
Learning management systems
Virtual learning environments
Classroom management software