With the announcement, the company will continue to focus on its flagship Blackboard Learn platform as well as ANGEL and Edline, while also helping institutions manage open source learning management systems (LMS) including Moodle and Sakai.
by Site Staff
March 28, 2012
Washington — March 26
Blackboard Inc. announced the launch of Blackboard Education Open Source Services, a new effort to support clients using open source education technologies.
With the announcement, the company will continue to focus on its flagship Blackboard Learn platform as well as ANGEL and Edline, while also helping institutions manage open source learning management systems (LMS) including Moodle and Sakai.
The move complements Blackboard’s existing focus on supporting the entire education experience with products and services for learning management as well as mobility, real time collaboration, analytics, campus services and notification. Blackboard already serves hundreds of institutions that use Moodle, Sakai and other LMS systems in tandem with these additional education-focused services.
Blackboard Education Open Source Services will be guided by teams from two providers of services to institutions using Moodle: Moodlerooms and NetSpot. Each company has been acquired by Blackboard but will operate independently to support their clients.
Blackboard also announced the addition of Charles Severance, founding chief architect of the Sakai Project and current Sakai Foundation board member, to guide the company’s efforts to support clients using Sakai.
The announcement follows a series of steps Blackboard has taken to promote greater openness in education. The company has increased the openness of its own systems and policies and has been active in supporting open standards through the IMS Global Learning Consortium.
Source: Blackboard Inc.