WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hawaii
Department of Education's Extended Learning Opportunities and
Student Support section has chosen Blackboard Learn™ 9.1 to
replace an open source learning management system (LMS) Blackboard
Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced today. The platform provides online
courses for over 1,200 students through the Hawaii Virtual Learning
Network-ESchool (HVLN-ESchool) and over 500 teachers annually
through the HVLN-Project Inspire program.
Prior to moving to Release 9.1, HVLN utilized an open source
platform to deliver online content. But the need for additional
features, easy customizations, and greater functionality prompted
them to explore options for a more robust LMS platform. HLVN also
anticipated an increase in student and teacher enrollments,
suggesting the need for an enterprise capable implementation.
HLVN formed a selection committee to evaluate several LMS
options to find the best fit to support student and teacher needs.
The committee found that the Release 9.1 platform offered both cost
efficiency and enhanced usability in a fully hosted solution
including a streamlined approach to course delivery, content
management and technical support.
"The evaluation conducted by HVLN was a complete assessment of
teaching and learning needs, cost comparisons and product
performance," said Brett Frazier,
Senior Vice President at Blackboard. "It's exciting to see a
learning platform approach that is well aligned with the strategic
goals of a statewide program and helps students, teacher and
faculty members engage with one another to promote student
success."
HVLN has already leveraged Release 9.1 to deliver online
professional development options to over 500 teachers during the
last year. This online professional learning community is now
enhanced through the consortium provision of faculty courses, such
as online teaching training.
Starting this fall, HVLN began delivering secondary courses to
over 1,000 students. Schools are utilizing the branding features to
customize the system's interface to create an accessible portal for
all online learning resources. In addition, parents can directly
access their child's course progress in real time rather than
waiting for the online instructor to provide a progress report.
HVLN's limited IT staff leverages Blackboard's support and
hosting team for day-to-day management of the system, including
software downloads, reference materials and management assistance,
enabling them to dedicate more time and resources to other teaching
and learning initiatives.
More than 1,600 higher education, K-12 and professional
institutions have adopted Blackboard's next generation platform to
take advantage of its improved stability and digital content
advancements, social learning tools to drive student engagement and
greater workflow efficiencies for instructors and
administrators.
For more information about Blackboard Learn, please visit
http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Learn/Overview.aspx.
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-K filed
on February 18, 2011 and Form 10-Q
filed on August 4, 2011 with the SEC.
In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views as of September 20, 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
September 20, 2011.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.