Strategic Relationship Increases Sharing of Learning Resources
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc.
(Nasdaq: BBBB) today announced a strategic relationship with MERLOT (the
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Training) to improve
the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the number of high
quality resources available to online learning communities.
MERLOT is an international cooperative with a constantly growing
collection of more than 10,000 online teaching and learning materials and a
member directory of 20,000-plus individual faculty, students and researchers.
Members can freely add to and access curricular and human resources
information to aid their use of technology in teaching and learning.
Blackboard is a leading provider of enterprise software applications and
related services for the education industry. More than 12 million learners and
educators worldwide use Blackboard(R) software.
"Seamless discovery of and access to re-usable learning materials within
our e-Education platform is a high priority for Blackboard," said Matthew
Pittinsky, Chairman of Blackboard. "We recognize that the power of the
networked learning environment is maximized when the connections between
teachers, students, researchers and learning resources are increased and
strengthened. MERLOT has a stellar history of helping build that vision."
Through the agreement, MERLOT has joined the Blackboard Developer
Network(TM) and will work with Blackboard to use the Blackboard Building
Blocks(TM) technology to develop integration between the Blackboard Academic
Suite(TM) and the MERLOT services. Blackboard Building Blocks is Blackboard's
open architecture initiative that allows Blackboard clients and independent
software vendors to build new functionality on top of the Blackboard platform
or integrate external systems, like MERLOT. Additionally, MERLOT will develop
a Blackboard taxonomy within the MERLOT learning directory, making it easier
for MERLOT users to identify Blackboard-specific training materials.
"We recognize that many of the individuals that use and contribute to the
MERLOT learning resources repository also teach and learn through Blackboard
products," said Gerry Hanley, Executive Director of MERLOT. "Building bridges
between MERLOT and Blackboard will increase the efficiency of teaching and
learning by improving access to proven materials and services that can be
easily incorporated into online courses."
Through this strategic relationship, MERLOT and Blackboard will create
Blackboard Building Blocks that seamlessly incorporate MERLOT resources into
the Blackboard Academic Suite, further enhancing the value of both
organizations for their shared clients.
The first Blackboard Building Block to be released will be a portal module
that uses RSS content syndication to aggregate news about and links to the
learning resources most recently added to MERLOT. Additionally, a Blackboard
Building Block is planned that will enable instructors using the Blackboard
Learning System(TM) to search the MERLOT repository directly from the
Blackboard interface. From the search results, they can select specific
learning resources and embed links to them within their Blackboard course Web
site, further streamlining the process of using MERLOT resources within the
Blackboard environment.
The MERLOT-Blackboard relationship follows Blackboard's announcement of a
Learning Object Catalog feature recently made available in the Blackboard
Content System(TM) (Release 2.0). The Learning Object Catalog is intended to
facilitate the sharing of learning resources among members of the Blackboard
community, making it a logical tie-in to the MERLOT initiative. Future
partnership initiatives include the possibility of linking content between the
two repositories, making it even easier for institutions to submit learning
objects to MERLOT directly from their Blackboard system.
The new Learning Object Catalog feature will greatly increase the exchange
of information between members of both learning communities, ultimately
improving the effectiveness of online learning across various institutions
worldwide.
"Seton Hall University is in its second year as a contributing partner
with MERLOT," said Calvin Williams, Director of the Teaching, Learning and
Technology Center at Seton Hall University. "We are very excited about the
resources being made available for the distribution of learning objects
through the Blackboard Academic Suite. As Seton Hall begins to implement the
Blackboard Content System this academic year, the opportunity to create more
effective discovery and usage of reusable learning objects is significant.
Bringing the MERLOT resources and the Blackboard platform more closely
together will create a richer learning environment for our faculty and
students."
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard is a leading provider of enterprise software and services to
the education industry. The Company's product line consists of five software
applications bundled in two suites, the Blackboard Academic Suite(TM) and the
Blackboard Commerce Suite(TM). Blackboard's clients include colleges,
universities, schools and other education providers, as well as textbook
publishers and student-focused merchants that serve education providers and
their students. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices
and staff in North America, Europe and Asia.
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
most recent 10-Q filed with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking
statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of
September 1, 2004. 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 1, 2004.
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SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.blackboard.com
CONTACT:
Michael J. Stanton of Blackboard Inc.,
+1-202-463-4860 ext. 2305, or Darren Spinck of DBC Public
Relations Experts, +1-866-774-4720, for Blackboard Inc.
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