WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- California State
University Channel Islands (CI) has selected Blackboard
Learn™ 9.1 following a comprehensive evaluation of learning
management systems (LMS), Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced
today. After comparing the performance and cost of Release 9.1 and
an open source alternative, CI found that Blackboard Learn 9.1 best
fit the needs of its faculty and students and was the superior
option for training, support and cost savings.
Facing reduced budgets campus-wide, CI formed a Learning
Management Evaluation Committee to identify a cost-effective
solution to replace CI Learn, powered by Blackboard Learn 8.
After narrowing the evaluation to Release 9.1 and one open source
system, the committee determined that Release 9.1 represented the
most cost-effective approach given the total cost for licensing,
hosting, training, course migration, user support and internal
staffing.
As part of the evaluation, CI conducted pilot programs for
Release 9.1 and the open source option during the spring 2011
semester. During the pilots, a vast majority of students and
faculty preferred Release 9.1 to the open source option, finding it
to be more intuitive, elegantly designed and easier to navigate.
Faculty members also felt that its robust features and capabilities
would enhance course instruction, interaction and learning.
"Release 9.1 exceeded our expectations in many ways. Having used
past versions of Blackboard Learn, we were familiar with the
platform and company, but Release 9.1's unique features, better
content organization, ease of use and support – coupled with the
actual cost of implementation – made it the best LMS option for our
university," said A. Michael Berman,
CIO, California State University Channel
Islands. "Blackboard proved to be a single-stop shop. We get
training, support, and managed hosting on an effective technology
that, most importantly, meets the needs of our students and
faculty."
During the pilot phase of CI's evaluation, officials found
Release 9.1 to be the more reliable, responsive and stable option,
and CI staff found it easy to manage technical issues with
Blackboard's hosting and support teams. In comparison, the open
source pilot suffered a number of outages and service interruptions
during which CI staff were provided with limited support
response.
As the pilots concluded, CI also determined that moving to an
open source system would require a significant amount of new
training and course migration work, making it a much harder process
overall.
"CSU Channel Islands undertook an impressively comprehensive
review, carefully assessing both product performance and the real
world economics of delivering an effective learning program," said
Ray Henderson, President of
Blackboard Learn. "It's gratifying to see our execution in 9.1 and
our strong record of support responsiveness cited in the
decision."
More than 1,600 institutions have adopted Blackboard Learn 9.1
to take advantage of the platform's improved stability, social
learning tools to drive student engagement, digital content
integrations 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 12, 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 12, 2011.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.