Blackboard Partners with blendedschools.net to Bring eLearning to 80 Rural School Districts
Blackboard’s learning software provides blendedschools.net with the means to effectively create an online community where educators and students at 80 rural schools throughout Pennsylvania can share activities, coursework, and more to meet the diverse education needs of students unavailable through traditional means at their home schools. Currently, 15,000 students participate in blendedschools.net activities.
“This partnership captures the tremendous potential online learning has to enrich opportunities for rural students and create dynamic new networks for small districts to collaborate on instruction and curriculum development,” said Matthew Pittinsky, Chairman of Blackboard. “Pennsylvania students and teachers will benefit from this unified approach to shared learning resources. Additionally, our user-friendly technology will make it easier for members to achieve the blendedschools.net vision, which includes continually enhancing learning opportunities and engaging global perspectives. The possibilities are endless.”
blendedschools.net will use the Blackboard Learning System to provide shared content for more than 100 high school courses to its members statewide. Instructors will have access to highly qualified content, while learners benefit from a wider variety of instructional strategies. The Blackboard Learning System makes it easy for teachers to access, use and manage learning content from a variety of sources.
The Blackboard Portal System helps each school district maintain a branded presence within the blendedschools.net community. Participants will experience a specific look and feel according to the roles assigned within the Blackboard(TM) system.
“blendedschools.net expands and enhances learning opportunities for students in small and rural school districts throughout Pennsylvania,” said Jed Friedrichsen, Director for Online Course Development and Training of blendedschools.net. “Blackboard software is a critical tool for connecting schools with students, students with courses otherwise unavailable to them, and courses with global learning opportunities, improving learning for all students. As members of the blendedschools.net community, school districts are able to take advantage of online learning, and Blackboard’s sophisticated e- Learning platform at levels our 80 member school districts could not achieve on their own.”
blendedschools.net will also take advantage of Blackboard ASP Services to ensure that the system remains stable and secure. Blackboard hosting includes 24/7 monitoring, to maintain a scalable, affordable platform for online learning initiatives, while minimizing administrative burdens for blendedschools.net.
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.
About blendedschools.net
blendedschools.net is a Pennsylvania-based, not-for-profit corporation owned by its member school districts. The organization is committed to using 21st century tools to help its members become 21st century schools. Through video conferencing and online learning, blendedschools.net makes distance learning possible for its member school districts, many of which are located in rural areas without access to the technical resources and funding of more urban settings.
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 7, 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 7, 2004.
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