Blackboard Launches New K-12 Professional Development Solution
Blackboard Educator Central(TM) enables districts to manage,
deliver and evaluate professional development and build collaborative
communities of practice
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2008--Blackboard Inc.
(NASDAQ: BBBB) has announced the launch of Blackboard Educator
Central(TM), a comprehensive and fully-hosted professional development
solution designed to help districts to affordably manage, deliver and
evaluate professional development and build powerful educator
communities of practice.
Blackboard Educator Central provides a sustainable, configurable
system for school districts to easily manage ongoing online and
face-to-face professional development initiatives and evaluate their
impact. A new partnership with Web-based professional development
service MyLearningPlan(R) integrates comprehensive management
capabilities to Blackboard's inclusive solution. This unique offering
empowers school districts to focus on improving teacher quality and
ultimately, student achievement.
Blackboard Educator Central equips districts with a complete,
fully-hosted offering that allows educators to create and manage
sustainable professional development initiatives. Blackboard's newest
K-12 release enables district personnel to quickly and easily track
teacher professional development activities and evaluate the
educational impact. Further, with the online professional development
capabilities of Blackboard Educator Central, educators can access
their learning materials and participate in multiple courses at their
convenience and at their own pace, without pulling teachers out of the
classroom. The solution gives teachers, principals, and administrators
increased flexibility and the convenience to take courses anytime,
anywhere.
The highly flexible online professional development enabled by
Blackboard Educator Central supplements face-to-face professional
development activities and streamlines resources, empowering
instructors to reach more teachers and increase overall participation
in high quality professional development activities. Educators can
connect and collaborate with their peers through a variety of methods,
including discussion boards, self and peer assessment, and interactive
features such as quizzes and surveys.
"Blackboard Educator Central empowers districts to deliver, manage
and evaluate effective and affordable professional development," said
Jessie Woolley-Wilson, president of Blackboard K-12. "At Blackboard,
we recognize the importance of learning at all levels, and create
intuitive, easy to use solutions to help teachers enhance their
skills, build their motivation, and impact learning at the point of
instruction. Blackboard Educator Central offers districts complete,
integrated professional development opportunities and provides
essential connections between educators to share best practices,
deliver top-notch instruction, and measure the impact of their
efforts."
To learn more about the benefits of Blackboard Educator Central,
please visit www.blackboard.com/k12.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) is a leading provider of enterprise
software applications and related services to the education industry.
Founded in 1997, Blackboard enables educational innovations everywhere
by connecting people and technology. Millions of people use Blackboard
everyday at academic institutions around the globe, including
colleges, universities, K-12 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 in North America, Europe, Australia and
Asia.
Blackboard
Educate. Innovate. Everywhere.(TM)
About MyLearningPlan
MyLearningPlan(R) is a leading, web-based service used by
educational organizations to plan, manage, and evaluate their
Professional Development programs. The company is based in Great
River, NY, and has customers throughout the US and Canada. For more
information, visit www.mylearningplan.com.
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 20, 2008 with the SEC. In addition, the
forward-looking statements included in this press release represent
the Company's views as of March 17, 2008. 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 March 17, 2008.
CONTACT: Media Contact:
For Blackboard:
Anna Hughes, 202-585-0230
ahughes@eluminategroup.com
or
Public Relations at Blackboard:
Brian Cooley, 202-463-4860 ext. 2377
SOURCE: Blackboard Inc.