Oregon Community College Consortium Selects Blackboard to Support System-Wide Web Conferencing Platform
17 Institutions Will Use Blackboard Collaborate to Improve Education Interaction and Access
WASHINGTON, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD) has selected Blackboard for Web conferencing across the state's 17 community colleges, the company announced today. The decision to bring Blackboard Collaborate™, the only online collaboration platform built specifically for education, to all Oregon's community colleges was driven by the need to reach more students and gain cost efficiencies.
The platform will provide learners with a highly engaging virtual classroom with many options for users to interact with peers and instructors. Users will be able to participate in and listen to lectures from their mobile devices. Oregon officials were motivated by the desire to make courses available to remote, non-traditional and students in rural areas of the state who might not be able to come to campus.
Another key factor in the selection was the platform's unique ability to fully integrate with all leading learning management systems (LMS), as Oregon's community colleges do not all use the same LMS. CCWD officials also looked at the success Blue Mountain Community College has had since 2006 in leveraging the platform to enhance classroom instruction, tutoring and advising; in 2012 alone, lecture recordings were viewed over 23,000 times.
"This agreement enhances our ability to connect between colleges while providing increased access and learning options for students," said Shalee Hodgson, Education Division Director at the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development.
With all of Oregon's community colleges using a unified online collaboration tool, CCWD expects to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel costs for faculty and administration meetings that can now be held through Web conferencing, and other operational efficiencies related to online collaboration.
For more information about Blackboard Collaborate, please visit http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Overview.aspx.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. 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 represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various important factors. 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 statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.
CONTACT
Matthew Maurer, Blackboard Inc.
(202) 463-4860 ext. 2637 or [email protected]
Shalee Hodgson, CCWD
(503) 947-2409 or [email protected]
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
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