Blackboard Announces Support for e-Readers
Blackboard Building Block Lets Students View Texts, Course Materials on Kindle
WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq:
BBBB), a global leader in education technology, today announced the launch of
a Blackboard Building Block(TM) for e-readers that enables instructors and
students to view course texts and materials on e-readers that are becoming
increasingly popular in educational and training settings.
The Blackboard Building Block for e-Readers is part of Blackboard's Next
Generation roadmap for e-learning to enable teaching and learning to be
accessible across multiple devices beyond the Internet and personal computers.
The Building Block currently supports the Kindle(TM) wireless reader
device from Amazon.com, Inc. that downloads books, blogs, magazines and
newspapers to a high-resolution electronic display. The Blackboard Building
Block has been made available for free under an open source license to the
Blackboard client community.
With the Blackboard Building Block, instructors and learners can select
course texts, documents and other material from the Blackboard Learn(TM)
platform and send to a Kindle device utilizing the Kindle Personal Document
Service, enabling them to easily read and review a vast amount of information
on campus, at home, at work or on the go.
"Teachers and students at all levels are beginning to embrace the ease of
use and simplicity of e-readers," said Michael L. Chasen, President and CEO of
Blackboard. "With stronger support for e-textbooks and e-readers, mobile
learning becomes a reality for students who can carry a wealth of academic
texts and other information in the palm of their hand wherever they go."
In May, Amazon.com unveiled an updated version of the Kindle with a larger
screen which is intended to better support use by students and faculty. The
company also announced partnerships with several leading textbook publishers
and several colleges and universities who will begin using the updated Kindle
device this fall.
The announcement of Blackboard's Building Block for e-Readers was made at
BbWorld , the annual meeting of Blackboard's user and developer communities,
and coincides with the launch of the Blackboard's Extensions(TM) Web site. At
the site, the Blackboard Building Block joins hundreds of free, paid and open
source applications built by Blackboard developers, institutions and third
parties to extend and enhance the Blackboard platform, as well as a wealth of
digital content and multimedia resources made available by Blackboard's
content partners. Blackboard clients can now access all active extensions
through one portal, allowing users to customize and enhance their learning
platform and find solutions to unique problems.
For more information about Blackboard Extensions, please visit
http://www.blackboardextensions.com.
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-Q filed on May 7, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking
statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of
July 14, 2009. 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 July 14, 2009.
Kindle is a trademark and Amazon is a registered trademark of Amazon.com,
Inc.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
-0- 07/14/2009
/CONTACT: Matthew Maurer of Blackboard Inc., +1-202-463-4860 ext. 2637,
matthew.maurer@blackboard.com/
/Web Site: http://www.blackboard.com /
(BBBB)
CO: Blackboard Inc.; Amazon.com, Inc.
ST: District of Columbia
IN: MEN EDU CPR WIC
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