Blackboard Unveils Major Update for Flagship LMS

Blackboard Unveils Major Update for Flagship LMS PR Newswire WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2012 -- Release Continues Delivery of New Innovation to Core Teaching & Learning Products WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackboard Inc. today unveiled a major new release for its flagship LMS Blackboard Learn™, marking a significant milestone in the company's effort to bring new innovation to its core teaching and learning products. The release brings a fresh approach to the user interface, an emphasis on social learning and significantly improved value for institutions and educators working to improve student retention. Backed by a substantial amount of user testing and research, the release offers an enhanced approach to system usability that is consistent with the experience that teachers and learners have come to expect from current technology. One of the biggest changes, "My Blackboard," offers users a new, simpler way to access information that's most important to them with a centralized view of updates from all of the courses and organizations they participate in. Using the same feature, instructors can check activity across their courses and quickly engage students as needed. The release also lets users create profiles and, through an additional update planned for later this year, follow and message other users with similar interests, post to their profile pages, and make their profiles discoverable by people at other institutions using Blackboard Learn.