Software Company
Blackboard has acquired 27 companies of its own, including 3 in the last 5 years. A total of 11 acquisitions came from private equity firms. It has also divested 2 assets.
Blackboard
11720 Plaza America Drive, 11th Floor ,#N#Reston, Virginia 20190#N#United States,#N#www.blackboard.com
Archive of Statements
- Given this dramatic turn of events, I wrote an additional postthat captured the public statements (press releases, blog posts) from Blackboard, Moodlerooms, NetSpot, and even Blackboard competitors for the purpose of checking to see if the acquisitions really did signal a true change in strategy and support for open source. This two-year anniversary seems the perfect time to ch…
BB’s Previous Open Source View
- Just how big of a change did the announcements represent? Consider Blackboard’s moves regarding alternative LMS solutions in the previous six years. 1. Blackboard acquired WebCT, their biggest competitor, in 2006. 2. Blackboard sued Desire2Learn over patent infringement from 2006 — 2009. 3. Blackboard acquired ANGEL in 2009. 4. Blackboard argues that Moodle is just meetin…
BB’s Current Open Source View
- Fast forward to March 2012, and Blackboard’s press releaseshows a remarkable change in its dealings with Dougiamas. In a recent phone interview Mark Strassman called out the continued support for Moodle by stating:
Change in Management
- In the past two years most of the senior leadership involved in the acquisitions has changed, yet the basic approach to open source seems to remain the same. 1. Michael Chasen and Ray Henderson are gone from Blackboard (at least operational management of products, as Ray is still on the board), replaced by Jay Bhatt, Mark Strassman and Gary Lang(the team formerly toge…
Statement of Principles
- In terms of open source support, the most important document to review is Blackboard’s statement of principlessigned by Chasen, Henderson, Pugliese, Christie and Severance (note that only one remains). This short document was directly aimed at countering skepticism about Blackboard’s actual intents with the acquisitions. On principles 1 — 4, I would argue that Blackbo…
Financial Contributions
- On the financial contribution (principle #4), there are some indications that this support is quite significant. At a recent presentation to Moodle partners, it was claimed that the Moodlerooms and NetSpot combined contributions to Moodle Trust was more than 50% of the total partner contributions. NOTE: I have not been able to confirm this information from additional sources, a…
Change in Emphasis
- One change worth noting with the new Blackboard executive team is the change in emphasis on international markets. Jay Bhatt has stated to me that Blackboard has under-penetrated international markets, especially in growth areas such as Latin American and China. The company has pegged much of its growth potential overseas, and according to Bhatt Moodle is a natural fi…
Does It Matter?
- While Blackboard has kept their word and made a major change in strategy, the question arises of whether that matters. According to the Campus Computing Survey for 2011 and 2013, Blackboard’s market share (combining Learn, WebCT, and ANGEL product lines) has continue to fall in the US over the past two years, from 51% of institutions to 41%. Moodle has risen from 19…
Popular Posts:
- 1. turning point technologies clicker blackboard
- 2. blackboard to whiteboard
- 3. blackboard students pti
- 4. how to view teacher comments on blackboard
- 5. how to calculate my grade on blackboard at cvcc
- 6. how to sent message on blackboard
- 7. blackboard login loveland ohio
- 8. blackboard help draft
- 9. how to find older claases on blackboard
- 10. how to view blackboard test