company history blackboard

by Meagan Volkman Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 5 min read

Blackboard LLC

was founded in 1997 by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky and began as a consulting firm contracting to the non-profit IMS Global Learning Consortium developing a prototype for online learning and thinking through online learning standardization.

What is the history of Blackboard?

Aug 18, 2009 · History of Blackboard: Blackboard Inc. was formed on the joining of two companies. CourseInfo LLC, founded by Daniel Cane and Stephen Gilfus, and Blackboard LLC, founded by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky.

Who is the CEO of Blackboard?

A Brief History of Blackboard. It’s time for another company profile. For this post, we want to paint the picture of one of the first LMS companies: Blackboard. Once the leading company in this product category, Blackboard diversified its corporate assets to curb the decline of revenues and to explore new business opportunities. To understand how Blackboard started, we need to …

What is the impact of education at Blackboard?

Sep 11, 2014 · A brief history of Blackboard. Blackboard LLC was founded in 1997 by two education advisors,. Matthew Pittinsky and Michael Chasen, as a consulting firm the then met Stephen Gilfus and Dan Cane of CourseInfo LLC to form what is now known as Blackboard Inc.

When did blackboard get acquired by ANGEL Learning?

Blackboard is a leading EdTech company serving higher education, K-12, business and government clients around the world. We connect a deep understanding of education with the power of technology to continuously push the boundaries of learning. What We Believe Education has the power to transform lives and societies.

Is Blackboard going out of business?

The purpose of this deal is a revenue growth opportunity driven by cross-selling, international growth, and the opportunities to combine products and create new value, particularly at the data level. Once the deal closes, Blackboard will no longer exist as a standalone EdTech company.Sep 13, 2021

Who is Blackboard owned by?

The companies did not share any financial data, but the combined entity is likely to be among the sector's biggest educational technology firms. Blackboard's current owner, Providence Equity Partners, bought it in 2011 for $1.64 billion, and Blackboard was shopped (but not sold) in 2015 for about $3 billion.Sep 14, 2021

Who founded Blackboard?

Michael ChasenDaniel CaneMatthew PittinskyStephen GilfusBlackboard/Founders

Do schools still use Blackboard?

Seventy-five percent of US colleges and universities and more than half of K–12 districts in the United States use its products and services, and 80 percent of the world's top academic institutions reportedly use Blackboard tools, according to Times Higher Education Reputation Ranking.

Who designed the Blackboard?

At the same time, Matthew Pittinsky and Michael Chasen formed Blackboard LLC and were contracted to help lead the formation of the Educause IMS standards group for online education technology. The two groups merged to form Blackboard Inc., which then developed the Blackboard Learning System.

What schools use Blackboard?

Partners include The George Washington University, George Mason University, Georgetown University, Ivy Tech Community College, Kent State University and Wichita State University.Jan 27, 2017

Why is a Blackboard Green?

The color change came in the 1960s, when companies sold steel plates coated with green porcelain-based enamel instead of the traditional dark slate. The new material was lighter and less fragile than the first blackboards, so they were cheaper to ship and more likely to survive the journey.Nov 24, 2017

Who is the founder of Blackboard?

Blackboard was formed by the joining of two companies. CourseInfo LLC, a course management system company founded by Stephen Gilfus while at Cornell University, and Blackboard LLC, founded by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky. Originally the Blackboard company began as a consulting firm contracting to the non-profit IMS Global Learning ...

When did Blackboard go public?

Finally, Blackboard released plans to raise up to $75 million in an initial stock offering and went public in June 2004.

What is Blackboard Inc?

Blackboard Inc. provides powerful and easy-to-use systems for educational instruction, communication, and assessment. In the last three years, Blackboard Inc. has marketed two major product lines: the Blackboard Commerce Suite and the Blackboard Academic Suite. The core of the Academic suite is the Blackboard Learning System, the course management system for classroom and online educational assistance. Other course management systems and learning management systems exist, including Angel/LMS, eCollege, GNU General Public License/Linux, and LearningSpace, as well as open-source learning systems such as The Sakai Project, Open Source Portfolio Initiative, Moodle, and uPortal. Despite the drive towards new portal commodities, the Blackboard Learning System has become the dominant e-learning software company. Is this necessarily good for higher educational learning? Members of the United University Professions Technology Issues Committee debate the issue as well as present specific applications of the Blackboard Learning System in distance learning, hybrid courses, and as didactic supplements to other electronic environment enhancement systems.

Is Blackboard hard to learn?

Blackboard is hard to learn. A survey of 730 faculty, staff and students in the University of Wisconsin System, the majority of whom use Blackboard, found that course management systems are harder to learn to use than expected. [9] .

What We Believe

Education has the power to transform lives and societies. At Blackboard, we believe learning is a right, not a privilege.

Our Mission

Blackboard’s mission is to advance learning with the world's education community, so that all learners, educators and institutions can realize their goals today and prepare for tomorrow.

Serving All Learners

Our portfolio of products and services support learners throughout their life-long journey.

Overview

History

CourseInfo was founded in late 1996 as a software provider founded by Cornell University students Stephen Gilfus and Daniel Cane. Gilfus wrote the business plan for CourseInfo and its Interactive Learning Network product while an undergraduate at Cornell. CourseInfo (a dorm room start up) with Gilfus as the business lead and Cane as the lead developer had developed an innovative new platform for internet and networked learning called a "Course Management System" by Gilfus. Gi…

Mergers and acquisitions

Blackboard has used the acquisition of other companies as a strategy to both limit competitors and enter new markets. Between 2006 and 2012, the company spent more than $500 million on acquisitions.
Competing learning management platforms that were acquired by Blackboard in order to absorb their users and reduce competition include: George Washington University'scourse management …

Operations

Though previously a public company, following its 2011 buyout by Providence Equity Partners Blackboard now operates as a private company. The company's headquarters are in Washington, D.C. and it has offices in Asia, Australia, Europe and in several locations in North America.

Products and services

The initial product to be offered by the company was its course management software, first available in 1998. The latest version, Blackboard Learn 9.1, was released in April 2010. This is a learning management system that provides a learning system for course delivery and management for institutions; a community and portal system for communication; a content management syst…

Legal matters

The United States Patent and Trademark Officegranted the company U.S. Patent 6,988,138 for "Internet-based education support system and methods" in January 2006. The patent established Blackboard's claims to the concept of connecting together web-based tools to create an interconnected university-wide course management system. The firm announced the patent on July 26, 2006, and on the same day it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival education …