Dive Brief:
- Blackboard on Tuesday announced two new partnerships.
- The first partnership sees Blackboard joining forces with LiveSafe to help spread its campus safety solutions, which include an app for iOS and Android, to more schools. It is currently used in nine states.
- Blackboard was also selected by the University of Arkansas to help it grow its online programs, primarily focusing on improving the institution's marketing of those offerings.
Dive Insight:
Neither of these partnerships should come as a huge surprise to anyone following Blackboard, as the company's offerings have grown well beyond its signature learning management system in recent years. Getting into the campus safety solutions market with the LiveSafe partnership is a wise move, given the recent growth in interest for those types of solutions.
Likewise, the University of Arkansas deal is the latest example of the ed tech giant flexing its online learning arm. It has offered support and marketing services to online programs at other schools, as well — and those MOOC capabilities it flaunted last year are probably of benefit to any school wanting to stoke interest in an online degree program, or even on-campus offerings, for prospects still on the fence.