Dive Brief:
- Blackboard began offering a bundle of cloud-based products and services after joining the Internet2 NET+ initiative last year, and now two universities have signed on to move their LMS to the cloud.
- Campus Technology reports Virginia Commonwealth University and Marshall University in Virginia will get the learning management system software along with programs for content-sharing, collaboration, and analytics.
- Getting the products through the NET+ partnership ensures the cloud solutions have been thoroughly vetted to meet research and education needs, and, in fact, Virginia Commonwealth University was one of the institutions working with Blackboard to develop the bundle.
Dive Insight:
As more institutions move their operations to the cloud, we might one day wonder how we got by with all of our data on the ground. Blackboard developed its bundled services with input from a handful of institutions, creating a suite of products designed to work well together and simplify the user’s workflow. In the year since Blackboard first announced the suite, it has worked with an advisory board jointly put together with Internet2. At the time, Campus Technology reported the board was going to strategize next steps following the offer and discuss other joint initiatives and research projects.