Dive Summary:
- Blackboard announced at its Blackboard World event in Las Vegas Wednesday that it will launch a MOOC platform that could compete with the likes of Coursera and edX, as well as Instructure's Canvas Network.
- The company has experimented with MOOCs through its CourseSites service, but 15 institutions, including the business school at Temple University and Syracuse University plan to use the MOOC platform in the fall.
- Current Blackboard customers will be able to access the platform for free, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports, though some features and upgrades may carry an additional cost.
Dive Insight:
In a busy year for MOOCs and an increasingly competitive field for platforms, this is a space Blackboard probably needed to get into in a serious way. The company already has a strong foothold and plenty of relationships with institutions, but it will be interesting to see how this new platform distinguishes itself.