Blackboard Inc. announced in a press release that it will offer a new platform for schools that want to offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) without having to use the MOOC platforms currently on the market, such as Coursera, EdX and Udacity.
The current platforms cater to elite universities and do not allow most schools the opportunity to offer massive courses to students all over the world, accoring to Blackboard. The new platform will give schools a full service platform and give them the freedom to determine the direction of their own courses with “full control,” according to Blackboard.
For the last year, Blackboard has offered its CourseSites platform for individual instructors who want to offer small online classes. Its new platform is a fully functional MOOC platform that will support large courses with thousands of students, much like the courses offered on other major MOOC platforms.
It can accomplish this kind of scale because of its course management features, such as automatic group creation, that enable it to take actions on many students at once. Its mobile applications also give both students and instructors the option to access course content on Android, iPhone and iPad devices.
Blackboard has already announced that an additional 15 universities will run their MOOCs through the Blackboard Learn platform, marking a “significant expansion” for the company. The schools say they chose the platform over competitors because of its “ease of use, depth of functionality and free support and guidance.”
Peggy Brown, director of instructional design at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, said she looked at many platforms before settling on Blackboard. The most important factor for her school was the “excellent customer service and support,” according to the release. Its Consulting Service experts will walk schools through the planning and execution of their MOOCs.
While some students taking MOOCs see them as a supplement to their traditional education, many students would like to receive credit for the work they perform in the courses.
There have been important developments in accreditation this year. In February, the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) recommended five undergraduate courses on Coursera for college credit, according to the Coursera website. And two of the fifteen new schools using the Blackboard Learn platform — Syracuse University and Edge Hill University — announced on July 10 that they will offer college credit to students who participate in their MOOCs.
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