Blackboard Brings Interactive Teaching and Learning to Mobile Devices

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March 22, 2010
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Blackboard Brings Interactive Teaching and Learning to Mobile Devices

Blackboard Mobile Learn Offers Two-Way Mobile Learning Experience

WASHINGTON, March 22 -- Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) today announced plans for Blackboard Mobile Learn(TM), an application that will bring two-way teaching and learning to mobile devices, creating an interactive mobile learning experience for students and teachers on the go.

Blackboard's existing Blackboard Mobile Central(TM) application already delivers a mobile campus experience that includes news, events, maps and sports among a range of student life and service options. Blackboard Mobile Learn will take the next step by bringing the classroom experience and learning content to the mobile environment, arming campuses with a high quality option to quickly meet the growing demand from students who want to do more with their smartphones and other Web-enabled devices.

With Blackboard Mobile Learn, students will be able to check grades and assignments, add comments to discussion boards, email instructors and classmates and post comments on blogs - all from their mobile devices.

"We're seeing greater interest in education focused mobile applications, and this is the first to give students such a robust teaching and learning experience," said Michael L. Chasen, Blackboard's President and CEO. "We see mobile as a transformative technology in engaging students, and we're rolling out options that let institutions get started quickly and in some cases without any additional investment."

Blackboard Mobile Learn will recreate and enrich the course experience of Blackboard Learn(TM), the leading Web-based teaching and learning platform, in native mobile applications that in June will support a selection of the world's most popular mobile platforms including iPhone® OS, Android and BlackBerry®. Like Blackboard Mobile Central, Blackboard Mobile Learn is available through an annual license, will be branded under the school's name, and can be downloaded by students and faculty at mobile application stores.

Schools that are interested in experimenting with mobile learning on their campus for no additional charge can enable Wi-Fi access to Blackboard Mobile Learn on devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch® and, through a special partnership with Sprint (NYSE:S), on select smartphones powered by the Now Network(TM). The no cost options are intended to help institutions get started quickly without extra investments.

"Mobile adoption is happening faster than we expected, and it is being driven by changes in the way students want to consume information," said Brice Bible, Chief Information Officer at Ohio University. "Bringing the classroom experience to mobile devices is something that students and faculty are clearly looking for, and as we develop our strategy I'm excited about the possibilities of Blackboard Mobile Learn. Blackboard's ideas for mobile learning have a lot of merit."

Blackboard Mobile Learn will be available initially for U.S. and Puerto Rico higher education and professional education clients on Blackboard Learn Releases 8, 9 and higher. Details on availability for K-12 and international markets, as well as for previous versions of Blackboard Learn and the WebCT and ANGEL platforms, will follow. Blackboard Mobile Learn will be enabled with the free Blackboard Mobile Web Services Building Block(TM), which is available for download today at Blackboard's client support Web site, Behind the Blackboard(TM).

For more information about Blackboard Mobile Learn, please visit http://blackboard.com/Mobile/Overview.aspx.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-K filed on February 17, 2010 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of March 22, 2010. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to March 22, 2010.

Source: Blackboard Inc.
   

CONTACT:  Matthew Maurer, Blackboard Inc., +1-202-463-4860 ext. 2637,
matthew.maurer@blackboard.com

Web Site:  http://www.blackboard.com/

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