Thirty-One Schools Pilot Wiley and Blackboard Combined Digital Learning Integration

HOBOKEN, N.J. and WASHINGTON, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirty-one institutions are evaluating a new integration for using digital learning content from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa, JWb) with Blackboard Inc.'s learning management system (LMS). The field trial gives students and faculty access to Wiley's rich collection of learning content and tools directly within their online course environment.

The field trial involves students, faculty and campus administrators across 42 courses at two and four-year higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada. More than 50 instructors and 2,900 students have been providing ongoing feedback on their experience with the integration that significantly enhances the use of Wiley's content within the Blackboard Learn™ platform. 

Instructors have expressed great satisfaction with the integration, which lets them easily add digital content to their courses in Blackboard Learn and synchronize grades and other data from Wiley's research-based, online teaching-and-learning-environment, WileyPLUS.  

"I can set up my Blackboard class and integrate WileyPLUS assignment links with Blackboard tools, like discussion boards," said Julie Porterfield, an Anatomy and Physiology instructor at Tulsa Community College. "Students can easily tell in what order they need to complete certain tasks and assignments. I have been using WileyPLUS for four years and so far, this semester is even more successful in terms of student use and tracking data."

Students using the solution have indicated they can now spend their time more effectively by having one place to do their studying and testing. "Blackboard Learn is a hub for coursework, and if you're taking a lot of different classes, it's nice to sign in to Blackboard Learn and be able to access everything you need," said John Andren, a student at George Mason University.

"We're excited to hear the positive reactions among users to this combined and integrated solution we've worked with Wiley to build," said Ray Henderson, Chief Technology Officer and President of Academic Platforms at Blackboard. "With this partnership we are delivering the most elegant form of integration between the LMS and digital learning content in the industry – making it easier for users to find, create and share high quality content."

"We're very pleased with what we've heard from customers in the field trial," said Joe Heider, Wiley's senior vice president, Global Education. "Students report that they are more effective in doing their coursework while instructors say that students are spending more time with the materials. Our partnership with Blackboard would help make WileyPLUS even easier to access and use. The Blackboard Learn integration would increase the value of WileyPLUS while offering even more students an affordable alternative to print."

Expected to be fully available globally in summer 2012, the solution would rely on the open education standard IMS Basic Learning Tools Interoperability (Basic LTI) and is built on the Blackboard Learn 9.1 platform, an open, extensive platform with an active development community and open APIs.

Nearly 2,000 institutions have adopted Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1, Blackboard's flagship learning management platform to take advantage of its improved stability, social learning tools to drive student engagement and digital content integrations and greater workflow efficiencies for instructors and administrators.

WileyPLUS is a research-based, online environment for effective teaching and learning that is offered with over 300 Wiley titles and is used in over 20 countries globally. It incorporates the entire digital textbook with learning resources, practice, and assessment for a personalized student learning experience that is proven to improve learning outcomes.

For more information about Blackboard Learn, please visit http://www.blackboard.com/learn. For more information about WileyPLUS, please visit http://www.wileyplus.com.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. 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.

About Wiley

Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations; to help teachers to teach and students to learn throughout the world. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. 

Wiley's core businesses publish educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners; scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products and services; and professional/trade books, subscription products, training materials, and online applications and Web sites. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various important factors. 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 statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.  Statements regarding Blackboard's product development initiatives, including new products and future product upgrades, updates or enhancements represent Blackboard's current intentions, but may be modified, delayed or abandoned without prior notice and there is no assurance that such offering, upgrades, updates or functionality will become available unless and until they have been made generally available.

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.