Blackboard Changes Smartphone App Licensing
ByBlackboard has made changes to how it licenses its smartphone app.
The learning management system provider announced that it is changing the licensing to the Mobile Learn App.
The Mobile Learn App enable learning-on-the-go with the ability to easily access courses and organizations on a mobile device, check timely announcements and access grading information. Instructors and students will also be able to read course documents, materials, and upload media attachments to blogs, journals and discussions.
The "Personal License" option, which will be available in mid-September, will allow students and instructors to purchase access to the app on iOS and Android only for $1.99 per year or a one-time fee of $5.99.
Colleges and universities can either license the app for fuse across the institution or they can leave it up to individual faculty members and students, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The change comes after the company announced in July that it would launch a new version of its flagship learning environment that is delivered via the public cloud and bundle its products together in different packages.
"We are very excited to bring a broader cloud strategy to market that give schools a wide variety of reliable and sustainable deployment options," Mark Strassman, senior vice president of product management for Blackboard, said in a statement. "I am incredibly proud that we are the only major education technology company that is able to invest in and offer three different deployment methods. This approach allows us to help all schools build and grow education programs that work best for them and their students."
Blackboard officials said that by adding this option, it is providing institutions with unprecedented choice when deciding how they want to work with Blackboard on their hosting environments.