As
the back-to-class season draws closer, a number of course materials systems are
hooking up.
At
its own BbWorld annual conference in New Orleans, Blackboard announced plans to
develop one-click access to Ingram’s Vital Source e-textbook platform directly
within the Blackboard Learn learning management system. The integration,
intended for both computers and mobile devices, will allow faculty and students
already logged into Learn to click into digital course content without messing around
with software or additional logins. Vital Source has 80,000 titles.
Blackboard
is also getting a little cozier with CourseSmart. Since last November, the two
have been working with 20 campuses to pilot integration of CourseSmart’s
Building Block digital catalog with Blackboard Learn. Like the Vital Source
arrangement, the integration enables users to access the course materials with
a single sign-on. The pilot was apparently successful as Blackboard will now
make Building Block available at no charge to all schools using Learn 9.1.
For
its part, CourseSmart has also been dancing with Desire2Learn. In an enhanced
integration announced recently, CourseSmart’s 30,000-title e-textbook catalog
will be available through Desire2Learn’s learning management system. Once again,
students and instructors will be able to get there via just one click.
