Enterprise technology and innovative solutions provider Blackboard Inc., US, has announced that Parker University has selected Blackboard Learn to replace its current learning management system (LMS) following a three-month evaluation of four commercial and open source platforms. The selection was driven by the university's need to have an LMS that could support its ongoing growth in programmes and students.
In the evaluation, a committee composed of faculty and administrators rated Blackboard Learn among the highest options for teaching and learning, with the latest version's end-user functionality and the availability of training resources being two of the determining factors.
Recognising the soaring job outlook in healthcare, the long-time chiropractic college recently expanded its academic offerings to complement the chiropractic degree. Parker added an associate's degree in radiologic technology, a bachelor's degree in health information management and an MBA in healthcare management. Along with adding new programmes, Parker University is expanding online course offerings as a means to increase enrollment without straining physical space resources.
Blackboard's ability to host the LMS was cited as another important factor in the evaluation process - Parker University will move to the Blackboard Managed Hosting service in order to free up resources and ensure around the clock monitoring of system uptime. With the burden of hosting an LMS shifted to Blackboard, university staff can focus solely on creating excellent courses on the Blackboard Learn platform.
Parker University will start new online programs on the Blackboard Learn platform in January and will move existing traditional and blended courses to the platform next summer. The LMS will also be used to provide supplemental material for continuing education courses.
