Mobile learning solutions provider Blackboard (News - Alert), Inc., this week highlighted the achievements of several new or renewing clients that use one or more of the company’s long-established or recently-acquired products, integrated with open source course management systems to enhance virtual learning.

Blackboard’s Collaborate suite includes products brought on board this year through the acquisition of Elluminate (unified learning and collaboration via Web conferencing and social networking) and Wimba (collaborative learning services and solutions).

Customers like University of California Riverside Extension and University of North Texas have used Elluminate, Wimba or other mobile learning products for a while, and are now finding that these tools are even more powerful when connected with Blackboard solutions.

One example: University of California Riverside, which has been using Moodle, a free, open source PHP Web application for creating Internet-based courses. Moodle and Blackboard integration is adding even more value.

“The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is a powerful tool that makes it easy for our instructors to incorporate the real time interaction offered by Elluminate right inside their courses,” UC Riverside’s Distance Learning Coordinator Brian Reilly said in a statement to the press.

He added: “I'm reassured that we'll continue to have the same functionality available within Moodle in the future. It's definitely important to us because we hope to expand our use of Elluminate.”

At University of North Texas, Jane Himmel, associate director at the school’s Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment and Redesign, had similarly glowing words for the experience of using mobile learning products and services now supported by Blackboard.

 "Since we began offering online and blended learning courses in the late 1990s, instructional technology tools such as Wimba and Blackboard have become indispensable for providing secure, flexible, and highly collaborative learning environments," Himmel said.

She continued: “I see great value in the way both companies have kept pace with needs of next generation learners while keeping the tools functional and easy to use for instructors. I am certain that both products will continue to play a critical role in the future of all learning at UNT, particularly as we seek to provide more mobile learning options.”

Blackboard Collaborate’s president, Maurice Heiblum, definitely sees potential in the demand for a wide range of mobile learning technologies. It’s something Blackboard takes seriously. 

“Our commitment to open integrations is a core value that will be carried forward as our teams and solutions come together at Blackboard,” Heiblum said.