Mobile Learning is the use of handheld devices with wireless networks to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning to extend beyond the traditional classroom. Mobile learning also decreases limitations imposed by location, especially now, with the increasing mobility of general portable devices. Using portable devices, such as laptops, iPads, PDAs and smart phones, Mobile learning can take place virtually anywhere including traditional learning environment such as classrooms, at work or from home.

In addition, mobile learning focuses on the mobility of the learner, and learning that reflects a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support an increasingly mobile population, according to Blackboard (News - Alert).

Blackboard Mobile™ Learn and Blackboard Mobile™ Central are some of the key products from Blackboard that meet these needs.

Blackboard says that the challenges facing the education community today are as varied as they are complex. The globalization of the world economy means greater competitiveness for economic success than ever before. New technology in the form of social networking, Web 2.0, and open source solutions offers opportunities and unprecedented demands at the same time. It’s a time of unprecedented competition, aggressive accountability demands and quickly changing student demographics.

Blackboard is helping education leaders take aim at these challenges with solutions that enhance every aspect of learning, academic life and the student experience. Blackboard is fostering a single, seamless learning environment that is equally applicable to every campus stakeholder. But more importantly, it is dedicated to fostering a culture of lifelong learning – one where students can realize their full academic potential with the tools they need to succeed now and facilitate development later in life.

Founded in 1997, Blackboard was at the forefront of the e-Learning revolution. It is a company of more than 1,200 people in communities around the globe, serving more than 5,800 institutions and millions of users in more than 70 countries. Each of their employees is focused on helping people and organizations teach and learn better through technology. All working toward the central aim that drives the company: increasing education’s impact by transforming the educational experience.

Blackboard technology touches the lives of millions of learners around the world every day. From higher education and K-12 to corporations and government organizations, it is working to enhance every aspect of learning, academic life and the student experience. In short, wherever people are educating – in schools, campuses, or workplaces – they are working to make it better.

That means engaging and assessing learners, making their daily lives more convenient and secure, and keeping them informed and aware. It also means creating truly mobile solutions so users will have the technology they need at their fingertips at all times.