Blackboard Buys into Open Source

To be honest, I wasn't completely shocked that Blackboard stepped into the Moodle ring in a major way on Monday. If you've been following the developments in the learning management system market it makes perfect sense: there's a growing number of players, open source players are positioning themselves as the "zero cost to entry" providers, and now large publishers are joining the mix to better protect their content and maximize their ROI in textbooks and digital materials.

Until Monday it looked as if Blackboard would continue to lose market share to Moodle and other LMSs while it worked to grow its list of services and establish itself as a one stop shop for elearning in higher ed (and potentially in K-12). After Monday things look a bit different (but things are mostly unchanged).  What Blackboard has done is position itself to grow its list of services and extend the shelf life for its current LMS customers (especially the ones that were slowly edging their way towards another LMS) while shoring up its client base and reach.

Before Monday Blackboard was the largest proprietary LMS company on the planet.

After Monday Blackboard is the largest proprietary LMS company on the planet...