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Blackboard, Discovery Partner on Content Integration for K-12 and Higher Ed

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/01/14

Blackboard and Discovery Education are working to integrate their technology and content offerings for both K-12 and higher ed.

The two vendors will be making the digital services of Discovery's Higher Ed offerings available through Blackboard's learning management system, allowing faculty to search, preview, select and embed 90,000 learning resources directly into their courses. The emphasis is especially on content for the 23 most enrolled higher ed courses. Content, which is optimized to work on PCs, tablets and smartphones, includes videos, images, audio learning guides and writing prompts. The higher education service was officially introduced in 2012 with pilot programs that included Chattanooga State Community College and Bossier Parish Community College.

Blackboard will also be integrating Discovery's digital resources for K-12. That effort is expected to be launched later this year. The integration will enable teachers and students to access 151,000 standards-aligned resources.

"Discovery Education is pleased to partner with Blackboard on this initiative to continue to provide effective resources for educators and students across the country," said Scott Kinney, Discovery Education's senior vice president. "Integrating [our] rich digital content into Blackboard's teaching and learning environment creates powerful new systems that support our shared goal of preparing all students for college, careers and citizenship."

Added Katie Blot, senior vice president of Blackboard's Education Services, "We are excited to partner with Discovery Education to offer a robust, yet streamlined, workflow for teachers and help students access engaging and dynamic content in the learning environment they are in every day and on the mobile devices they use every day."

People in higher education can click here to request a free trial of the integration; K-12 educators can click here to be notified about Blackboard integration as it's being introduced.