Washington, DC (USA), May2014 - Blackboard Inc. and Discovery Education have announced a powerful new partnership supporting the integration of digital content into university and community-college courses nationwide. Through the partnership, higher-education faculty and students can now access Discovery Education's dynamic digital media through Blackboard's teaching and learning environment and on their mobile devices. In addition, the two companies are building a K-12 focused integration with plans to launch later this year.
Featuring course-aligned digital content focused on preparing students with the knowledge and skills to compete in the competitive global economy, the integration of the Discovery Education Higher Ed digital content service into Blackboard's teaching and learning environment creates a seamless course design experience for faculty to search, preview, select, and embed over 90,000 award-winning learning resources directly into their courses. This includes videos, images, audio learning guides, writing prompts, and more.
Later this year the planned integration for K-12 students and instructors will provide access to Discovery Education Streaming Plus content, which provides teachers and students with more than 151,000 standards-aligned resources that address multiple learning styles and support the Common Core State Standards.
"Educators need education technology and content providers to be partners with them in creating effective lessons that not only drive high-quality digital resources into courses, but also appeal to students," said 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."
Both higher education and K-12 students will see and hear real-life applications that enhance traditional courses. For example, they can see videos that solve mathematical problems, images of the body's systems, and footage from historical events, all within the Blackboard learning environment they use daily. Additionally, digital content is continuously refreshed so instructors can pull topical and timely material in real time.
"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 senior vice president. "Integrating Discovery Education's 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."
