Serendipity35

On the Moodle site, they are trying to put together a history of key milestones in internet-based learning. The site is interesting just for what it is trying to do, but as I was reading through it I saw some references to Blackboard which is getting a lot of digital ink these days for its patent and lawsuit activities.

So here's a bit of Blackboard history:

• 1997: Blackboard began as a consulting firm contracting to the non-profit IMS Global Learning Consortium.
• 1998: Blackboard LLC merged with CourseInfo LLC, a small course management software provider that originated at Cornell University. The combined company became known as Blackboard Inc. Their first eLearning product was Blackboard Courseinfo (a name they dropped in 2000). Look at a screenshot of it and read some comparisons if you're curious.

Working at a university, I know that they never want to take down old web pages, so a little search finds this page at Cornell where they explain "Why We Chose Courseinfo"
It's interesting that they say it is used "to facilitate creation of course Web sites by providing a template and forms on the Web to add content to a course site" - no real mention of distance learning.

• March 2000: Blackboard acquired MadDuck Technologies, a company spun off from Virginia Commonwealth University that made a course management system called Web-Course-in-a-Box.
• November 2000: Blackboard acquired two companies in the campus card management market, AT&T Campuswide Access Solutions and CEI SpecialTeams to form the basis for their Commerce Suite.
• January 2002: Blackboard acquired Prometheus, a course management software provider founded out of George Washington University.
• February 2003: Blackboard acquired the SA Cash division of Student Advantage.
• February 2006: Blackboard acquired rival WebCT Inc., forming the largest e-learning company in the United States in terms of total users.