New Caribbean Clients Keep Students Safe and Informed With Mass Notification

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB), a global leader in education technology, today announced two new client agreements that extend Blackboard Connect(TM) services to the Caribbean for the first time. Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and the American University of Antigua will now be able to send urgent news and important information - within minutes - to students and staff to keep them safe and informed.

In Puerto Rico, Inter-American University has been using the Blackboard Learn(TM) platform for six years to provide instruction and education opportunities online, helping to serve their population of 44,000 students across seven unique campuses. The university has now expanded the agreement to include the Blackboard Connect multi-modal communication platform, enabling officials to quickly send voice, text and e-mail messages to Inter-American students, teachers and staff.

"It is a tremendous relief to have the Blackboard Connect service in place for the start of our new school year, which coincides with hurricane season in Puerto Rico," said Manuel J. Fernos, President of Inter-American University. "We are now able to notify students and staff instantly about urgent news such as campus closures. In addition, we can promote new class openings, campus activities and registration deadlines to help ensure our students' academic success."

American University of Antigua (AUA) is another school that discovered Blackboard Connect through its experience with the Blackboard Learn platform, which helps to bridge the distance from the physical campus for medical students participating in residency programs abroad who need to engage with professors and stay on course with the curriculum.

AUA will also integrate the Blackboard Connect platform as an important part of its campus-wide communication plan. The school will be able to reach students and the community with notices and instruction surrounding hurricane and tropical storm warnings, as well as volcanoes and earthquakes that are not uncommon in the area. Blackboard Connect also offers geo-targeting technology so that notifications can be sent to special groups to quickly address a specific need, without unnecessary disruption to the entire campus.

Last year, states, cities and schools nationwide, including Houston Independent School District, successfully used the Blackboard Connect platform to send more than 87 million messages to residents, students, parents and staff from August 15 to October 15, during the height of hurricane season.