The University of Maryland, in partnership with Blackboard Inc., is launching the university’s first single, campus-wide family of integrated applications for teaching, learning, community building, and knowledge sharing. Release 7.1 of the Blackboard Academic Suite™ is Maryland’s new enterprise learning management system (ELMS) and is being deployed during the fall 2006 semester. ELMS users will be able to take their research, projects, and work to a higher level of sophistication with one standardized, easy-to-use system and a large content repository.

“With an eye on a more efficient use of university resources, the selection of a central product has resulted in the ability to provide a robust campus-wide learning environment to offer faculty and students functionality well beyond the course delivery system currently available,” said Dr. Jeffrey Huskamp, Vice President and Chief Information Officer. “This system provides an environment in which any student or teacher can view instructional content, collaborate with educators, evaluate academic performance, and access learning resources anytime from anywhere in order to achieve their educational objectives,” Huskamp said.

The university has been using two major course management systems for at least the past five years — WebCT Campus Edition and Blackboard Learning System. The transition will take up to a year to complete, so WebCT will run in parallel with the new replacement system through the end of the spring 2007 semester. Visit http://elms.umd.edu for more information.