Blackboard acquisition boosts its predictive analytics capability
Blackboard has acquired Blue Canary, a predictive analytics company that helps higher education institutions access data-driven insights to address student outcomes. The acquisition is the second this year for Blackboard, which acquired X-Ray Analytics in July. The latest acquisition bulks up Blackboard’s growing analytics division as the company works to “help colleges and universities take greater advantage of big data in the name of student success”. Institutions are being forced to pay more attention to student outcomes because of scrutiny by government officials. Funding is often tied to outcomes, meaning colleges and universities have to figure out what leads to student success. Early warning systems (such as Blue Canary’s offering) are becoming common on campuses, giving universities ways to alert students and on-campus supports about academically dangerous habits before it’s too late to recover.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Blackboard announced the acquisition of Blue Canary, a higher education predictive analytics company that helps institutions glean powerful data-driven insights and use them to improve student success. With today's acquisition, Blackboard continues to demonstrate its leadership in educational data analytics and its commitment to bringing the most powerful and holistic analytics solutions to learners, instructors, advisors, and institutions around the world.

Blue Canary was incubated by Clairvoyant LLC, recipient of the 2014 Arizona Technology Council Start Up of the Year Award. Clairvoyant's experience in higher education and expertise in building data-driven solutions was the driving force behind the inception of Blue Canary. Blue Canary's product offering focuses on student retention, an issue that continues to be top of mind for institutions worldwide.

Today's announcement marks the latest investment made by Blackboard in learning analytics solutions to provide learners, instructors, advisors, and institutions with information and insights that can improve student success. Blackboard's comprehensive analytics advancements include the announcement earlier this year of the company's acquisition of X-Ray Analytics, a research-based, data analytics technology that is being integrated into Blackboard's offerings.

"We recognize the importance that educators and institutional leaders place on understanding the data that exists around their learners," said Jay Bhatt, CEO of Blackboard. "That's why we've assembled a robust analytics portfolio and why we continue to invest in the technology and the talent that will advance our leadership in this area. Predictive analytics is the key to helping institutions support more students effectively, whether that support is in the form of a high-touch engagement from an advisor, or in the form of an integrated, student-facing dashboard."

"We look forward to joining the Blackboard family and advancing a strategy that has an extremely rich analytics offering. Blackboard has the breadth and depth of skills, resources and intellectual horsepower to make an enormous impact on learner retention and to enable the institutions that serve them," said Mike Sharkey, President and Founder of Blue Canary. "We're excited to join a team that shares our vision for data-powered decision making in education, as well as our keen focus on innovation and fostering success for learners."

For more information about Blackboard, please visit www.blackboard.com or follow @Blackboard on Twitter.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard is the world's leading education technology company. We challenge conventional thinking and advance new models of learning in order to reimagine education and make it more accessible, engaging and relevant to the modern-day learner and the institutions that serve them. In partnership with our customers in higher education and K-12 as well as corporations and government agencies around the world, our mission is to help every learner achieve their full potential by inspiring a passion for lifelong learning. For more information about Blackboard, follow us on Twitter @Blackboard.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various important factors. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.

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