Blackboard Partners with AWS to Enhance Virtual Classroom

Blackboard recently announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to integrate the company's Amazon Chime SDK service into Blackboard Collaborate. Amazon Chime SDK is a set of real-time communication components that allows developers to utilize the infrastructure and services — such as messaging, audio, video and screen share capabilities — that power the Amazon Chime online meetings platform.

The integration will bring "next-class stability, speed, machine learning-driven noise cancelation, reliability and exquisite audio-visuals" to Blackboard Collaborate, wrote Kathy Vieira, chief portfolio officer for Blackboard, in company blog post. In addition, leveraging AWS technology will allow Blackboard to focus on "pedagogically sound enhancements" and bringing additional tools and features to market.

"As the virtual classroom becomes a mainstay of education moving forward, we recognize that collaboration tools need to be specifically designed for digital learning in order to facilitate meaningful educational interactions," said Vieira. "We are excited by this opportunity to usher in a new era of EdTech, one which blurs the lines of technology and interpersonal facilitation for every classroom."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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