Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Northwestern Releases Open-Source File Bridge

Northwestern University has developed an extension for Blackboard systems that allows the CMS to communicate with Xythos applications. The tool, File Bridge, is being made available to colleges and universities as open-source software.

File Bridge was developed by Northwestern University Information Technology and is designed to allow Xythos and Blackboard systems to communicate with one another. Xythos software is used by students and faculty alike to share and manage documents. With the File Bridge application, users of Blackboard systems will be able to access resources from their Xythos accounts directly, without a second login.

"File Bridge has become a valuable tool for our faculty and students’ work with Blackboard,” said Brian Nielsen, project manager for faculty initiatives at Northwestern University Information Technology. “It allows us to give our students easier collaboration options within their course sites, supports an active learning model that we are working to promote, and our faculty like the ease with which they are able to share their own electronic offprint collections."

The software also allows users to distribute content to multiple courses without duplicating the content to multiple Blackboard course sites.

Read More:

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • Blue digital wireframe classical building structure

    Before AI, Fix Your Data

    Institutions don't have to solve every data problem before they can begin using AI responsibly. But they do need to treat information as a strategic asset — not a byproduct of operations — and start building toward AI-ready data now.

  • Digital cyberspace with particles and Digital data

    Report: AI Is Moving Faster than Data Trust

    AI agents are already in use or pilot at most organizations, but data visibility, governance and precision recovery capabilities have not kept pace, according to Veeam's new Data & AI Trust Gap report.

  • digital partnership handshake with glowing network effect

    Microsoft and OpenAI Rework Alliance, Loosening Exclusive Ties

    Microsoft and OpenAI have adjusted the terms of their high-profile partnership, signaling a shift in how the two companies will collaborate as competition in the AI market intensifies.

  • cyber security padlock

    AI Adoption Forces Trade-Off Between Speed and Identity Security, Study Finds

    AI adoption is forcing enterprises to trade security for speed — and identity controls are the first casualty, according to a new report from Delinea, a provider of identity security solutions for both human and AI agent identities.