Blackboard Adds Multimedia Content from NBC News to the Blackboard Learn Platform

Blackboard Adds Multimedia Content from NBC News to the Blackboard Learn
Platform
Digital Content and Supplemental Resources Help Bring Courses to Life

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB), a
global leader in education technology, announced today that a wealth of
multimedia content from NBC News - covering decades of historic and current
events - is now accessible to educators and students through the Blackboard
Learn(TM) platform.

Through a partnership with NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News,
thousands of K-12 and postsecondary institutions in North America now have
access to NBC News Archives on Demand, enabling them to more effectively
engage 21st century learners with digital content directly in their online
courses.

With this unique resource, educators can easily search for instructionally
relevant content about real world events - including audio, text and
short-form video files - that can be embedded directly into courses on the
Blackboard system to enrich the learning experience in a wide variety of
subject areas.

As a result, educators can complement courses and lectures with historical and
up to the minute video clips and other content on topics ranging from
politics, the economy and climate change to health issues related to pandemic
preparedness including the H1N1 influenza. Students get to participate in a
much richer and more engaging course experience and can use the content and
resources to support their own research, project work and presentations.

"I'm using the archives to help students place what they are learning in a
real world context," said Mark Rains, an associate professor at the University
of South Florida. "Very few of my hydrogeology students will go on to practice
hydrogeology, but they will all live in a world in which the limited
availability of water triggers a range of environmental and social
implications. We read and hear about these problems in the media, but few
really understand how to connect that news to the underlying principles of
their academic work. I previously struggled to bring real time, real world
content into the classroom and I'm hoping the NBC Learn Archives can help
change that."

"We are excited to offer these exceptionally rich multimedia resources for the
benefit of educators, students, and lifelong learners," said Ray Henderson,
President of Blackboard Learn. "NBC's brand as a news authority combined with
the superb production values of their footage will help educators craft richer
and more contextually relevant courses for their students. Providing access to
NBC News Archives on Demand is an important step in our strategy to assemble
the world's best digital content for the Blackboard community."

In addition to regularly updated audio and video files of news events
throughout history, NBC's digital content includes primary source documents,
photos, articles, transcripts, analysis, and mini-documentaries that can be
used to support instruction in a wide range of subject areas.

"By making the rich resources of NBC News available to educators and students,
we are taking another step to bring the digital age and today's interactive
media culture to the classroom," said Lisa Gersh, President of NBC News
Strategic Initiatives. "It's often been said that journalists help write the
first drafts of history. Now, through NBC News Archives on Demand, history can
come alive in the classroom."

NBC News Archives on Demand is available as a free Blackboard Building
Block(TM) from the Blackboard Extensions catalog. For more information about
the Blackboard Content Network(TM), please visit
http://blackboard.com/ContentNetwork. For more information about Blackboard
Learn, please visit
http://blackboard.com/Teaching-Learning/Learn-Platform.aspx.

About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology and
innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and
learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of
higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations
to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and
security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in
1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North
America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

About NBC News
NBC News has been a leading source of global news and information for more
than 75 years, first on radio, and today via broadcast and cable television,
the Internet, radio and cell phones. Operating around the clock with bureaus
in key cities in the United States and overseas, NBC News provides immediate
coverage and in-depth reporting of major events to a worldwide audience.

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and
prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important
factors, including the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our
Form 10-Q filed on August 7, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the
forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the
Company's views as of October 8, 2009. 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 forward-looking statements at some
point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do
so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing
the Company's views as of any date subsequent to October 8, 2009.

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.

Matthew Maurer of Blackboard Inc., +1-202-463-4860 ext. 2637,
matthew.maurer@blackboard.com, or Lauren Skowronski of NBC Universal,
+1-212-664-2432, Lauren.skowronski@nbcuni.com