The Top 5 Blackboard Competitors for Your School
Originally Published by The Capterra Training Technology Blog
Since 1997 Blackboard has been the LMS of choice for many, many organizations.
It counts over 17,000 different institutions as customers, from the U.S. Army to Tulane University, including 75% of all U.S. colleges and universities and over half of all K-12 schools.
And for good reason.
As the industry standard, Blackboard Learn is a robust, mature product, which set the bar for the features and functionality that every LMS since has been measured against. From social learning features like chat and discussions, to foundational functionality like video course content and grading, Blackboard offers it all.
Which is not to say it’s perfect for every organization or school out there.
In fact, many smaller institutions are looking for or are already implementing Blackboard alternatives, whether out of a desire for open source options, or to get different functionality than that offered by Blackboard.
If your organization happens to fall in that group, take a look at the below top five Blackboard competitors, based on search volume and feature similarity.
Moodle
We’ve written about this open source LMS giant before and, as a free option, it’s a very attractive alternative for a lot of schools and even businesses, like Subaru and Cisco.
Moodle is supported by a huge development community, and you can find add ons and modules for just about any feature your organization might need. It’s also led to a strong ecosystem of third party developers, support companies, and tech resources to aid in implementation and ongoing maintenance. In fact, Blackboard itself even got into the game by purchasing Moodlerooms in order to serve the vast Moodle user market.
Brightspace
D2L (recently rebranded from Desire2Learn) has been around since 1999 and is the maker of the Brightspace LMS. Customers include the University of Wisconsin and the state of Alabama. Reviewers praise it for its responsive customer support and user-friendly interface, and you’ll find a whole host of innovative features, from deep learning analytics to automated communications, included in the platform.
D2L and Blackboard, interestingly, license each other’s software after a patent fight in 2009.
Canvas
Canvas LMS, produced by Instructure, is another open source option for those who prefer the customizability of a self-hosted system. If your organization would rather not deal with the technical difficulty of implementing and hosting your own instance, however, Canvas offers a paid, SaaS version that they host and update for you. This cloud version is also free for individual teachers just looking to host their class online.
Sakai
Sakai is also open source, and users include Georgia Tech and Wake Forest University. The system is explicitly aimed at the higher education market, and includes features like Google Docs and Dropbox integration. The community is not as large as Moodle’s, but is made up of only those who work in, or serve, higher education, and this makes the tool more targeted and responsive to that market.
Google Classroom
A relative newcomer, Google’s free Classroom system is nevertheless a strong alternative to Blackboard. Full integration with Google Drive and Youtube means teachers can easily upload teaching material and share assignments. Though, as noted in a previous review, Google Classroom doesn’t have the depth of functionality of a lot of other LMSs out there, it covers the basics very well, and can be a good first step for a small, or growing school, or even an individual teacher looking to move to a paperless classroom.
Others?
Any great Blackboard substitutes that I missed? What LMS does your organization use, and why?
Add your thoughts in the comments!
