The perception of Blackboard

This image was in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  This goes back to my point about the perception of Blackboard by the higher ed community.  Isn't the buying up of competitors normal business practice? Is Bb really doing anything wrong in purchasing Angel?

Whatever you may think about that, clearly the perception is that Bb is the Microsoft of the LMS.  I am surprised that Bb has not put its PR machine into hyperdrive to counteract these perceptions.  They just can't be good for business.

Comments

[Joshua Kim]

I'd like to recommend a book (that Mark is has also been talking about)
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
http://www.amazon.com/Groundswell-Winning-Transformed-Social-Technologies/dp/1422125009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242659752&sr=1-1

Blackboard does not need PR. What Blackboard needs to do is engage in some honest conversations.

The folks who work at Blackboard are as dedicated to improving the educational process as we are. They are as dedicated as their critics. This needs to come out in an authentic way.

The people who make up Blackboard care much more about learning then market share or bottom line (except maybe the CFO of the upper management). The problem is we only hear from the people connected more to the shareholders then the stakeholders.

Memo to Blackboard: Hire Charlene Li http://www.altimetergroup.com/home.html to get this conversation going.