In supporting a broad range of fully online, blended (both online and in-person), and traditional course offerings, Halmstad found Release 9.1 best suited to meet the needs of its diverse learners, as well as the institution's long-term targets to improve retention in distance-learning programs and to increase recruitment of prospective students. In addition to moving to Release 9.1, Halmstad plans to offer Blackboard Mobile™ Learn later this year to give students and faculty access to their course experience on their mobile devices.

"The eLearning solution we chose - Blackboard Learn 9.1 - is a mission-critical solution for us", says Lasse Hagestam, Chief Information Officer at Halmstad University. "It is therefore important that the provider not only support the system, but is really a partner in providing other services on which we can rely, such as customer networking, advice and recommendations, and expertise - areas where we've already seen progress working with Blackboard."

Halmstad is confident in Blackboard's ability to go beyond technology to help ensure performance quality and to provide excellent support, consulting, and expertise in hosting through Blackboard Managed Hosting. In the selection process, officials at Halmstad noted Release 9.1's superior usability, social-learning tools like wikis and blogs that allow users to collaborate within the course environment, and integration with other critical applications, including the student information system.

Nearly 2,000 institutions have adopted Release 9.1, Blackboard's flagship learning- management platform, to take advantage its improved stability, social-learning tools to drive student engagement, digital-content integration, and greater workflow efficiencies for instructors and administrators.