Partnership addresses students and educators' concrete 'wish list' for information capture, transformation and management
Ricoh Americas Corporation today announced a partnership that will streamline the movement of educational materials, tests, assignments and other content into and out of Blackboard's market-leading teaching and learning environments.
The new partnership, announced today at EDUCAUSE 2014, is the first between a major document imaging vendor and Blackboard. It includes a technology integration initiative aimed at tackling the most pressing challenges students, educators and institutions face today.
"Our research at higher education institutions around the world has uncovered remarkable educational benefits from online learning technology," said Renaud Rodrigue, Vice President, Education Market, Ricoh Americas Corporation. "But it has also uncovered a wish list for what students, faculty and administrators hope learning environments will offer over the next several decades. We've listened carefully to our customers, and we are hard at work giving them what they're asking for."
The first fruits of the partnership were on display today at EDUCAUSE as Ricoh demonstrated a new ability to scan paper documents on a multifunction product (MFP) and have them automatically flow to a student or faculty member's Blackboard Learn account via Ricoh's Integrated Cloud Environment (ICE). The demonstration included ultra-simple printing of content from that environment as well (printing on campuses is far more complicated than people realize or than it needs to be, in Ricoh's view). As the leader in information mobility, Ricoh is committed to giving students and faculty the right information in the right form at the right time and place.
"Our work with Ricoh will seamlessly extend the Blackboard learning environment to the world of hard copy capture and distribution while preserving the signature fluidity of our technology," said Kathleen Vieira, Vice President, Business Development, Blackboard. "The goal is a streamlined experience and, as always, a sharp focus on learning results."
