Blackboard Acquires Moodlerooms, NetSpot To Offer Open Source Learning Technology

Blackboard, the maker of learning and education software for enterprises and schools, has acquired Moodlerooms and NetSpot, two providers of open source online learning technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Both companies provide learning management hosting, support, and consulting services and products to clients using open source systems. NetSpot is also a reseller and service provider for Blackboard Collaborate. Moodlerooms primarily serves clients in North America, while NetSpot serves a client base in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region.

Blackboard says each team will also become part of Blackboard’s new Education Open Source Services group, which will focus on the development of open source learning technologies globally.

Last year, Blackboard was acquired by Providence Equity Partners for $1.6 billion. As we’ve written in the past, Blackboard has not always had the best reputation among students, especially in terms of user experience, but the company has thousands of colleges and universities using its platform.

The company faces competition from CourseKit, Instructure, Nixty, and others.