Blackboard today announced that it has released new Mobile Learn applications for all major mobile platforms including BlackBerry smartphones. I’ll be honest, I almost did not post about this because Blackboard has limited the usage of its Mobile Learn app for BlackBerry users on the Sprint network. Apparently Blackboard has formed some sort of special partnership with Sprint to offer these apps.

Not all students/instructors are on the Sprint network but since I know many are, I’ll mention it anyway. Here are the features:

• Announcements Assignment due? Class cancelled? This is the place where instructors go to post the news students need to know. Students have instant, on-the-go access to the latest announcements, and instructors can post announcements anywhere, anytime.
• Discussions The Discussion Board is a key course communication tool for engaging students and promoting learning. It’s the place students ask and answer questions, and where instructors can respond to one student for the benefit of all. With Blackboard Mobile Learn, instructors and students can review and post to threaded discussions, as well as create new threads, all while on the go.
• Grades Want to know how you did on the midterm or your last homework assignment? Students can view their grades right here.
• Blogs Read blog posts and interact with classmates by posting comments on their blogs or responding to comments on your own.
• Tasks Help students track and manage the progress of various tasks, from turning in homework assignments to reminders to pick up a midterm or purchase a textbook. Tasks allow students to mark when they’ve started a project, when it’s in progress, and when complete.
• Roster Wondering who’s in your class? With the class roster, you can quickly see your full class list, making organizing study groups a whole lot easier.
• Media Students can access music, videos and images uploaded by their instructors and experience directly from their mobile devices using the appropriate media-specific software.
• Journals Read and reflect on your Journal posts and those of your classmates. Both students and instructors can comment on Journals.

Lots of great features but unfortunately most students/instructors won’t experience them. If you’re on the Sprint network and would like to download the app go to the Blackboard Mobile Learn page or check out the press release after the jump for more info.

Press Release

Blackboard Releases Mobile Learning Apps for All Major Mobile Platforms

New Native Apps are Free to Students and Faculty Through App Stores

WASHINGTON, June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Expanding the reach of mobile learning opportunities to a full range of the world’s most popular mobile platforms, Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) today released native applications for Android™, BlackBerry® and iPhone® OS powered devices that give millions of students full access to their course information directly from their smartphones.

Like the existing iPad® version, the new Blackboard Mobile™ Learn apps are available free at app stores. They recreate and enrich the course experience of Blackboard Learn™, the leading online teaching and learning platform, in native applications designed specifically for each mobile platform. With the apps, students can check grades and assignments, add discussion board comments and blog posts, email their classmates and instructors, and more.

Leveraging the unique user experience of each platform – like the Android HTC EVO™ 4G running on Sprint 3G and 4G (which delivers download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G)(1), or the Multi-Touch capabilities of iPhone OS devices – the apps offer students an immersive and engaging way to access their course work and interactive learning opportunities.

“Blackboard Mobile Learn gives users the ability to teach, learn, and interact – all through their mobile devices,” said Chris Bray, Blackboard Administrator at the University of Arkansas. “I’m really excited about the application, as are students and instructors who have seen it.”

Blackboard also announced plans to offer a mobile Web version of Blackboard Mobile Learn later this year to extend access beyond smartphones to users of a wide range of Web-enabled phones and mobile devices.

“We’re moving quickly to support broader access to mobile learning with applications that leverage the best of what this fast evolving area has to offer,” said Michael L. Chasen, Blackboard’s president and CEO. “These apps make learning a central part of the mobile experience that is quickly becoming a way of life for so many students and learners.”

Schools have multiple options for deploying Blackboard Mobile Learn, either through an annual license that supports all device platforms or a no cost option, made possible through a special partnership with Sprint (NY SE: S), which supports Android and BlackBerry smartphones on the Now Network™, as well as iPad, iPhone® and iPod touch® devices over a Wi-Fi connection.

“We’ve had a great experience with Blackboard Mobile Learn and we’re very pleased with the direction Blackboard is taking with mobile learning,” said Kara N. Monroe, Assistant Vice Provost at Ivy Tech Community College. “The feedback from faculty and students has been very positive. We continue to look for ways to give our students access to the tools they need to be successful, and this is another one of those opportunities. And the no cost option including Sprint will help us bring mobile learning to our students more quickly than we might have otherwise.”

Support for Blackboard Mobile Learn is included in the upcoming release of Blackboard Learn (Service Pack 1 for Release 9.1), making it the first to feature built-in support for mobile learning. Higher education and professional education institutions in the U.S. and Canada running Blackboard Learn Release 8 or higher can also enable access by installing the free Blackboard Mobile Web Services Building Block™. Availability will expand to U.S. and Canadian K-12 markets and to international markets outside the U.S. beginning in August.

For more information on the apps and their availability from app stores, as well as a series of short demo videos, please visit: http://www.blackboard.com/resources/mobile/landingpage_devices.html

For more information about Blackboard Mobile Learn, please visit http://blackboard.com/Mobile/Overview.aspx. For more information about Blackboard Mobile Learn on Sprint devices, please visit www.sprint.com/blackboard.