As Virginia Tech phases out the use of Blackboard as educational technology, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports the company has announced changes to better adhere to the industry’s needs.

Incompatible software and plug-ins have contributed to Blackboard’s fall from favor across the country.

This CT article details one application that was not allowed to be used with Blackboard.

Of course, the fact that it is not free may have something to do with that also.

Virginia Tech announced during last school year that Blackboard would be phased out, as the university opted to use Scholar, which is Tech’s name for Sakai software created by a team of universities.

The university’s release explained:

“Sakai is a platform for innovation jointly developed through collaboration among several universities including Virginia Tech, along with Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Cambridge, Stanford, the University of California-Berkeley, Rutgers, Yale, Georgia Tech, University of Cape Town, and others. By keeping development within the academic community, control of ongoing development and improvements remains within and serves the academic community.”

If it sounds like it was created to counter Blackboard, it may have been. Blackboard is now changing to meet some of those needs, but the company will no longer have a place at Virginia Tech, as Scholar will take over completely in fall of 2010. Zc