Blackboard has launched their own application which is as robust as the Coursefeed application. Blackboard lets students share information with each other (and professors) in an online manner. It’s usually informational updates, class notes, slides, assignments, discussions and messages to the professor.

This is a free application, for students who elect to use it, allows them access to information only from courses they are registered in, and that information cannot be shared. Schools that license Blackboard’s platform, however, can choose to block the Facebook application entirely.Students can have a new assignment posted to one of their courses? Now they can read about it within Facebook. User will receive a notification with a link to the corresponding page within Blackboard.

User can also navigate through all the top level information pertaining to each course. This includes links to the profiles of other course mates. The application appears to be well built aside from a Java error that I received when entering false information into the fields. This is really amazing !Since the Students are increasingly demanding cutting-edge tools to communicate and collaborate online, and Blackboard Sync can be prove to be a part of the  effort to meet that demand. Quarterly earnings at Blackboard, announced May 7, sunk to a loss of $3.3 million, or $0.11 per share, in the first quarter 2008. Blackboard attributed the loss to rising costs and receivables, as well as the company’s recent acquisition of The NTI Group Inc. However, both earnings and sales outpaced management’s expectations, with revenue growing 24 percent year-over-year to $68.5 million.

Blackboard shares were up Wednesday 46 cents to $36.63 in afternoon trading. Blackboard Sync is available for students attending institutions using the Blackboard Learning System, version 7.1 and higher. If the user’s institution is using a version of Blackboard not supported by Blackboard Sync, or if the institution has blocked the application, user will receive an error message ,when the user will try to install Blackboard Sync. The student can talk to the Blackboard System Administrator on campus if this occurs.With the Facebook application, all of this information comes in the form of a news feed, letting user to keep track of the courses.

The application is connected directly with the actual Blackboard account at school, so there’s not much extra work user need to do, like re-entering data for use on Facebook. CourseFeed’s Facebook application is currently only available at a select number of schools, but more will be available in the future,which is going to change the education system a lot.