The For-Profit LMS (vs Non Profits LMS)

In the showdown of Blackboard (nonprofit) vs eCollege (for-profit) the article does a thorough job of comparing the differences between the two leaders of LMS systems. Blackboard came into the game first, but focused on traditional k-12 and higher education instutions that wanted asynchronous online platforms to complement their traditional classrooms, of for faculty that wished to teach an online class for the first time or to add it to the course offerings. Blackboard's platform originally did not offer much in the way of data and analytics, and eCollege was able to capitalize on that by offering excellent data mining capabilities to its users, a factor that led to its quick rise to being the king of for-profits. However, Blackboard caught up, and now offers analytics that are on par or better that eCollege, according to the article, and a main reason being they needed to be able to attract more professional organizations, which they now have more than 60 of. The competition between the two sectors has resulted in a much better product for everyone involved as they've raced to make things simpler, able to provide more data, and able to be customized to individual institutions.

The article notes that the importance and value of LMS systems in the higher education market will only continue to rise as more students and companies look to online learning as a more cost effective means of learning and training. Pearson, the parent company of ECollege, has even partnered (as equal share holders) with Arizona Stat University, the second largest nonprofit university, to help manage it's online learning department. University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit university, has already began vamping up its on unique platform to meet the growing number of students it host online, currently over 300,000!

Ultimately, LMS systems will continue to play a crucial in learning for future students and businesses, whether traditional school courses or business training is taken fully online, or a single class is in addition to traditional brick and mortar coursework. Like any other enterprise, if there is money that can be made by creating this product or making it better, than the companies will continue to do, while still continuing to provide accessible education to many people who may not have been able to get it other wise.