New Innovations Include Google Classroom Integration, AI Tools, Streamlined Workflows, Enhanced User Experiences and More
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today announced a series of transformative updates for its K–12 Education Management portfolio, reinforcing its position as the premier choice for schools seeking a unified, future-ready learning and information management experience. With a focus on teacher efficiency, parent engagement and student success, Blackbaud’s latest enhancements to its Learning Management System (LMS) and Student Information System (SIS) are designed to streamline workflows, deepen integrations and elevate the digital classroom experience.
“We’re committed to helping schools deliver exceptional learning experiences,” said Mark Davis, Vice President and Head of Education Products, Blackbaud. “We’re excited to bring new features to our K–12 customers this year, like our Google Classroom integration that will help teachers streamline class set-up and save time by connecting information in both platforms, and we continue to innovate with AI features to help educators free up time for their most important work. These innovations reflect our deep partnership with educators and our ongoing investment in building the most connected, intuitive and powerful platform for K–12 independent schools.”
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Blackbaud to enable seamless two-way data integration between Google Classroom and Blackbaud,” stated Alisa Sommer, Global Head of Google for Education Partnerships. “This partnership empowers educators to seamlessly integrate Google and Blackbaud. In particular, exporting grades from Classroom to Blackbaud SIS is a long-requested feature that will be making educators’ workflows easier.”
Unlike fragmented solutions that require multiple vendors and logins, Blackbaud offers a fully connected, all-in-one platform that integrates learning, student information and family engagement. With a focus on innovation, interoperability and user experience, Blackbaud empowers schools and educators to:
- Save time with streamlined workflows
- Improve communication across stakeholders
- Ensure data accuracy and superior security standards
- Scale their tech stack with extensible integrations
Blackbaud’s education management solutions have certifications for both OneRoster 1.1 and LTI 1.3 Advantage, allowing for more extensibility and connection to third-party platforms and tools that connect seamlessly to their Blackbaud solutions.
LMS Innovations Save Time and Enhance Learning
Updates to Blackbaud’s LMS are empowering educators to focus more on instruction and less on administrative tasks with enhancements like:
- A Unified Portal Experience: This offers parent and teacher access to attendance, assignments and communications in one seamless interface—improving transparency and collaboration.
- An AI-Powered Question Generator: This tool helps educators create dynamic assessments with data-informed insights.
- Early Adopter Program (EAP) Launches: Schools can now opt into EAP for:
- A redesigned assignment creation and grading experience with a modernized user interface that’s delivering 30% time savings for teachers compared to the previous interface.
- A new collaboration with Turnitin that provides educational institutions with access to advanced levels of academic integrity, feedback, and grading through a modern LTI 1.3 integration framework (learn more here).
- An integration with a locked browser for maintaining assessment integrity, which will be available as a purchasable add-on within the LMS, providing flexibility based on school needs.
- A new, highly-requested View as Student feature that enables teachers, advisors and admins to view the student portal as the selected student—without edit access—giving faculty the ability to confirm class content appears as desired and to support student adoption of class resources while upholding strict security controls.
SIS Enhancements Power Connected Learning
Blackbaud’s SIS continues to evolve as the backbone of school operations, with new capabilities that support deeper integrations and data-driven decision-making:
- Google Classroom Integration: Schools can now seamlessly sync data in real-time between platforms via OneRoster, allowing teachers to export grades from Google Classroom to Blackbaud Gradebook and to import useful information from Blackbaud such as student rosters, co-teachers, grading periods and grading categories when setting up their class in Google Classroom.
- PowerSchool’s Schoology Learning Integration: Schools can now also connect Schoology Learning to Blackbaud’s SIS through the OneRoster framework, allowing for seamless exchange of roster information and gradebook grades between the platforms.
Additional integrations with industry leading solutions are on the horizon to continue enhancing the school and educator experience. Learn more about Blackbaud’s K–12 Education Management solutions here.
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