Ricoh have revealed their partnership with education technology company Blackboard, which will see Ricoh’s cloud storage environment integrated with Blackboard’s education tools.
The partnership between the two is specifically designed to assist teachers, making it simple for them to quickly upload and distribute learning materials to students.
An example of the capabilities; a teacher is now able to scan a homework assignment or letter on a Ricoh multifunction printer, which will then be automatically uploaded to both the Ricoh cloud and the teacher’s Blackboard Learn account. From there, once the document is uploaded, the teacher can then give students access to it via the Blackboard Learn account.
“Our work with Ricoh will seamlessly extend the Blackboard learning environment to the world of hard-copy capture and distribution while preserving the signature fluidity of our technology,” says Kathleen Vieira, vice president of business development at Blackboard. “The goal is a streamlined experience and, as always, a sharp focus on learning results.”
Renaud Rodrigue, vice president, Education Market, for Ricoh said: “Our research at higher education institutions around the world has uncovered remarkable educational benefits from online learning technology.
“But it has also uncovered a wish list for what students, faculty and administrators hope learning environments will offer over the next several decades. We’ve listened carefully to our customers, and we are hard at work giving them what they’re asking for.”
Also, as well as the ability to upload and share documents with ease, Blackboard Learn has a community portal in which teachers and students can interact and share educational content.
The partnership also provides educators with a content management system, as well as a digital tool for recording and analysing test results – making it the ideal educational tool.