Questionmark and Blackboard Release Building Blocks Bridge

For Immediate Release

Questionmark and Blackboard Release Building Blocks Bridge
System links Perception Assessments with the Blackboard Learning System™

STAMFORD, CT - September 18, 2002 - Questionmark, providers of testing and assessment software, and Blackboard Inc., the leading software company for e-Education, today announced the release of a software bridge that links the Blackboard Learning System to the Questionmark™ Perception™ assessment platform.

The bridge, which was beta tested in the United States and Europe, allows students and instructors to seamlessly link to Perception within the Blackboard Learning System. This means institutions can maintain student and instructor profiles within one system while taking advantage of the powerful assessment features of Perception.

Questionmark and Blackboard are committed to working with industry leaders to create interoperability and common functionality. Now instructional designers and instructors who need comprehensive question types, such as drag-and-drop and hot-spot, with a pedagogical focus, can provide all styles of assessments within their course. Results are not only maintained within Perception for item analysis, but the high level results are also stored within Blackboard's grade book for easy access by students and instructors.

"We are delighted with the response our beta testers have had to the bridge," said Questionmark President Eric Shepherd. "Working with Blackboard has been a pleasure, as the relationship is truly synergistic and brings real value to our mutual customers."

Beta tester Carlo van Haren of the Stoas Group, a large knowledge management and educational consulting company in the Netherlands, stated that "the bridge brings two of the most user-friendly educational systems together, in an easy-to-use manner. It enables instructors to make the Questionmark system available to students in the Blackboard environment without the assistance of system administrators. Even in the early days of beta testing the bridge ran well, and it performed consistently well regardless of the security settings we tried out."

"The integration of Questionmark Perception assessment platform with the Blackboard Learning System through Building Blocks is of significant benefit to our clients," said Dan Cane, Senior Vice President at Blackboard. "Clients seeking Perception's unique assessment capabilities now have the means to easily integrate with their existing Blackboard installation. Through Building Blocks and applications like Questionmark Perception, we are able to offer clients maximum choice, but still protect existing investments in core e-Education technology."

About Blackboard Inc.:
Blackboard Inc. was founded to transform the Internet into a powerful environment for the educational experience. The company offers a complete suite of enterprise software products and services that power a total "e-Education Infrastructure" for schools, colleges, universities and other education providers. Blackboard solutions deliver the promise of the Internet for online teaching and learning, campus communities, auxiliary services and integration of Web-enabled student services and back office systems.

Blackboard's Learning, Community Portal and Transaction Systems are consistently ranked by industry analysts as the market share and customer satisfaction leaders for thousands of academic institutions and a leading number of the Internet's most popular consumer education sites. The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices and staff across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Blackboard's Building Blocks Initiative (B2) provides an open set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and developer services for creating extensions to Blackboard. Please visit www.blackboard.com for more information.

About Questionmark:
Questionmark has been producing testing and assessment software since 1988, enabling educators and trainers to write, administer, and report on tests and surveys securely using individual PCs, local networks, the Internet, and intranets. Perception users can categorize their question banks into topics and sub-topics from which to assemble tests and surveys. They can shuffle questions and answers for each participant and preview assessments to see how they will appear post-deployment. They can present questions with videos, graphics and a wide variety of styles. Participants receive feedback as specified by the author. Answers are saved to an encrypted file for scoring and analysis in a variety of report formats.

Businesses, governments, schools, colleges, and universities in more than 50 countries use Questionmark software. Typical applications include exams, quizzes, study aids, diagnostic tests, pre-course skills assessments, and course evaluations. Questionmark has offices in the United States, England, and Belgium, with distributors worldwide. Call 800-863-3950 or visit www.questionmark.com for more information.

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