Dropbox and Blackboard help Arkansas State University get in sync

Arkansas State University faces a unique set of demands. With 10 different campuses in the Arkansas State University System, professors often find themselves shuttling between campuses. And that makes it a constant challenge to ensure students and faculty always have access to the resources they need.

To overcome these challenges, the Arkansas State IT team focuses on providing faculty the right technology. One of the tools they use to ensure a world-class education for students is Blackboard Learn™, Blackboard’s flagship learning management system (LMS). And now the school is taking faculty success to a new level by integrating Blackboard Learn with Dropbox Education.

The seamless integration between the two tools has allowed Arkansas State faculty to do things that weren’t possible before. Now, they can access Dropbox content from any device—online or offline—directly from Blackboard Learn. The integration has also given faculty the power of best-in-class cross-device sync and the ability to collaborate in shared folders.

“The joint power of Dropbox and Blackboard has allowed us to significantly improve the collaboration process between faculty and students,” said Arkansas State CIO Henry Torres. “These newly improved workflows are enhancing our efforts to move course curriculum from the computer to the classroom.”

Connecting Dropbox and Blackboard is also proving to be a big win for the school’s IT security team. Faculty are now able to manage their learning content in one place, without compromising the university’s security policies. Seamless authentication between the Dropbox Education and Blackboard Learn interfaces means it’s easier for Arkansas State’s IT team to control and manage data.

With enterprise-grade security features, it’s also possible to set activity and sharing permissions across classes, teams, and departments. All of this is giving the IT team peace of mind. “Using the Dropbox integration with Blackboard greatly enhanced faculty productivity, and provided staff with the ability to work anywhere, on any device, without compromising data security,” said Carolyn Ponce, the Blackboard Administrator at Arkansas State.

For more information on how Dropbox integrates with best of breed tools to drive innovation in higher education, download this eBook.