Adobe Connect vs. Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Connect
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Connect is a web conferencing platform that enables users to create presentations, online training materials, and learning modules. The product is entirely Adobe Flash-based and has several add-ons for customizing its software to suit each users’ unique needs.
$50
per host/per month
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and government organizations. As of December 2010, Blackboard software and services are used by over 9,300 institutions in more than 60 countries. Blackboard Learn is the company's flagship LMS, supporting…N/A
Pricing
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Editions & Modules
Meetings
$50
per host/per month
Webinars & Learning
$130
per host/per month
Small Meetings
Free
Forever free for up to 3 participants
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Considered Both Products
Adobe Connect
Chose Adobe Connect
The best part of Adobe Connect is sharing the information with others who use this software. If you attend school and love taking notes through your iPad or Computer, you can share what notes you are writing with everyone in your classes. Also, it is a great virtual meeting …
Chose Adobe Connect
Adobe Connect offers best visual appearance and user accessibility other than the fact that is uses Adobe Flash which some web browsers have threatened to ban. I really miss the persistent meeting rooms of Adobe Connect Meeting and as a meeting host this is the very best system …
Chose Adobe Connect
BB Collaborate used to have a horrific UI, now that has improved but the functions aren't there yet.
In demoing the tool and Blackboard World 2015 it seemed very unstable.
Chose Adobe Connect
I have not used other platforms regularly, but I've tried to use Blackboard and GoTo Meeting, and many of the features are the same as Adobe Connect.
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology
Drupal functions as a content management system and it is difficult to use it for learner data; however, the size of the Drupal community makes it a contender for eLearning through the ELMS module, which integrates multiple modules for dynamic course delivery. Moodle is similar …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
8.0
65 Ratings
1% above category average
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
-
Ratings
High quality audio8.764 Ratings00 Ratings
High quality video7.264 Ratings00 Ratings
Low bandwidth requirements6.955 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support9.142 Ratings00 Ratings
Screen Sharing
Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
7.7
64 Ratings
3% below category average
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
-
Ratings
Desktop sharing8.064 Ratings00 Ratings
Whiteboards7.454 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Meetings / Events
Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
7.9
65 Ratings
3% below category average
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
-
Ratings
Calendar integration9.241 Ratings00 Ratings
Meeting initiation8.656 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with social media7.328 Ratings00 Ratings
Record meetings / events7.360 Ratings00 Ratings
Slideshows7.251 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Collaboration
Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
8.6
64 Ratings
3% above category average
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
-
Ratings
Live chat9.462 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience polling8.255 Ratings00 Ratings
Q&A8.352 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Security
Comparison of Online Events Security features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
8.9
60 Ratings
7% above category average
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
-
Ratings
User authentication7.953 Ratings00 Ratings
Participant roles & permissions9.360 Ratings00 Ratings
Confidential attendee list9.448 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Connect
-
Ratings
Blackboard Learn by Anthology
8.6
30 Ratings
4% above category average
Course authoring00 Ratings8.924 Ratings
Course catalog or library00 Ratings8.924 Ratings
Player/Portal00 Ratings8.021 Ratings
Learning content00 Ratings6.127 Ratings
Mobile friendly00 Ratings8.930 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings7.024 Ratings
Assignments00 Ratings9.030 Ratings
Compliance management00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Learning administration00 Ratings9.925 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings8.926 Ratings
Social learning00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Small Businesses
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting
Score 9.5 out of 10
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting
Score 9.5 out of 10
Jenzabar ONE
Jenzabar ONE
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Meet
Google Meet
Score 8.3 out of 10
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(92 ratings)
9.8
(58 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(27 ratings)
4.6
(11 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(36 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
Availability
5.5
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.6
(31 ratings)
7.7
(14 ratings)
Online Training
7.5
(2 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.9
(4 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe ConnectBlackboard Learn by Anthology
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
It is a great resource for evaluating, refining, and combining abilities and essential experiences in the growth of the sales team training; It is productive and lucrative in terms of distance knowledge transfer, and it reduces employee training financing and expenditures. I really like the ability to collaborate as a group on a huge research project even when we are not in the same country.
Read full review
Anthology, Inc
A school with a well-established technology imprint with their students (for example, ours is a BYOB school where every student has their own laptop and must bring it to school every day and where over 99% of our families have reliable broadband at home) is a reasonable scenario for using The arrogance and intransigence of the sales force is quite disconcerting… They are no longer the only game in town and don't yet realize it. Less well-off schools/families may find it a challenge if students must be on campus or at a public library in order to use the technology. Obviously, during the pandemic, this became problematic for some districts.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Adobe Connect has presentation features like transitions and animations, which are important in communications.
  • Furthermore, Adobe Connect supports virtual events in the classroom, where training is done and knowledge acquired.
  • Lastly, Adobe Connect makes virtual meetings through conferencing effective and manageable at a minimal cost.
Read full review
Anthology, Inc
  • Blackboard Learn makes submitting assignments electronically simple and provides a variety of built-in Web-based tools like e-portfolios, wikis, and blogs that our students use to create their own content.
  • Blackboard Learn is intuitive and easy to navigate from a students perspective
  • Blackboard Learn has many integrations available for connecting this LMS to other tools we use at our institution.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • The overall connection and lag sometimes are disruptive. This may not be due to the platform as a whole, connectivity, and strength of the signal is probably a factor but it can get glitchy sometimes.
  • More features for remote desktop options, whiteboarding, or screen sharing to actively resolve issues would be great while collaborating.
  • Online support or forums to help assist with issues aren't as prevalent as you think they'd be. More individual resources to assist with issues would be helpful.
Read full review
Anthology, Inc
  • Blackboard Learn has some limitations when it comes to submissions
  • It is not that user friendly, I had to spend some time to get a hang of it in the beginning
  • I have been struggling a bit with deletion of manually added courses
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
The longer you use Adobe Connect, the longer you are likely to use it. Because you can build more and more resources over time, creating rooms that you re-use, recorded content you can repurpose, and tools that form the basis of ever increasing productivity, the more you use Connect, the more productive you become. Unlike competing products where, with every meeting you essentially start over -- setting up your resources for each meeting -- in my Connect rooms, I have highly tuned tools to accomplish my knowledge transfer goals. When I want to conduct another session - I send a link out to the appropriate room and instantly we are all focusing on getting a job done together. This ability of Adobe Connect to make you productive at an ever quickening rate is a competitive advantage
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Anthology, Inc
There are several aspects of Desire2Learn that outweigh the benefits of using Blackboard. I find that the Desire2Learn system is a bit more user friendly and looks more up-to-date. However, the decision to renew systems is not up to me because the entire University uses the same system. Regardless, I think I would choose Desire2Learn over Blackboard because of its improved user interface.
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Usability
Adobe
As sophisticated a product as Adobe Connect, the ease of use is outstanding. In my experience, even a user with very little knowledge of Adobe Connect can begin using and even leading sessions with very little training to get started with the basic features. Additional training is needed to become comfortable with the number of available features, but learning curve even for those is no steeper than would normally be expected from similar software.
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Anthology, Inc
It is very usable for both faculty and students. The interface is pretty intuitive and most students can use it without a lot of additional training. Faculty do need some training to effectively use the interface, but they usually get it pretty quickly. We have had to create some additional programming to give faculty a way to delve deeper into the content.
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Support Rating
Adobe
The customer support of Adobe connect is professional and well-skilled for resolving our minor and major issues. Moreover, it has almost all the features that will provide you a secure connection, with people across the world. Education institutes can also implement this software. On the basis of its quality and technology, I will surely advise you to try it once.
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Anthology, Inc
My Blackboard support comes from the university I work with. They are responsive--eventually... but it takes them sometimes a week to respond to a reported issue. For example, I reported 2 issues last week and one was resolved and I was contacted about one still open option today. That is too long for a tech issue. I have not contacted any support offered directly by Blackboard, which may be a completely different experience altogether.
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Online Training
Adobe
The ability to have most of the functionality of a full LMS at a fraction of the cost is huge. I can create manage and deploy both synchronous and asynchronous training based on the situation and all of my training is tracked through a series of easily created reports
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Anthology, Inc
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Prices do not seem to vary much among resellers of the Adobe Connect hosted license; the only price variation you're likely to find are among the audio providers. When implementing, you may also wish to look into expanding the amount of storage you are allowed on the server to avoid any problems later on as your library of files starts to build up
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Anthology, Inc
Blackboard's Managed Hosting was top-notch in getting us up and running quickly.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Actually, it was the other way around....we were using Adobe Connect, company-wide, then switched over to Zoom, mostly, I think, as a cost-cutting measure. But some Learning & Development folks campaigned to be allowed to retain some Adobe Connect licenses (for example, one L&D area had literally over 250 room layouts that their course facilitators could just jump into and use to deliver a course on short notice), which also allows some of us to continue to publish Presenter and Captivate modules to the Adobe server. (But, even those of us who still have Adobe Connect licenses use Zoom for most regular business meetings.)
Read full review
Anthology, Inc
Coursera offers a variety of modules in which a team is able to work on then, but [Blackboard Learn] offers more options to understand how are the team members developing and which tasks have offered a harder challenger for them. [Blackboard Learn] also offers a variety of reports that can be generate by a team lead.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Save on time - our instructors and people that use the platform can teach more classes and more often than in-person training and time traveling.
  • We cut down on spending. When we offer training using Connect - we do not have to spend on meals, hard copy materials, and reserving a venue to deliver training.
  • We increase our training sales significantly but offering Connect as an alternative - any unforeseen cancellations to a public class can result in transferring to a remote online Connected class.
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Anthology, Inc
  • At one of the institutions that I worked for, the ROI was excellent for the number of users we were serving; however, I could not speak to other instances as I was not aware of the overall cost of the contract.
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ScreenShots

Blackboard Learn by Anthology Screenshots

Screenshot of A modern and intuitive learning management system (LMS) designed in collaboration with the global education community, providing students and faculty with a more inclusive, flexible, and insightful experience.Screenshot of Fostering a sense of belonging is essential to student success. To truly create an inclusive learning environment requires a holistic approach, and Blackboard Learn leads the market in many critical areas which allow your institution to meet students of all backgrounds where they are. Built to be mobile-first, Blackboard Learn is the only LMS that provides the same great experience on PC, tablet, and smartphone. And we're proud that Blackboard Learn was the First LMS to achieve accessibility Certification from the National Federation of the Blind and all of our interfaces undergo rigorous accessibility testing. Learn also has the best integration with our market-leading accessibility product, Ally, of any LMS. Learn also ensures that every user has an experience which reflects – and celebrates – their unique identity. To take just one example, users can record their name pronunciation, and choose their preferred pronouns.Screenshot of Blackboard Learn supports instructors with multiple formative and summative assessment methods, and features capabilities that reduce stress for students. For example, we’ve recently released features that allow students to use different test-taking strategies and understand their progress through assessments – including a timer that can be hidden – to maximize their result and minimize anxiety. Grading workflows have been designed to increase efficiency for instructors and give more insightful feedback to students. For instance, we’ve recently revamped the overall grade functionality to make it easier for instructors to change weightings between tasks and tailor to individual students. Blackboard Learn also offers deep integrations with hundreds of partners to create even more interactive and engaging courses, including the deepest interaction of any LMS with Microsoft Teams.Screenshot of Blackboard Learn presents insights embedded right into instructor and student workflows - making useful information readily available, and making it easier for instructors to help students where and when they need it most. Learn's progress tracking tools help students and instructors always know how they're tracking to achieve their goals - and where there is opportunity for improvement. Quick actions are tied to these insights, like following up with students in groups or individually. Blackboard Learn also provides built-in value with Blackboard Data Reporting to help leaders understand how the LMS is being used, student performance, and surfacing opportunities for continuous improvement.