Does Pearson'S Purchase of eCollege Give It the Muscle to Compete with Blackboard?

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Does Pearson'S Purchase of eCollege Give It the Muscle to Compete with Blackboard?
Seb Schmoller links to an article by Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed and notes that "The article hints at further rationalisation and consolidation between educational technology and educational content businesses, and sees eCollege, backed by Pearson as much more serious competition for Blackboard." I don't see Blackboard's share price as an indicator of anything other than a tech bubble, personally, and I think that the major story here is that Pearson is entering a space recently vacated by Thomson. More...