A few weeks ago, we hosted our first-ever professional colleges and universities Twitter chat (#4profitchat). During the chat, we learned a lot about trends in learning technology from our guest blogger, Career College Central’s Kevin Kuzma, and from our outside participants.

Our first question asked Kevin what trends he sees in career colleges that are trying to improve retention rates. His answer? Career colleges should make sure students “don’t feel like a number” by being responsive to student needs, especially through tutoring and academic support, as well as providing encouragement and individualized attention.

Next, we asked what career colleges are doing to enhance the student experience. Our expert predicted that institutions will focus more on job placement and begin adopting technologies students prefer, including mobile:

Students at today’s professional colleges and universities bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the classroom.  Because many of these students balance full-time careers or family life alongside their education, they have unique needs that must be met in order for them to reach academic and professional success.

Blackboard Learn™ for Career Colleges is aimed at addressing these needs in a way that is engaging and at pace with the busy lifestyles of adult learners.  We recently developed four videos that highlight some of the key ways Blackboard Learn enables these adult learners to reach their highest potential:

• Engage students: By leveraging web 2.0 technologies, Blackboard Learn creates streamlined learning portals for easy and intuitive navigation to course information, while also providing the opportunity to connect with other students for social learning experiences.

Your professional college or university is already taking advantage of the latest technologies to create online classes and services for your students.  But how can you increase student engagement and persistence, and impact student success, all while taking your online learning programs to the next level? We’ll address these and other questions in a half hour Twitterchat on Thursday, April 19^th from 3:30 – 4:00pm EDT.

Our chat will be led by Kevin Kuzma, the Online Editor of Career College Central Magazine.  Follow Kevin on Twitter at @CareerCollegeCT or read his biography here.

Here are the rest of the details for our Twitterchat:

Who: Professional college and university deans of admissions, technology officers, and other administrators who are invested in online learning.

The tour bus is ready for yet another busy season of professional college and university events across the country!  These conferences and other gatherings present Blackboard with incredible opportunities to learn about trends in the professional and higher education industries, and also give us the chance to share the many ways Blackboard is having a significant impact on the way adult students collaborate and learn.

Below is a list of just some of the events that Blackboard will participate in this summer.  Will we be seeing you at…?

Campus Management Users Conference (CampusInsight)
April 26-27
Orlando, FL

CampusInsight 2012 will provide those in the professional and career college space with the opportunity to connect with their peers to exchange knowledge on the latest in education technology.  The conference will give practitioners the opportunity to meet and discuss CRM solutions with experts in the field, and will also provide registrants the opportunity to participate in valuable pre-conference training sessions.

The Motley Fool, a financial analysis company, recently interviewed Blackboard CEO Michael Chasen as part of a series on the education industry.  In the first installment of this series, Chasen discusses the so-called education bubble that has formed with recent rises in both the cost of and demand for higher education.

Chasen explains that technology can serve as a counterweight to the high costs and high demand that are putting pressure on the current education market.  Since technology lowers barriers to offering education, he argues, institutions are able to increase output to meet these surges in demand.

Interestingly, Chasen states that for-profit institutions play an important role in this education technology trend.  He believes that professional colleges and universities serve as an alternative to more traditional institutions for many of those who are seeking higher education.  Chasen then argues that for-profit institutions often adopt new technologies faster than their traditional counterparts, which helps them further meet the rising demand for education.