Last week, Joshua Kim of Inside Higher Ed, posted some thought provoking questions in his blog evaluating Service Pack 8, the latest release of Blackboard Learn.  After commenting that the new UI of SP8 looks “clean and modern”, he raised the following question:

“How big a deal would an upgrade be?”

Realizing that some of our clients may be asking the same question, I felt compelled to respond.  The short answer is that the new look and feel offered with SP8 would not negatively impact an upgrade decision for 2 reasons:

• Flexibility and Choice
• Early Client Validation

Flexibility and Choice

Change management has been a core focus for us in recent years, and SP8 is no exception. In addition to having the choice to introduce new features and a modernized UI when they’re ready, through our Service Pack model, our clients also have the flexibility to choose which features and UI theme to deploy with SP8.

Super Bowl XLVI got me thinking about an important annual event covered by the NFL Network in recent years.  Since 2005, Rich Eisen (NFL Network Host) continues to try and set a personal record running the 40-yard dash.

Here’s my favorite coverage of his results from 2010:

I love how they start comparing Eisen’s speed to others by superimposing simultaneous 40-yard dash sprints of NFL favorites Tim Tebow, Terrence Cody and Jacoby Ford. Watching Jacoby Ford fly by Rich Eisen over and over again got me thinking about a metaphor associated with our latest release of Blackboard Learn.

If Rich Eisen represents the Blackboard Learn of yesterday (Release 9.0, circa 2009), then Jacoby Ford represents the Blackboard Learn of today (Release 9.1 SP8, circa 2012).

SP8 is all about Superior Performance

Hands down, everything educators rely on their learning management system for is just that much easier and faster on Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 SP8.  And being able to do things faster and easier across core workflows is where it really counts.  That’s why the ongoing investments made in the design and functionality of Blackboard Learn focus on the tasks and activities that are used most frequently.  Here are four short videos that demonstrate time saving additions to SP8 that will make instructors feel like they’re flying through common tasks: (as fast as Ford flies by Eisen.)

Delight in a modern experience with the SP8 Theme

Get around faster with Task Based Navigation

Change it once and it updates everywhere with Automated Regrading

Edit files in one place with Easy Edit with Blackboard Drive

Now is your chance to start taking advantage of an improved experience with the same tools you love.  Start getting things done faster, way faster, in SP8.  So, what are you waiting for?

Learn more about Blackboard Learn’s latest release, SP8

As the U.S. Peace Corps celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, my husband and I were fortunate enough to spend it with our great friend, Sheila, who is now working as the Country Director for the Peace Corps program in Romania. Sheila and I met ten years ago on our flight to Ukraine to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers ourselves. Little did we know we’d be back in the same part of the world a decade later continuing to fulfill the goals of the program John F. Kennedy started half a century ago.

For those less familiar with the Peace Corps, it has 3 simple goals:
1. Bringing technical skills to interested countries through volunteer service
2. Promoting a better understanding of Americans in the countries where volunteers serve
3. Promoting a better understanding of other countries and peoples through volunteers

This is the final post of a 3-part series on Open Standards for Newbies.

In the same vein as my previous post, from Betamax to Common Cartridge, reflecting on childhood memories helps me understand the importance of support for open standards.  I spent my formative years growing up in Germany, where I was introduced to the need for voltage converters.  My dad purchased the family Betamax during his one year stint in Newport, Rhode Island, before taking us back to Germany.  This was also the year I got my first boom box…the dual cassette deck kind so I could start making my own mixed tapes!

In addition to that family Betamax, my brand new boom box needed a 110 to 220 voltage converter before I could listen to any of my new tapes and make new friends in our new neighborhood (clearly winning them over with my new Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston and Madonna tapes).  Without this standard converter, our investment in electronics would have been for naught.

That 110 to 220 converter is how I think about Basic LTI.  Another standard developed by the IMS, Basic LTI provides a single framework or standard way of integrating learning applications with platforms like learning management systems.

I like to think of Basic LTI as that converter for my preferred tools or content.  Similar to my Common Cartridge analogy in my previous post, the educational technology tools that I use in my online course are important to me.  And I want to be able to use those tools no matter what learning management system I am tied to.  If the tools are designed to work with learning management systems, I expect to be able to use them.

I will caveat this and admit that I am oversimplifying things.  Basic LTI requires a commitment to the standard from both the learning management system and the tool provider.  However, as an end user, Basic LTI serves as that converter.  For example, if I taught a music course today and wanted my students to be able to annotate their own music using a tool like Noteflight, I would be able to provide seamless access for my students from my course in the Blackboard Learn™ platform to the online music writing application.  That’s because both Noteflight and Blackboard Learn support the Basic LTI standard.  If the tool provider supports the standard and my learning management system supports the standard, then we are in business.

And for those of you who were worried that I wasn’t able to listen to Madonna, here’s how it applied with my voltage conversion scenario:

Our house in Rhode Island was like a learning management system.  It came with all the tools and appliances we needed but we had a few add-ons that we wanted to plug in based on our individual preferences.  Of course, my dad had his Betamax and I had my boom box.  Then the time came for us to move from that house in Rhode Island to a different house in a different country, where things were configured differently.  That house came with a similar set of tools and appliances but we still had our add-ons that we wanted to plug in.  Thanks to the 110 to 220 converter, I was blaring Madonna while unpacking boxes in no time.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series on Open Standards for Newbies.

Who’s old enough to remember the embarrassment of only having a handful of movies to show during a sleepover because you had a Beta?  When choosing between a VHS and a Betamax back in the eighties, my dad chose the Beta.  Sure, it was (arguably) superior technology, but this decision severely limited our family movie choices.  In addition to living on an army base in Germany at the time, where U.S. movie rentals already arrived a year late, the majority of the movies available would only play on a VHS.