Together, Blackboard and NBC Learn celebrate education’s top influencers and their contributions with Solutions in Action – an inspiring series of video interviews that highlight who is succeeding and how they’re doing it. NBC News Chief Education Correspondent Rehema Ellis sits down with education innovators who are using technology in new ways to create solutions that work:

• See how Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of UMBC, uses technology in new ways to change attitudes about math and science.
• Understand how Julie Young, President & CEO of Florida Virtual School uses technology to close the gap between how students live and how they learn.
• Marc Ecko, fashion designer and founder of Sweat Equity Education, scales education’s biggest challenges and uncovers ideas about how to build a better education experience through applied learning.

Watch the Videos

You’ll hear how these individuals are taking unique perspectives and leveraging technology in new ways to solve the challenges educators face every day. Join us as we look through a different lens and uncover the ideas to build a better education experience.

Today’s digital natives – those who have had access to computers, cell phones, email, and other forms of technology since birth – expect their professors to integrate media into the curriculum to augment learning in the classroom. In fact, students report that campus technology offerings are an important part of their school selection criteria: CDW highlights in its annual 21st Century Campus Report that 87% of current college students considered their institution’s technology offerings when selecting their college and that 92% of current high school students say that technology is an important consideration in their college selection process.  These are amazing statistics and illustrate how important it is for institutions to consider a campus media platform that allows instructors and students to expand their educational experience and incorporate rich media into every part of the learning environment.

McGraw-Hill recently released a case study in which they explore how LearnSmart, an adaptive learning system within McGraw-Hill Connect®, has helped students in Professor Tuckwiller’s Psychology class at Florida State College to learn core course content outside of class.  By integrating LearnSmart into the classroom, the study shows that students spent much more time with course material and, in this particular case, course pass rates increased from 75% to 83.6%.  Additionally, Professor Tuckwiller notes that her class time has become much less about lecturing and much more about exploring the field through active learning.

Can you believe it?  September is just around the corner, which, for educators, means it’s time to start preparing for Fall Semester.  And, what better way to jump-start your course planning than to take advantage of McGraw-Hill’s customizable, dynamic educational content and tools now available within the latest version of the Blackboard Learn™ platform?

Exciting news on the digital textbook front!  Follett Higher Education Group is updating the CafeScribe Blackboard Building Block™ for this fall. Through our ongoing partnership with Follett, Blackboard will continue to offer the free building block that will soon bring you the new and improved CafeScribe.  Follett listened to your feedback – the new CafeScribe makes it even easier for students and faculty to use digital course materials.