Working within Blackboard K-12 Marketing, I relish the chance to get a bird’s eye view of how our clients are using Blackboard products and services.  Usually this happens through school visits, like the trip we made in March with our Advisory Board to Alexandria City Public Schools.  However, recently we were connected with a teacher-user of Blackboard software through a school tech blog.

At Cherokee Trail High School (CTHS) in Aurora, Colorado (part of Cherry Creek Schools), students are facilitating a podcast series of interviews, "2-Minute Teacher Tech Talks," that allow teachers to discuss their uses of technology at CTHS.

In a recent post, a student interviewed a social studies teacher, Mrs. Schimmel, about the growing use of Blackboard software at CTHS.  Mrs. Schimmel uses Blackboard software with her classes to enable students to better prepare for class and access information when they’re absent.  Take a listen to the podcast to find out how she thinks her classroom would look different without the technology.

It’s always good for me to stay connected with Blackboard users.  Email me at Shana.Glenzer@blackboard.com if you have a story you’d like to share here with the K-12 community about how you or someone you know is using education technologies.

And don’t forget to check out our video testimonial contest – there’s still time to submit an entry and win a free pass to BbWorld ’08!  The annual Blackboard users conference will be held in Las Vegas this year, from July 15-17.

Frequent readers of the Blackboard community blogs on this site may have seen previous posts from me related to K-12 marketing.  This K-12 entry, though, takes a bit of a different spin . . .

It’s been a little over a week now since 17 kids invaded Blackboard’s DC office for "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" 2008.  We had kids from the age of 4 to 18 participate in a range of activities, including a scavenger hunt and time in our Blackboard training lab.

During the scavenger hunt, the kids went from floor to floor learning about the various departments in the company.  Along the way, they gathered pieces of "Bb Bucks" that they later put together to use to "purchase" Blackboard gear.  Even I was excited about gathering the pieces of my "puzzle" and putting them together!

Sometimes I get to have a little fun as we gather and share stories of how our clients are using Blackboard solutions to impact teaching and learning.  And that was the story last week as we filmed our promotional video for Blackboard True Stories – our second annual K-12 video testimonial contest.

With the help of (and an extreme dose of patience from) our BlackboardTV team lead, Erik Gillespie, we staged a set in our Washington, D.C. office and filmed a video clip that we hope will encourage our K-12 clients to pick up a camera and share with us, and their peers, how they are using Blackboard solutions at their school.

We are calling all parents, students, teachers and administrators who use Blackboard software to make a short video telling us their story.  The top five video producers will receive free admission to attend BbWorld ’08 this summer in Las Vegas, where we’ll screen the winning video in front of hundreds of attendees.

The topic of submissions is up to our clients, but here are some questions we asked them to consider as they created their video:

• How have you experienced success using Blackboard software for professional development?
• How has Blackboard’s online learning impacted the lives of your teachers, students and parents?
• Describe one of your greatest “a-ha” moments using Blackboard software.  What made it so unique for you, your colleagues and/or your students?

Our 2007 video contest winner, Minnetonka Public Schools, showed us how they used Blackboard software to engage students in and out of the classroom.

Visit www.blackboard.com/k12/truestories for all of the details and check out the latest BlackboardTV clip announcing this year’s contest!

Nationwide, one can hear a growing whisper about a relatively new perspective on preparing students with the skills they need to compete, and succeed, in an interconnected global economy.  The group behind this movement believes that students need new skills for the rapidly evolving 21st century: skills that include global literacy, problem solving, innovation and creativity.

As this way of thought takes root, resources are being developed to help teachers, schools and districts incorporate 21st century skills into their classroom.

Last November, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education, launched the first online resource dedicated to 21st century skills teaching and learning – Route 21.  The site provides high-quality content, best practices, relevant reports and more to assist educators implementing 21st century teaching practices.  Since that launch, eSchoolNews has also launched a resource site on creating the 21st century classroom, and you can be sure there is much more to come, including presentations on the topic across the nation.

This weekend at the WNET Teaching and Learning Celebration in NYC, Blackboard’s K-12 President and member of the Partnership board, Jessie Woolley-Wilson, will moderate a panel for education leaders to explore what they can do to promote 21st century skills in their states, districts and schools.

At K-12 events and conferences throughout 2008, look for this topic to be primary among the minds of educators and education leaders as they strive to develop students who are prepared to succeed in school, career and in life.

Last November I shared information with you about an exciting report that Blackboard and Project Tomorrow compiled titled “Learning in the 21st Century: A National Report of Online Learning.”  Through survey data and interviews with educators across the nation, the report explored the emergence of online learning as a solution to challenges faced by K-12 educators, such as increasing student engagement and providing continual professional development opportunities.

Last week we followed up on the release of this report by hosting a Web seminar featuring Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, and two online learning practitioners: Ron Beazer from Baltimore City Public Schools and Shawn Morris from Wichita Public Schools.  During the Webinar, which was recorded and now is available on our K-12 Web site, our experts addressed issues such as:

• Implementing cooperative learning
• Starting online courses from scratch
• Offering “blended” vs. fully online courses for both teachers and students

Don’t forget to download the report and view the recorded Webinar, and be on the lookout for our next installment of the Online Learning Report in the months to come.