Blackboard Blogs

American Graduation Initiative: Grant Opportunities Tied to Outcomes Assessment

From Donna Jones, EdD, Senior Pedagogical Solutions Engineer-Assessment

It’s a great time to be a community college! 

America’s community college’s, now more than ever, are educating today’s workforce in basic skills and job preparation training, allowing our country to better compete in a global economy. This past summer President Obama announced his American Graduation Initiative, a 10-year, $12 billion plan to improve the community college system. The main objective of this program is to graduate 5 million students from community colleges by 2020 in an effort to improve the American economy by supplementing our own labor pool with a higher skilled workforce. 

New Report: Parents Want Schools to Do More to Prepare Students

Over the past three years, I have blogged about our partnership with Project Tomorrow to bring you the Education in the 21st Century reports. These reports examined the views of K-12 educators on issues such as online learning and a new breed of K-12 administrators.

This time, we narrowed our focus to parents. Learning in the 21st Century: Parents’ Perspectives, Parents’ Priorities, released at the NSBA T+L event in Denver, CO (amidst 10+ inches of snow!), examines the views of these important, but often overlooked stakeholders in education. The report reveals that parents do not believe our schools are doing enough to prepare students for the 21st century. To improve on this, they identify the application of technology to learning and teacher training as two major elements for success. Read more.

Blackboard is Buzzing at EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE officially kicked-off its national conference yesterday in Denver, and we’ve seen some great enthusiasm from clients and the community. The booth (#423) was packed with attendees who wanted to hear more about the newest platform, Blackboard Mobile.  Attendees were very excited about the addition of a BlackBerry app for Mobile Central.  If you’re around the conference, stop by for a Mobile demo or visit the Blackboard Theater for one of our ongoing theater sessions. 

Along with in-booth activities, Blackboard is sponsoring a panel session on Thursday:

Your Campus on a Smartphone, and the Future of Mobile Education– The session name says it all. Hear how institutions like Stanford, MIT and the University of Washington are already harnessing mobile technology and learn ways to bring mobile to your campus.

For all Blackboard clients attending EDUCAUSE, if you haven’t already picked up your bracelet for the Blackboard Client Appreciation Party, stop by our booth (#423) on the exhibit floor for on-site registration.

We hope you’re enjoying the conference so far and look forward to seeing you during the show.  Stay up to date on conference goings on Twitter; follow @Blackboard, #educause09, #blackboard.