Blackboard Blogs

K12 Education’s Achilles Heel and Technology’s Specific Answer

It occurred to me the other day in the doctor’s office that not only did I have a bad problem with my Achilles tendon, but education has an Achilles heel in almost the same conundrum.  The issue it turns out, in an odd sort of way, is identical for medicine as it is for education.  Here is the issue.

When you take an anti-inflammatory drug for a specific issue, say the tendonitis in my Achilles tendon, the drug goes everywhere in your body, not just to where the problem is.  As a result, the effects are  diluted significantly and, specifically, where you need it they are almost non-existent.   

Whither !MPACT?

Last week I came across a new email from the WebCT users list that really caught my attention.  In large measure it's habit - any commentary about !MPACT, the global WebCT user conference, tends to catch my eye.  But this one took it a bit further, and concerned me quite a lot.  Here's the quote "I would like to know if anyone is attending this Annual WebCT Conference and what would be the benefit of going? Considering the company has been bought out by Blackboard and we aren't upgrading to WebCT 6.0, my supervisor saw no real gain for me to attend this year."  From my perspective, the two best reasons to attend the conference are the exact same reasons her supervisor doesn't want her to attend.  Hmmm...

My New Gig

As some people know, I have had the honor of helping WebCT grow over the last nine years from a start-up to a successful global e-Learning company.  Speaking as a former board member and head of sales at WebCT, we had a great adventure building a great company serving thousands of customers around the world.  Blackboard has a very able and experienced head of sales, David Sample,and I am confident that our customers and our sales folks are in good hands. 

Now, with the merger with Blackboard, I have been reflecting on how I can add value to the new combined organization.