Blackboard Blogs

"K-20" Collaboration Is the New Wave in Education Reform

Last Thursday at the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference, held in Seattle, WA, well over 100 higher education CIOs and e-Learning experts gathered to learn about and discuss a topic not frequently addressed during higher education IT conferences: a continuum of education from kindergarten through college, or “K-20” collaboration.

Although conversations about K-20 collaboration (being referred to as the “education pipeline”) were previously unusual for such gatherings, when Blackboard announced the “Blackboard K-20 Connection” on Thursday, the meeting room at EDUCAUSE was filled to capacity.  The Blackboard K-20 Connection is a new initiative designed to foster collaboration between higher education and K-12 institutions worldwide.

On the same day last week, K-20 collaboration was being discussed in Tucson, AZ, where 250 people from across that state had gathered for the Arizona Summit on 21st Century Skills, a meeting sponsored by Governor Napolitano’s P-20 Council, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and hosted by the University of Arizona, College of Education. 

And the discussions continue this week, as 300 IT and e-Learning specialists will gather November 1–2, in Somerset, KY, for Kentucky Convergence 2007 to discuss their craft, and the benefits and positive impact of K-20 collaboration.

What exactly is K-20, and why has it become the hot topic of conversation amongst educators?

Get Your Feet Wet with Social Bookmarking and Networking

Social bookmarking (a.k.a. "tagging") and networking are noteworthy Web 2.0 technologies for a number of reasons.  A major one is that by allowing users to store online content, share it with others, and see content that others have collected, bookmarking and networking help educators and students move beyond the Google searches that are frequently mistaken for research.

And who doesn't want to help their students become better researchers?

Introducing EduGarage!

Hello World!  I have been waiting for this day to arrive for a long time.  Why?  Because after months of hard work by a dedicated team, today is the day we’re launching EduGarage TM.  EduGarage is the new website developed specifically for developers and is the latest release from the Blackboard Beyond Initiative TM. 

EduGarage is the home of the Blackboard Developer Network, a community of more than 2000 developers who create and share tools, applications and services for teaching and learning through Blackboard Building Blocks (R), Blackboard PowerLinks TM and Blackboard Language Packs.  Now there is one central website for this community to interact and collaborate.

The website is based on the feedback of the developer community.  Members said they wanted:

• a site that didn’t require a login and was open to anyone who wants to read information
• a wiki-based site that allowed for easy contributions and editing
• discussion forums where developers can ask questions and search for answers
• a way to connect with other developers to collaborate on projects
• a place to discover and contribute best practices, tutorials, documentation and other technical resources
• a site that was integrated with the Blackboard Download Center and Support Knowledge Bases
• a place to contribute and store sample code and open source code to share with the community

Welcome to EduGarage, a website and a community for everyone that developers can access and add to the content and communication, and then share all of that knowledge and experience with the rest of the education world. 

Please visit the site.  If you have questions, drop us a line at edugarage@blackboard.com.

If you are in Seattle for the Educause 2007 Conference please stop by the Blackboard booth, see a demo and enter to win a new iPod nano.