Remember the Titans

This week Blackboard held its inaugural K-12 Advisory Board meeting comprised of education experts from around the county and from a variety of backgrounds.  Representing teacher quality, educational technology, and district leadership, the Advisory Board will keep our K-12 group apprised on education trends and help guide our future product innovation.

To kick off the event, the Advisory Board and some K-12 team members took a field trip to T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria City Public Schools to learn how teachers and students use Blackboard applications in their daily lives.  As part of the Technology Integration Project, all students in grades 9–12 are equipped with a laptop computer and charged with the mission to “increase student achievement through the full integration of technology as a tool for learning.”

In many of the classes we visited, students immediately logged onto their Blackboard site to access their materials, take practice quizzes, and participate in class discussions.  It was enlightening for the entire group to see and hear, through teacher and student panels, how technology was impacting their academic lives.  We also took home some suggestions to guide our future development efforts – which are always great to gather directly from the people using our technology on a daily basis. 

And if T.C. Williams High School sounds familiar to you, that is because it was the high school portrayed in the movie Remember the Titans starring Denzel Washington, about the true story of the first season of a racially integrated football team.

Look for much more to come from our K-12 Advisory Board in the months ahead.