Blackboard Blogs

BbWorld Program Update: First Pre-Conference Workshops Announced

Greetings from the BbWorld planning team! 

As previous BbWorld attendees know, the event is an important opportunity for networking and knowledge sharing that can go a long way toward helping attendees find greater success in their day-to-day work. That networking is part of why BbWorld remains the most valuable training and development event of the year for Blackboard^® users. And BbWorld’s pre-conference workshops are where the most intensive, roll up your sleeves, hands on training takes place. This week, details on Blackboard-led workshops were announced, marking the first major BbWorld program announcement. 

Blackboard + iPhone = Learning on the Go

A post from Jessica Finnefrock, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Blackboard.

I am incredibly excited today because it marks the launch of our new Blackboard Learn for Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® touch application (it's available as a *free* download from the Apple® iTunes® App store). 

So why am I so excited?

Primarily because of what this means for students. One of the great things we've done as part of our Project NG work is reach out to hear more student feedback. And in these student focus groups we've heard consistently that their #1 priority for us is to help them manage their time in Blackboard more effectively. One great example is the story of a student I met in Georgia. She works full-time and takes classes part-time. She prefers to access her assignments at the office so she can use the work printer. But she works in a cubicle and is always anxious that her boss will walk behind her when she's in Blackboard looking to see if the assignment is posted. Her request? Give her tools to improve the risk/reward benefit. We listened.

Administrator's Roundtable: A Discussion About Blackboard Learn, Release 9

Note to Readers: This is the first in a series of posts drawn from a discussion with administrators that participated in the Beta program for Blackboard Learn, Release 9, and who have already launched pilot programs for the new platform at their campuses. In this series of posts, we will hear their impressions, reactions and ideas about Blackboard’s new teaching and learning platform. Roundtable participants include:

Donna Wicks

Systems Administrator for Blackboard, Kettering University, Flint, Michigan

Santo Nucifora

Manager of Systems Development and Innovation, Seneca College, Toronto, Ontario

 

David Robinson

Learning Management System Administrator, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, Georgia

Dr. Lonnie Harvel

Vice President for Enterprise Information Systems, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, Georgia

RELEASE 9: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Blackboard:  Tell us about your first impressions of Blackboard Learn Release 9.

Donna:  I first saw Release 9 at BbWorld last year during (Blackboard CEO) Michael Chasen’s demo along with some members of our faculty who attended. The big thing for me was it just looks fresh; it looks more modern, more up-to-date. I can control more of the look as a system administrator so we can integrate that more tightly with our Web site aesthetic. Immediately after that presentation, my colleagues were so excited, and they couldn't wait to get involved. The faculty, just from what they had seen, thought, “Wow, this is going to be so much easier to build a course!”