As you may have heard already, BbWorld 2012 will have five key themes this year – each Feature Theme Session will be presented by thought leaders in Education.
We rolled out the theme “Social Learning” last week and now we are proud to announce the Feature Theme Session Keynote Speaker for Digital Content – Tom Caswell! An Open Education Policy Associate at Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Tom handles special projects that directly impact the power of Digital Content such as running the Open Course Library, piloting a community college Open Learning Initiative (OLI) in Washington State, and supporting the OPEN initiative for Department of Labor C3T grantees. As a Policy Associate, Tom also raises awareness about the use of Digital Content and sets policies for sharing content.
I’m excited about this year’s DevCon, not just because I’m a foodie and I love the food in New Orleans. I mean, c’mon, no one can pass up a beignet from Café du Monde. Besides the enticing food, I’m excited for the great speakers and sessions.
On July 9th and 10th DevCon 2012 will descend onto New Orleans and give its attendees over 30 sessions devoted to topics like system administration and integration, security and performance, Blackboard Building Blocks development, and openness. This year we will also have sessions devoted to Blackboard mobile development, so those of you that are curious about how to develop using Blackboard Mobile’s SDK (software development kit) can satisfy that curiosity.
The following is a guest post from Mark Radcliffe, Director of Learning Management Technologies at blendedschools.netMark Radcliffe is the Director of Learning Management Technologies for the not-for-profit company blendedschools.net. Mark has worked in various K-20 education positions for the last 10 years including working directly with students and teachers on technology integration projects. At blendedschools.net Mark manages the instructional technology program, communicates directly with Blackboard on a daily basis and handles many aspects of the company’s professional development program. Mark is currently located in Norfolk, Virginia, USA but is originally from Manchester UK. He enjoys the city and loves music and the visual arts.
Get an insider’s look….
This year at BbWorld I’ll be presenting “Wimba Classroom to Blackboard Collaborate – Make the Switch,” which is probably one of my simpler session titles in a while. I usually try and cram as many buzz words into my titles as possible. My hope is that it will attract people who look for buzz words and also attract people that get the irony of session titles with buzz words. In the end I went with a simple title this year because I wanted to illustrate that the process of switching from Wimba to Collaborate should not be complicated.
As I shared on Friday, the BbWorld 2012 conference will include presentations from well known leaders spanning the education landscape. To kick-off the conference and the theme of Social Learning, I am very excited to announce Eric Sheninger, Principal at New Milford High School in Bergen County, NJ and his presentation, “Harnessing the Power of Social Media.”
Eric, affectionately known to many as @NMHS_Principal, is a K-12 administrator who has adopted social media and web 2.0 technologies to engage students, improve communications with stakeholders, and help educators grow professionally. He is passionate about establishing and fostering learning environments that are student-centered, collaborative, flexible, and prepare all learners to succeed in the 21st Century. We are thrilled that Eric is able to join us this summer; check out this video message he shared about his upcoming presentation.
Did you know that at BbWorld 2011, the team from Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) blogged more than 40 times in 3 ½ days?! This hard work deserves some recognition.
We know that many of you have booked your flights and are already thinking about how you’ll capture the sights and sounds of this year’s BbWorld. So this year, if you’re planning to blog, we want to make it a little bit more enticing: register here to be an official BbWorld Bloggerand let us reward all your hard work!
As an official BbWorld Blogger, your peers will recognize you as a thought-leader, sharing a personal perspective and reflecting on all aspects of the event. You’ll get reserved seating in all keynote presentations, a blogger badge that you can add to your personal blog TODAY, and a BbWorld Blogger t-shirt (rock your t-shirt at the Client Appreciation Party). We’ll also feature some of the posts on Blackboard Blogs during the week of the show, July 9-13. More details will be shared in June; keep an eye on your email.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…
For three exceptional bloggers, we’re giving away three FREE passes to BbWorld. Starting today through Friday, May 4, you can enter to be a BbWorld VIP Blogger. Here’s what you need to do:
