It is with great excitement that we unveil to you the first ever BbWorld Mobile app! Developed by the Blackboard Mobile team and made specifically for BbWorld 2011, this app will provide you with convenient access to all things BbWorld. Built off of the Blackboard Mobile Central platform, the app includes 10 different modules that will keep you connected to the conference and informed of all the latest news and events.
Attendees: Search for conference attendees by name or by institution, and get email and Twitter info for easy networking – before, during and after BbWorld.
Schedule: Scroll through PreCon Workshops, BbWorld and DevCon sessions; select the sessions that interest you and add them to your personal calendar.
Exhibitors & Maps: An interactive map of the show floors helps you navigate through Blackboard and partner booths providing you with exhibitor overviews and contact information.
News, Videos & Photos: Updated throughout the show – get exclusive show information, view behind the scenes videos with keynotes, 1-on-1 client interviews, snapshots from sessions, hallway conversations, presentations and more. Make sure you’re smiling; you never know when you’ll be caught on camera.
Launch Line: A direct line to news and information about recent Blackboard product launches.
Get Mobile @Your Institution: Check out and download apps that have been deployed by your peer institutions to find out how they are integrating mobile on their campus.
To see the app in action, check out this demo from Bb Mobile’s own David Small:
For those of you following BbWorld from a-far, the app is a great way for you to be part of the action. The BbWorld 2011 app is available for Android™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, and all other Internet-enabled devicesvia the mobile Web at m.bbworld.com. Download the app now to stay connected!
Dr. Malcolm Murray is the Learning Technologies Team Leader at Durham University. Please join him for his session “Letting the Lunatics Run the Asylum: Students Developing Code for the Production Environment,” on Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 8:30-9:15AM, Titian 2303. Dr. Murray will also be presenting at BbWorld. To learn more about that session, read his earlier blog post, “Rethinking Student Feedback.”
Last summer I got the opportunity to try something that I’d been wanting to do for the last five years – get some students working on building blocks! What began as an apparently simple task soon revealed itself to be far more complicated – perhaps the term “lunatic” I have used in the title of the presentation applies more to me than the students! That said, ultimately this was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.
As I help our team prepare for the BbWorld Conference, I’m watching a keynote given by Sugata Mitra from Blackboard’s Teaching and Learning Conference at the University of Leeds. The conversations that stemmed from Sugata’s work have shifted educational policy and even inspired an Oscar winning film (that’s Slumdog Millionaire, btw).
As BbWorld draws nearer, excitement continues to build at Blackboard, and the e-learning community at large, for the keynotes, user presentations and workshops that will be hosted this July at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. To get an idea of the increasing buzz, just search the #BbWorld11 hash tag on Twitter or join the conversation yourself.
The conference will feature a keynote from Sir Ken Robinson, who, like Sugata, is an international advisor and thinker on educational policy and innovation. For those interested in the future of education, this is a speech you will not want to miss.
Still haven’t registered for BbWorld? Do it now, here. It’s the safest bet you’ll ever place in Vegas.
This summer marks Blackboard’s 9th annual Developers Conference in Las Vegas, on July 11-12, just before BbWorld. DevCon has come a long way since its roots as a developer workshop meetup at Georgetown University.
DevCon has evolved through the years to meet the needs of all of Blackboard’s technical community. It is the premier professional development opportunity of the year to learn about the technical capabilities of the product and get your technical questions answered. Sessions this year focus on topics including:
Performance, reliability, and security
System administration, capacity planning, and back office integration
Open Standards, interoperability, and change management
Building learning tools that make course administration easier and facilitate evolving pedagogical models
Julie Evans is the CEO of Project Tomorrow. Please join Julie for her session on Thursday, July 14 at 10:15-11:10AM in Titian 2201A.Yes, you can! Let’s admit it – our school and district budgets are still struggling and so, now more than ever, we all need to be able to build a solid financial case as well as a compelling value proposition for the adoption or expansion of our online learning initiatives. You know all about the benefits of online professional development for our teachers and expanded course offerings for our students. But how do you get started building your online learning “return on investment” business case? Don’t panic – just follow these three easy steps.
