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Over the past year, Blackboard has seen much promise in the emerging area of learning analytics to positively impact education. Last year, we took the bold step of providing our clients with documentation of the Blackboard Learn database which can be used to determine where to focus training efforts or gain insight into how and to what extent the system is used. Earlier this year, we also announced the acquisition of iStrategy, now Blackboard Analytics, whose solution allows institutional leadership to use data warehousing to inform and improve decision-making.  Both of these complement the existing reporting capabilities of the Blackboard Outcomes Assessment solution.

We’re very excited to share some news with you about BbWorld 2011: Steven Johnson, best-selling author of “Where Good Ideas Come From,” “Everything Bad is Good for You,” and “Emergence,” will deliver the opening keynote on Tuesday, July 12.  A social critic, technologist and a three-time TED speaker, Johnson is noted for his ability to see emerging trends and explain why they are relevant to both personal life and work. At BbWorld, Johnson will discuss the genesis of ideas, exploring the types of environments and systems – including institutions, communities and disciplines – that propagate creativity and innovation.

Greetings Developers, Several weeks ago, John Fontaine and I had the opportunity to participate in JISC’s Developer Happiness Days. This event is a testament to the level of innovation that is taking place in both higher and further education in the UK. Hundreds of developers from institutions around the UK convened in London to learn from each other, prototype code, and pool resources to support projects of interest. Blackboard was a sponsor of the event and contributed some cool demos of our own – including a course imported into CourseSites from Open University UK using Blackboard’s new support for the IMS Common Cartridge format. (You may have learned about the importance of Common Cartridge in an earlier post written by Julie Kelleher.)

Planning for BbWorld and DevCon has been going great.  The Call for Presentations ended in January and we have received some of the best submissions ever!  We have received more than 325 presentation submissions from 200+ institutions for BbWorld and 30 submissions from more than 20 institutions for DevCon. I am working with the Client Program Committee, which is made up of 50 client volunteers, to review all of the submissions and choose the best ones for BbWorld and DevCon 2011.  With so many high quality presentations, it is going to be difficult to select the ones that will make it! As we receive confirmation from presenters that their session is selected, we will post these on www.bbworld.com. More information will be updated on the website over the next few weeks and months, but in the meantime, be sure to register. Are you on Facebook? Don’t forget to join our BbWorld 2011 group.  It’s a great way to collaborate, network and get to know each other before the conference starts!

Take out your calendars and mark the date – Registration for BbWorld 2011is now open! As you look ahead to next summer, I hope you’ll consider joining us in Las Vegas for our annual user conference, one of the best professional development opportunities of the year.

If you joined us in Orlando, it’s hard to forget the incredible opening keynote with Greg Mortenson and if you stayed till the end, you got to hear from Tom Vander Ark. And through the course of two and a half days in between, we kept you busy with dozens of sessions, networking opportunities and executive discussions, not to mention special receptions, that left you excited (and exhausted) and ready to head into the school year with best practices and new ways to deliver a more impactful learning experience at your institution.

Don’t you want to join us again?