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G’Day, Mates.

As we gear up for BbSummit Australasia, Blackboard is again excited to host – in partnership with James Cook University – a regional Developer Day event. This event is offered at no cost on Monday, 13th September. It’s an opportunity to get answers to your technical questions, updates on recent openness improvements, and guidance on the design of customisations or development projects that you may have in mind.

Having studied abroad at the University of Wollongong, I experienced firsthand the unique characteristics of Australian technical, further, and higher education. In Australia alone, there are over 100 Blackboard developers who have customised their Blackboard LMS in dozens of different ways to meet these unique needs.

While at the conference, explore some examples of what other institutions are doing. Queensland University of Technology is speaking about a Building Block they've developed to auto-provision course content across institutions. University of Santo Tomas will present on enhancements they've made via Building Blocks to enhance the mobile experience and essay marking. There's also a panel session, "Enhancing Blackboard to Work the Way that Your Institution Requires," that will provide multiple client perspectives on how best to develop and implement customisations.

If you are considering a customisation or development project for your Blackboard environment, please consider attending DevDay or speak with me or a fellow Blackboard expert while at the conference. We want to give you the drum on what you need for your project to come good.

Happy coding.

Over the past two years Blackboard has been working closely with partners like the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Deque Systems to achieve significant improvements in the accessibility of our products. We pledged to achieve the NFB’s certification for Non-Visual Access and in March of 2010 we were presented with their Gold Level Certification and became the only learning management system certified by the NFB.   

In July I had the opportunity to attend the NFB’s annual meeting with our VP of Corporate Strategy, Lara Oerter. Lara was speaking to the attendees about Blackboard and our partnership with NFB representatives like Anne Taylor and Clara Van Gerven. One of the themes of this year’s meeting was the power of education and equal access to information. The announcement of the certification of Blackboard Learn was met with much excitement.

Missed BbWorld? Or made it but want to recall some of the key moments that took place in Orlando a few weeks ago? Check out the newly updated BbWorld.com which now includes lots of information and resources from the event.

Lots of you have been asking for this information, so we’ve pulled it all together in one place. New on the site this week is a gallery of our favorite photos from the week, contents from over 100 session presentations and listening notes, and even a video of the keynote delivered by Michael Chasen and Ray Henderson. In the keynote, Michael and Ray covered lots of updates and news from Blackboard including Ray’s Report Card for Blackboard Learn (you can read more in Ray’s latest blog post). The video, produced by Blackboard partner Echo360, features the full length keynote complete with presentation slides used by Michael and Ray. 

We’ll be adding more resources to this site over time so bookmark BbWorld.com and check back for additional materials from this year’s BbWorld, as well as some details on BbWorld 2011 in Las Vegas. If there’s something else you’re looking to see, please leave your comments below.

 

I attended my first BbWorld last year in Washington DC, about one month after I learned I would be working at Blackboard and about two months after the ANGEL/Blackboard merger and the ANGEL User Conference in Chicago.  Needless to say that first BbWorld was a bit of a whirlwind.  I was connecting with ANGEL clients, learning all I could about CE/Vista clients, meeting new colleagues from around the world, and dancing my way into the early morning.

Much of the discussion that was around me in Washington DC was about the cultures of the two (now one) companies.  People were curious if the ANGEL ethos could make its way into the larger Blackboard, and ANGEL clients were hanging their hope on Ray Henderson.  The two words I heard most were “cautiously optimistic.”  I also heard about some of the challenges that clients were facing with Release 9.0 and I heard about “parity” from the CE/Vista crowd.

It’s hard to believe that BbWorld is now behind us and the summer is half way over. But, hopefully you are looking ahead to the start of your school year and are better prepared, putting the best practices and lessons learned from BbWorld 2010 into action.

If you were with us in Orlando, you know that this year’s event was jam packed with exciting keynotes and announcements, client and Bb-led sessions, a bustling show floor and a TON of conversations. More than ever before, the “Twitterverse” proved to be an invaluable back channel for communication for those attending the show as well as those following along virtually. You can still check out some of the chatter here.

I also want to highlight some great resources, connecting you to the sessions in case you missed them or want to revisit. More than 60 client and Bb-led presentations have been uploaded to our Connections site. Check here and check as more presentations are still coming online. Additionally, check out the videos that were created by the roving client reporters. Clips include interviews with other clients and sights and sounds from the week.

And, here is a sample of blog posts from client bloggers. I know that many of you were blogging throughout the week or have general thoughts about the conference, so please speak up and post a comment below. 

NUAMPS Blog: @BbWorld 2010 from @HarlanWallach, Northwestern

Laura Gekeler Speaks Her Mind from @lgekeler, University of Notre Dame

BbWorld Conference Blog (unofficial) from @ekunnen, Grand Rapids Community College

Katie Lou Blog City from @kateboardman, Teesside University

Of course, we’re always looking to improve our implementation of social media at BbWorld, so if you have thoughts and recommendations for things you would like to see next year, please leave those comments below, too.

Thanks to everyone who joined the conversation and helped make this year’s conference our best yet.