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Those of you who have bookmarked the BbWorld ’08 website may have noticed that we’ve announced the client-led program!  I’m really excited to see so many clients speaking on such great topics. 

There are three general conference "themes" this year: Assess, Engage, and Manage.  Schedules, Blackboard-led sessions and partner-led sessions will be available soon.

One of the questions I often am asked is "How do you select sessions for BbWorld?"  Well, the answer is that I don’t, really.  Our clients do. 

This year we had 55 clients volunteer to be a part of our client program committee.  These 55 clients, plus about 10 Blackboard folks, reviewed the 325 sessions submitted for BbWorld ’08 and the Blackboard Developers Conference.  All told, there were over 3500 individual session reviews – each session was looked at by an average of 10 people.  Let me explain the process.

Hey, folks.  It’s me, Kerry Jo, knee deep in the session selection process for BbWorld ’08 in Las Vegas.  But that’s not what I’m going to write about today.  Nope!  Today I’m giving a shout out to BbWorld Europe ’08 in Manchester, UK!

We’re only about a month away from the event in Manchester, and I’m so excited to make the trip across the pond to meet up with my favorite Blackboard users in Europe.  There are tons of great events at the conference – from special events like the University of Manchester Campus Tour to pre-conference workshops and client-led sessions.   

I thought I could take this opportunity to share a little about my absolute favorite conference tool – the MyBbWorld Planner! 

If you’re anything like me, you like to have a plan when you arrive at a conference.  I like to know what sessions I should attend and what exhibit booths I’d like to visit.  Well, the BbWorld Planner can create a personal program just for you.

So try it out – go to the MyBbWorld Planner for BbWorld Europe and create a login.  Then search the program for the sessions you’re interested in (e.g. innovative tools for learning) and click the little “+” to add it to your personal session list!  Then, before you come to the conference, you can print out your personal itinerary.  You can also search out partners that you’d like to visit. 

Hope this little piece of organizational help will be as useful to you as it is to me!

Cheers!  See you in Manchester.

With the first days of spring under our belts, we in DC’s Blackboard office are looking forward to more warm days and sunny skies.

But I’ll be honest – my sights are set to a slightly warmer climate – Las Vegas in July.

Over 200 of you have already registered for BbWorld ’08.  And I’m working hard with the Client Program Committee to select the most interesting client sessions!  While you’re waiting for us to make the program announcement, how will you get your BbWorld fix?

130 of us have joined the BbWorld ’08 Facebook Group!

It’s a great place to connect with your “conference friends” all over the world – and to get special BbWorld updates. 

What kind of updates, you might ask?  Well…just the other day, I asked a question in the group’s discussion board:

If you were to ask Steve Wozniak, technology industry visionary and co-founder of Apple Computer a question – what would you ask?

Why, I wonder why KJ would ask this question?  Does she know Steve Wozniak?  Is she having lunch with him next week and need conversation topics?  Or could it be because Steve Wozniak is the opening keynote speaker at BbWorld ’08?  Why yes, that’s it!! 

So seriously – what would you ask Steve?  Check out the Facebook group and leave me your comments in the discussion board.  We’ll pass your thoughts along to Mr. Wozniak as he plans his BbWorld keynote. 

So in the meantime, check out BbWorld ’08 and the Blackboard Developers Conference at www.bbworld08.com to find all the information you need to register for both events.  And come on, Facebook with us!  You can always play a little Scrabulous while you’re at it!

BbWorld Commerce ’08 is now history.  I hope you were in Phoenix to participate and learn from peers and members of the Blackboard Team.  This annual event has been gathering steam and this year was the best ever.

Holding this event in Phoenix has the great advantage of enabling over 100 members of the Blackboard Team to interact directly with clients, face-to-face.  The result is better relationships and improved communication.

For me, seeing Blackboard Team members attend client presentations is as exciting as seeing clients attend Blackboard presentations.  We have a chance to learn what is happening on campuses and see how our product is being used to help deliver services to students.  Dialog often begins during a session and continues in the casual events where people gather to sit and eat and laugh.  For a few days we all share a unique educational experience that has tremendous long-term benefits to both Blackboard and all campus partners.

Our experience in 2007 helped the Blackboard Commerce Management Team drive development and content for the 2008 event.  The introductions of Blackboard Video Surveillance and the Blackboard Connect-ED product were major hits at this year’s event.  The buzz on the trade show floor and in sessions was all about these new solutions, as well as thoughts about public-facing video content and the work on Blackboard’s next-generation transaction solution.  Client support and feedback for existing product development tracks were very encouraging and will yield even more in terms of meaningful solutions over the next 12 months.

We sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your ideas and campus-based experiences.  We are committed to making this happen as frequently as possible.  The President’s Advisory Committee (PAC) is now one year old and represents one example of this commitment.  The current members are Kathy Ragan, Jeanine Brooks, Mary Goff, Brenda Hovden, John Beckwith, Patrick Bolwahnn and Jerry Swarts.  Each member participates actively with Russ Carlson and the Commerce Management Team.  Among the host of topics discussed at multiple times during the year are:

• Product direction feedback
• Campus issues of concern to clients
• User conference content review

For BbWorld Commerce ’09 we will be looking for several interested clients to fill four vacant positions on the PAC.  There will be a more formal announcement of this, but if you have interest now, please e-mail me at tbell@blackboard.com.

Special thanks to the PAC members, all of the 2008 presenters, and the BbWorld Commerce Logistics Committee, led by Kristy Bonanno, for delivering a great educational experience.

. . . they are the rule nowadays. This blog is a great example. It was last Monday when my colleague Hiromichi was writing from Japan about the cultural challenges and differences he faces on his daily activities. And this week you are reading a Spanish guy writing these lines from his favorite café in Amsterdam. Just in case you do not believe me, I am attaching a picture of the wonderful view I have from the café (sorry about the quality, I just took it with my mobile).

I am one of the more than 50,000 expats that live in the area, shaping a community of more than 150 different nationalities. In case you did not know, Blackboard’s International Headquarters are located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At the moment, we have more than 10 different nationalities populating our international headquarters. Dutch, German, Spanish, French, North American, Swedish, British, Venezuelan are just a few examples that come now to my mind. As you can see, international people are not an exception at Blackboard, they are actually the rule.

Not many people would argue against the fact that corporations and institutions compete nowadays in a global, boundary-less market. Better infrastructure, more information and especially new technologies are some of the elements that are facilitating this sort of globalization. But this international phenomenon is not just a corporate thing. The education world is also experiencing this trend.

There are many reasons why students decide to study abroad. Self-accomplishment, extended perspective on world’s problems, career enhancement, research and proficiency in other languages are probably some of the most common motivations among students. I have the pleasure of working with different institutions around the globe because of my job at Blackboard. My feeling is that this mix of international cultures is not something that just happens in some specific programs or at some exclusive business schools anymore. As an example, according to Open Doors 2006, there was an increase of 8% of U.S. students going abroad over the previous year’s report. The United States is not alone in this trend. Mobility programs in higher education like the Erasmus program in Europe have helped the growing number of European foreign students over the last seven years. It is also true that some factors such as difficult political or economic situations can definitely impact the number of students going abroad and their preferred destinations.

Preparing an institution for this new global era is not an easy task. There are so many challenges I can think of, that I will not even bother about writing them down here. However, I am a firm believer that technology is here to help us throughout this process.

So, how are you making use of technologies to support this globalization phenomenon? What are the main challenges that you have faced or you see coming in the next years? Mmm, wait. Don’t answer yet . . . Instead, why don’t you try to join us in our BbWorld Europe ’08 conference and share your best practices with hundreds of members from international institutions.

Just in case you did not know, the BbWorld Europe ’08 conference will be held this year in Manchester, UK, between the 12 and 14th of May. It is going to be a wonderful event and a great opportunity to learn new ways of enhancing students’ experiences.

I look forward to seeing you in Manchester, and, yes, if I get to see you there I will give you the details of my secret café in Amsterdam – where I took that picture of such a beautiful view.