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Guest blog post by Ken Sadowski, Director of Learning & Instructional Technology at the University of Chicago and Founder and Leader of SLATE, the Midwest Blackboard User Group.  He was the recipient of a 2011 Catalyst Award for Community Collaboration.  Please join this panel discussion, “Rock on, SLATE! An Up Close Look at How a Blackboard User Group has Impacted Teaching, Learning & the Support of Technology in the Midwest”, on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 10:55 – 11:40am, room 392.

In February of 2002, I experienced two firsts in my life; the first time I visited Washington D.C., and the first Blackboard Users Conference I ever attended.  I looked to these events with great anticipation.  After all, I was a seasoned traveler and an academic IT professional so this was going to be a great experience all around.  I tried to take it all in, the city, the conference, so many things to do.  Both were very exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

What I soon discovered was that there was just entirely too much to do by myself.  And after a couple days at the conference, I started to meet people that were feeling the same way.  A lot of them had been to D.C., but not a lot really knew what to do with this Blackboard thing.  This was new (at that time) and they were sent to the conference, just like I was; to learn everything I could and bring it back to campus and become the resident expert on using technology in teaching.  Leaving the conference, I felt I was taking home a lot of great information but I knew I would need more help year-round; but where would it come from.

So I decided to turn to my “new friends” and invited them (twelve at the first meeting) to come together and talk about what we just experienced at the conference.  We all still had questions but not all the answers.  But as we talked things through, it became apparent that between all of us, we would have all or least most of the answers.  This was a good thing.  We decided to meet again, and again, and, yes, again.  Ten years later we are still meeting and have no thoughts of quitting any time soon.  

For those of you who weren’t able to get to New Orleans for the Connections Summit, I wanted to briefly share with you some of what we talked about earlier today in my keynote address, and that’s debunking the myths about online learning.

I’m sure that it’s a conversation that you’ve all had with colleagues who fear that online learning is not sufficiently engaging for students. The fear that online learners will be isolated, miss out on non-verbal communication with their instructors and their fellow students, and not have access to the help they need. That their motivation will be low, which translates into poor outcomes. And then there is the fear that the technology that makes online learning more engaging isn’t quite there yet.

Working backwards, I can assure you that the technology is there.  As you’ll see in Blackboard Collaborate 12, pretty much everything we do is aimed at making the online learning experience as fully engaging as that of the physical classroom, especially when coupled with your institution’s LMS.

And given how wired in today’s students are, we’re getting to the point where it can be argued that bringing real-time collaboration technology into both the physical and virtual classroom mix is becoming the only way to guarantee full engagement.  (I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s seen a couple of kids sitting in the same room texting each other.)

I’m going to make a bold statement here: if you’re using an LMS, you should be using Blackboard Collaborate. Asynchronous courses can be personalized with instructor comments via voice authoring. Students can get the help they need from their classmates and instructors with instant messaging.

Whether a course is delivered asynchronously, live online, or in a physical classroom, project collaboration using web conferencing is an excellent way to engage students and help them build their networks. And for today’s students, who are seldom if ever without their iPhones and iPads, being able to participate in class and meetings with a mobile device is rapidly becoming an expectation.

I’ll end by saying that we’re looking forward to showing off Blackboard Collaborate 12 , and debunking all those myths about online learning.

In my blog last week I introduced you to a few of the Blackboard Learn experts who will be onsite in New Orleans next week ready to talk to you about new features, workflows, integrations, and extensions to Learn. To ensure you get the most out of your time at BbWorld here is round two of “Meet the Blackboard Learn Experts”.  These individuals will be presenting sessions but also spending a lot of time in either the Blackboard booth (in the exhibit hall) or at the Digital Content & Upgrade Center which will be located on the Main Foyer Level 2 of the convention center.  Seek them out, ask questions and share your best practices with them.

These Bbers will be sharing their favorite features and workflows at the Blackboard Learn booth – here is the schedule, so stop by!

Blackboard is constantly experimenting with different educational technologies and methods in an effort to support education everywhere.  For the past several years we have operated a small island in Second Life.  This place called ANGEL Island has been used by over 100 teachers to deliver instruction and showcase the possibilities of teaching with virtual worlds.  

On 22 June 2012, the Society for Pedagogy and Information (GPI) – a scientific society for multimedia, educational technology and media didactics – awarded the Comenius EduMedia Awards to outstanding products in the field of ICT-supported educational media. Blackboard Mobile Learn was awarded the Comenius EduMedia Seal of Approval and the Comenius EduMedia Medal in the category ‘Educational Management Systems (LMS)’.

The Blackboard Mobile™ Learn application gives students and faculty access to their courses, content, and organizations on a variety of mobile devices including Android™, BlackBerry® and iPhone OS. Students and instructors can access documents in multiple formats, read announcements, create discussion threads, upload media, create content items within the course map, comment on blogs and more—all on the mobile devices they love. This German trailer demonstrates what Blackboard Mobile Learn looks like on the iPad.