Company

By: Deanna Mayers, Curriculum Coordinator for blendedschools.net

Have you ever heard others talk about online learning and refer to it as a self-paced, independent study?  While some online courses fit this description, others are beginning to use collaborative tools to engage learners.  But, how can we use research based strategies such as these from The Global Development Research Center in the online classroom?  During my session at BbWorld 2010, “Building Collaborative Learning Activities in your Online Course,” you will experience how research based collaborative strategies transfer to online learning.  We will work together to complete a “Read and Respond,” have some fun in a “Jigsaw” activity and experience a progressive writing activity among other activities.

We are excited to announce Tom Vander Ark as the closing keynote speaker for BbWorld 2010. 

Tom is best known as the former executive director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he oversaw more than $3.5 billion in funding programs to improve education in the U.S.  He also served as President of the X PRIZE Foundation, which gives away millions to individuals who come up with breakthroughs that benefit humanity.  Prior to his role at The Gates Foundation, Vander Ark was the first business executive to serve as a public school superintendent, leading one of Washington state’s larger school districts (which today is a Bb Connect client). 

Today, Vander Ark is Managing Partner at Revolution Learning, a private equity firm focused on improving formal and informal learning globally. His company is involved in supporting a number of innovative/entrepreneurial approaches to education that challenge the status quo and leverage technology to create more personalized learning for students.

During his speech, he will share relevant stories and insights from his time at The Gates and X PRIZE Foundation, discussing technology, innovation and the future of learning.  

Check out Vander Ark’s blog, EdReformer.com, where he blogs regularly. We hope you’ll join us on Friday, July 16 at 10:30am to learn from Tom Vander Ark. 

I'm very pleased to announce that Anya Kamenetz (aka @anya1anya, author of DIY U and journalist for Fast Company will be the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Blackboard Developers Conference.  Anya’s keynote will challenge us all with a presentation on the future of the Virtual Learning Environment and Educational Institutions in the world of DIY U and Edupunk.  She will share her insights into the learning tools being used by students and instructors in the world of web 2.0 and social networking.  I hope her comments will provide us with some insight challenges and inspiration for members of our community working to develop next generation tools.

By Dan Lake, OCM Board of Cooperative Education Services (OCM BOCES)

This will be my 8th BbWorld attendance, and I am more excited than ever. I have always attended and often presented my institution, OCM BOCES, knowing that my presence was a minority presence. After all, I represented a K-12 community, not previously seated at the front of the bus traveling the virtual learning highway!

But in May this year, with the release of 9.1, the Blackboard K-12 learning solutions team took a front seat, joining its college partners.  The K-12 learning community now has a presence that will be evident as school administrators and teachers across the world realize the immense potential offered by the added features of 9.1.  Finally our K-12 teachers can give our younger students that 24-7 assistance they have been demanding to support their emerging “personal learning networks” (Note the use of that ubiquitous phrase. Tagging anyone?)

By Paige Brooks-Jeffiers, Kentucky Community and Technical College System

Want interactive content? Want more than Word docs and PDFs in your online course? Want (need) to do it yourself? EASILY? If you answered “yes” to these questions, SoftChalk is a tool you’ve got to see!
 
At KCTCS (Kentucky Community and Technical College System), we have 3,000 faculty teaching over 12,000 courses (all with at least some online component) from 68 campuses within our 16 colleges. And the majority of campuses don’t have an instructional designer. This means faculty are generally responsible for creating their own content.