Developers+

Guest post by Julie Rorabaugh, Director of Instructional Technology, Cowley College, and a member of the Ask Dr. C program, a free question and answer service for Blackboard users. After hearing about BbWorld conferences for years and years, in 2010, I finally had the opportunity to attend one! (It only took the buyout of two Learning Management Systems to get me there.) I quickly found out that, for the most part, the stories that I had heard murmured in dark corners at other conferences had quite a bit of validity. This truly is an awesome conference!

Looking for a way to meet and build relationships with your fellow peers and Blackboard staff? Are you ready to partner with these same folks to help shape Blackboard technology and get early access to roadmap information? Or do you want access to the tools, resources and support that’s available to address your product questions or guide you as you upgrade to Blackboard Learn™ 9.1? Then stop by the Blackboard Community Programs booth (#600 and #601) at BbWorld to sign up for one or more of the free programs we’ve developed to support you, as a member of the world’s largest, organized e-learning community.

Guest post by Paige Brooks-Jeffiers, eLearning Technology Coordinator, Kentucky Community and Technical College System and a member of the Ask Dr. C program, a free question and answer service for Blackboard users. If you teach courses using Blackboard, you are probably aware of the grade center and its functions. For those not familiar, the feature allows instructors to centralize their grading and student assessment digitally, while at the same time, provides students access to their progress on individual assignments in the course. All of this is well and good, but as the educators, we need a tool to help manage not only each individual grade but also to identify students who are falling behind and, sometimes, spot exceptional achievers and encourage them to push even further.

Guest Post by Nancy Webb, Instructional Designer, College of Southern Nevada and a member of the Ask Dr. C program, a free question and answer service for Blackboard users. Often, when we think of online course instruction, and the usage of a Learning Management Systems (LMS) to facilitate it, the usage of a combination of face-to-face and online learning in the same course is overlooked. This latter method of instruction is called hybrid, or blended, learning. In short, a portion of the class is delivered via face-to-face instruction and the rest is done through an LMS, like Angel or Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1.  At the College of Southern Nevada, where we run Angel, I encourage our entire faculty to explore the usage of this teaching style.

Guest Post by Misty Cobb, Director of Distance Education, Jacksonville State University Once upon a time…well maybe not.  Last year at this time, Jacksonville State University was considering other learning management systems for their institution. But over the past year, Blackboard and JSU have taken significant strides towards building a relationship that is a true mutual partnership.   What does your relationship with Blackboard look like? Have you evaluated other learning management systems hoping that the grass was greener somewhere?  If so, this panel presentation may bring you hope.