Developers+

I had the pleasure of speaking with Karen Lynden from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, a 2011 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program winner. As we begin the 2012 Catalyst Awards season, I thought it was important to hear from the 2011 winners to find out more about what motivated them to enter their course and how the win has impacted their profession. This is the first of a series of blogs from each of the Catalyst and Exemplary Course Award Winners. Guest Blog Post from Karen Lynden, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College It was an honor to be a recipient of a Blackboard Catalyst award, and a meaningful professional achievement. I can’t think of a better way to close out my tenure as Distance Education Coordinator and begin my new full-time faculty member role at the college! When I submitted the course for review, I did not have an expectation of receiving the award. My goal was to receive feedback and gain ideas toward course enhancement. At the time, I was involved with a college initiative for redeveloping our online course template. If I was going to lead a council that influenced the foundation of our online courses, I wanted to be able to personally demonstrate best practices through the courses I developed and facilitated -AKA “walk the talk.” Though I will never know who they specifically were by name, I really appreciate all of the reviewers’ comments that were returned to me at the end of the review cycle. Their notes reinforced the positives and provided me with new ideas.

We are excited to share the news that registration for BbWorld 2012 is now open! As you recharge over this winter break, why not get a jump start on your summer plans and consider joining us in New Orleans for our annual user conference. If you joined us last year in Las Vegas, it’s hard to forget the incredible opening keynote with Steven Johnson and the closing keynote from Sir Ken Robinson. Through the course of two and a half days, we kept you busy with dozens of sessions, networking opportunities and executive discussions, details on Blackboard’s technology roadmap, special receptions with your peers, Blackboard executives and staff, and a corporate keynote from founder and CEO Michael Chasen. We left you excited (and exhausted) and ready to head into the school year with best practices and new ways to deliver a more impactful learning experience at your institution. Don’t you want to join us again?

The holidays are a wonderful time of the year to take time out of our busy schedules to give back to the community. During the first week of December, a small group from the Blackboard global marketing team spent some time giving back at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC. On this cold and rainy afternoon, the team spent three hours sorting through thousands of pounds of donations – including food and necessities – that are distributed to less fortunate members of the community each day. Many of our gracious colleagues even contributed their own items totaling more than 150 lbs of donations. It was a great afternoon giving our time to an organization that needed the help and truly appreciated our efforts. Last year, The Capital Area Food Bank distributed 25 million pounds of food and served more than 478,000 people in need across the DC-metro area. Blackboard looks forward to returning to the food bank to give more time to an organization in need.

Clients often ask what the impetus was behind the Blackboard and McGraw-Hill partnership.  Our answer?  To help improve and enhance the teaching and learning experience. Prior to the partnership and during conversations with faculty and system administrators alike, several challenges came to the forefront – challenges that could be simply addressed by finding a way to make publisher online homework and assessment platforms seamlessly integrated so that instructors and students could access all of their course resources in one place.

As a result, Blackboard and McGraw-Hill built and launched the McGraw-Hill integration.  Now, with the release of the second generation of the Building Block, faculty have access to the rich content and tools provided by McGraw-Hill’s Connect, Create, and SimNet platforms, all within their familiar Blackboard Learn™ instance.  Single sign-on provides seamless access to all course resources, all Connect grades are automatically imported into the Blackboard gradebook, and the solution is fully FERPA-compliant. And with an improved design and new features, it’s now easier than ever to discover and imbed McGraw-Hill content into courses.

“These kids that are digital natives – we just need to meet them where they’re at, and the reality is technology is where they’re at.” Marc Ecko, fashion designer, entrepreneur, and founder of Sweat Equity Education (SEE), an education innovation organization, is working at the intersection of education, workforce development, and entrepreneurship. At SEE, Marc uses the technology that excites kids today and combines it with real-world projects that teach real-world skills.  SEE is focused on re-engaging and re-invigorating at-risk students and young adults to help set them on a path for success – in school, in the workplace, or in launching their own businesses. I had the pleasure of meeting Marc in his New York City office: