Developers+

A little over a week ago Rob Fay and I had the opportunity to speak about the work we’ve been doing around “Design Principles” at a conference in Denver CO called the IA (Information Architecture) Summit. This was an industry conference focused on things like user experience, design, content strategy and, of course, information architecture. At this conference I sat in on a session called “The Stories we Construct” given by a man named Stephen Anderson. Stephen talked about how the stories we know or tell about the things we encounter and interact with impact the value we place on the object, the experiences we associate with them and the memories we shape around those experiences.

Over the past year, Blackboard has seen much promise in the emerging area of learning analytics to positively impact education. Last year, we took the bold step of providing our clients with documentation of the Blackboard Learn database which can be used to determine where to focus training efforts or gain insight into how and to what extent the system is used. Earlier this year, we also announced the acquisition of iStrategy, now Blackboard Analytics, whose solution allows institutional leadership to use data warehousing to inform and improve decision-making.  Both of these complement the existing reporting capabilities of the Blackboard Outcomes Assessment solution.

Hi. My name is Tiffany Tooley and I am the Blackboard Community Manager. In this role, I have the opportunity of working to support a unique series of programs, developed to help our clients have a more valuable and meaningful experience as they engage with the platform and seek input and experiences from their peers  across the  greater Blackboard Community. In doing so, I get to meet our terrific clients and listen as they share their stories and ideas about impacting education and their relationship with Blackboard. I also get the opportunity to retell them here. With over 1,200 Blackboard clients currently using our latest generation platform, my new blog series will highlight several of our clients that have successfully upgraded in the past year. My first spotlight will focus on Concordia University.

The Arkansas Blackboard Users Group (ARbug) recently held their annual user’s conference, and I was lucky enough to take part in the festivities. The conference took place in beautiful Hot Springs, Arkansas on the campus of National Park Community College. The theme of the conference was, “Educate. Communicate. Collaborate,” and the group of ~100 clients, Blackboarders and Blackboard Partners did everything they could to make that theme a reality. The conference began on Wednesday, March 9 — in the brand new Frederick Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, a beautiful building with a state-of-the-art Amphitheater – with two workshops designed to build collaboration amongst two groups of the educational community – Online Course Builders and System Administrators.

If you find that conversational organization of your email makes your inbox a little easier to deal with, then you likely switched from your previous email client to something like Gmail. If you find that sitting high above the traffic gives you a sense of security and comfort on the road, then you are likely still driving that SUV, even with gas prices rising.  If your day begins just a bit more pleasant at the local coffee shop than the more convenient one on your morning route, you are probably still walking that extra block to go there before work, even on a busy day.