Developers+

I know it is clichéd to talk about all the new things that Spring brings but I can’t help it.  Here in DC the cherry blossoms are nearly at their peak, daffodils and tulips abound, and it seems that nearly every day I get an email announcement from a friend or co-worker who has had a baby.  While I enjoy each of these things in their own special way, I can’t say that I was there to help. 

Now, I can!  Tomorrow I am going to be at the Arkansas Blackboard Users 2008 Conference in Little Rock.  And I’ll be working with the attendees on forming a brand new user group.  To keep you posted I’ll be tweeting while I’m there and afterwards I’ll blog about the experience.  Little Rock – here I come!

This entry was written by Blackboard User Experience Architect Rob Fay (right in photo), a member of Blackboard’s Product Development group.

Of all the courses I took in undergraduate and graduate school, only one of my classes used Blackboard software for limited course management functions.  The instructor for that course chose to post her syllabus online; she posted the weekly assignments and readings to the space, and she encouraged the use of the discussion board.  That instructor didn’t enable many features the system had to offer, but her effort was a start.  And as a student, I didn’t know the full breadth of what Blackboard software had to offer anyway.

Nonetheless, I was excited that that instructor decided to use Blackboard software for her course management needs.  Why?

Well, after all, the class focused on human-computer interaction methodologies.  Why teach a course on system interface design and not leverage educational technologies?

Interestingly, we had a group assignment to apply traditional user-centered design methods and research to critique a chosen Web-based system.  One group decided to critique the Blackboard system we were using.

Fast forward a few years.

Now I work with the User Experience ("UX") team in Blackboard’s Product Development group.  It is my team’s responsibility to critique Blackboard products and to make them easier and more enjoyable to use.  "User Experience" is a somewhat nebulous concept, but our team follows Peter Morville’s "User Experience Honeycomb" model (Morville, 2004) by striving to make our products accessible, credible, desirable, findable, usable, useful, and valuable.

To achieve such high standards, we must get you – Blackboard users – involved in the design process.  So, how do we do it?  And how can you help?

With the first days of spring under our belts, we in DC’s Blackboard office are looking forward to more warm days and sunny skies.

But I’ll be honest – my sights are set to a slightly warmer climate – Las Vegas in July.

Over 200 of you have already registered for BbWorld ’08.  And I’m working hard with the Client Program Committee to select the most interesting client sessions!  While you’re waiting for us to make the program announcement, how will you get your BbWorld fix?

130 of us have joined the BbWorld ’08 Facebook Group!

It’s a great place to connect with your “conference friends” all over the world – and to get special BbWorld updates. 

What kind of updates, you might ask?  Well…just the other day, I asked a question in the group’s discussion board:

If you were to ask Steve Wozniak, technology industry visionary and co-founder of Apple Computer a question – what would you ask?

Why, I wonder why KJ would ask this question?  Does she know Steve Wozniak?  Is she having lunch with him next week and need conversation topics?  Or could it be because Steve Wozniak is the opening keynote speaker at BbWorld ’08?  Why yes, that’s it!! 

So seriously – what would you ask Steve?  Check out the Facebook group and leave me your comments in the discussion board.  We’ll pass your thoughts along to Mr. Wozniak as he plans his BbWorld keynote. 

So in the meantime, check out BbWorld ’08 and the Blackboard Developers Conference at www.bbworld08.com to find all the information you need to register for both events.  And come on, Facebook with us!  You can always play a little Scrabulous while you’re at it!

Recently I completed an around-the-world trip for Blackboard to visit our offices in Amsterdam and Sydney. One of the many flights I took to accomplish this journey was a flight from Budapest to Bangkok on Malev Hungarian Airlines.

It was an old plane that clearly needed some interior upgrades. The in-flight movie was Tootsie . . . in Hungarian. You can’t make this kind of stuff up. Not exactly a recent release. That experience got me thinking about staying current with the times.

My family typically makes fun of me because I hang out periodically on Second Life, use Twitter, or am daily checking my Facebook profile to see what people wrote on my wall. More than anything I do this to stay up to date with the latest technology trends.

I make these twice-annual trips to Europe and Asia for exactly that reason. I need to stay on top of what is happening in those locations in terms of staffing, operational effectiveness and any specific client issues we may be facing in those regions. Spending several days in our offices located in Amsterdam and Sydney enables me to help bring the team there up to speed on our latest products, processes and overall strategy. Visiting in-person also enables me to speak face-to-face with team members there about the overall direction of our company and Client Success initiative.

I recently spoke to a colleague at a U.S. higher ed institution, in the state of California. He and I discussed my trip, and he mentioned that one way he stays current with his faculty is by sending his instructional designers physically out to the different programs at his university to engage with faculty members. He explained to me how twice each week the Instructional Design office is actually closed, and those team members visit the different schools at the university to work one-on-one with staff members. What a great way to stay current with faculty needs . . . just showing up at their door a couple of times a week and talking with them.

When my Malev flight landed in Bangkok, the pilot thanked us passengers for flying with Malev and mentioned the airline had been awarded the designation "Best Airline in Eastern Europe" for the second year in a row. I wondered what the other airlines had as their in-flight movies.

I got an email from my sister Sue last week.  She is a 9th grade guidance counselor at a high school in suburban Washington, DC.  Sue wrote about a family with two children who was looking at an unconventional schooling path:

"The family is pulling the kids (2) out of school and traveling around the world for a year.  They are going to "roadschool" the kids while they do this and have them blog about it on this site.  I am so intrigued that I asked for the site so I can follow their adventures. I thought you’d find this interesting."

She was right.  I’ve become engrossed by the plans that Dani, Craig, Caroline & Conor are making for their year-long around the world adventure.  They leave in July and I hope you’ll join me in keeping track of them, the things they learn and the lessons I hope they’ll share with all of us faithful readers.