Developers+

Last week the IMS Global Learning Consortium announced its certification of the Basic LTI 1.1 standard, and at this week’s IMS Learning Impact conference in Toronto you’ll hear much more from the standards organization about this new standard. For those of you not familiar, LTI stands for Learning Tools Interoperability. The LTI standard allows for third-party tool providers to easily plug their applications into Blackboard Learn and other learning management systems. I’m a musician at heart, so when I explain LTI I often use Noteflight as an example. Noteflight is an online music writing application that lets you create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality, right in your web browser. Since Noteflight supports the LTI standard, a music teacher can create composition-based assignment and grade the assignment all within Blackboard Learn. That’s just one example! The LTI standard has been used by educators to integrate content from other providers into their courses creating truly rich course content. At Blackboard we’ve prided ourselves on rapid implementation of IMS standards, and Basic LTI 1.1 is no different. Blackboard’s support of IMS open standards demonstrates a continuing commitment to creating a learning management system devoted to interoperability and openness. We continue to work with the IMS Global Consortium to expand standards support in our software and lead in the establishment of other industry standards.

This year at BbWorld we will announce the New Digital Content & Upgrade Center. Learn how to guide your school or institution’s digital content strategy and work with consultants to build an upgrade, testing and implementation plan for Blackboard Learn 9.1. Professionals from the publishing industries (McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Wiley, Cengage Learning & Macmillan), faculty experts in course design and Blackboard technology specialists who can help you use Blackboard Learn tools to create your own instructional materials will be on hand to answer questions. Sessions at the Digital Content & Upgrade Center will address topics such as digital content trends in education, best practices in integrating different technologies into Blackboard platforms and client stories using the current McGraw-Hill integration. With several new publisher-Blackboard integrations expected to launch this summer, including Pearson, Wiley and Cengage Learning solutions, we want to make sure you have the chance to see these new solutions “hot off the presses.”

We know costs can add up when it comes to attending a conference out of town and you need to justify the expense to your boss. Since we want to make sure you don’t miss out, here are our tips for getting to YES on BbWorld!!

1.)    Plan Ahead – Select which keynotes, panels, and meet-ups speak most directly to your work and professional goals, and then show that specific agenda to your boss. This year BbWorld has five themes that hot topics in Education right now: Digital Content, Mobility, Analytics in Action, Technology Adoption and Social Learning. To go even further, identify some people you’d like to connect with and offer to set up meetings with them while you’re there.  Your boss will see you mean business, and you’ll be ready to go when you arrive.

2.)    Offer to Present What You Learn – Once you attend BbWorld, you will be well informed on the latest and greatest in education technology, but what about your colleagues?  Offer to present session recaps and key takeaways at a future staff meeting so everyone can benefit from your attendance. And of course, don’t forget to share a write up of what you learned at BbWorld for your school or organization’s blog or newsletter!

3.)    Social Media Visibility & Engagement – Not only will you and your boss know you’re getting the most out of BbWorld, but so will the rest of the world.  Tell your boss how you’ll embrace Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, and other social networks to be a part of the conversation, grow your organization’s social media presence, and make new connections so you can continue the dialogue after the conference.

4.)    Build New Best Practices – Technology moves fast and what’s the latest fad in learning one year can be the must-avoid learning trend the next.  In order to be your best at your job, you need to be among the best.  We’ll make sure you have immediately applicable takeaways, make valuable connections, and make your trip to BbWorld an investment, not an expense! For example, this year BbWorld will have a Digital Content Upgrade Center so that you can talk to experts on the spot on how to incorporate our newest technologies at your institution.

5.)    Be enthusiastic! – Your energy and interest needs to come through in whatever form of communication you use to make the request.  Be yourself, but be the ‘yourself’ that conveys that doing your best at work means getting out of your usual environment sometimes and making that most of that time.

Those of you who have bookmarked BbWorld.com may have noticed that we have announced the program.  I am really excited to see so many clients speaking on such great topics including Mobility, Social Learning, Technology Adoption, Analytics in Action, Digital Content, and more.  Whether this is your first time attending BbWorld or DevCon, or you are a returning attendee, BbWorld can be an overwhelming experience.  There’s so much to see and do and you just don’t want to miss anything!  There are a few tools that are now available to help make the most of your experience at BbWorld and DevCon. MyPlanner Not only is the schedule of sessions available, but you can now begin planning your conference itinerary.  The MyPlanner itinerary builder is now available on BbWorld.com.  Login and use MyPlanner to search for sessions and save them to your own personal itinerary.  You can then download these to Outlook and then sync with your mobile device.  Search by date/time, product, audience, role, session type, and keyword. This is a great way to make sure you don’t miss anything! MyExhibitor The Exhibit Hall at BbWorld is a great place to meet with Blackboard’s partners and learn more about how they can help you meet your institution’s needs.  You can start working with exhibitors now using the MyExhibitor tool, available through the MyPlanner. Search for partners by keyword or category, and add them to your personal exhibitor list. Be sure to login to MyPlanner now and take advantage of these great tools to make the most of your conference experience.

I’m excited about this year’s DevCon, not just because I’m a foodie and I love the food in New Orleans. I mean, c’mon, no one can pass up a beignet from Café du Monde. Besides the enticing food, I’m excited for the great speakers and sessions. On July 9^th and 10^th DevCon 2012 will descend onto New Orleans and give its attendees over 30 sessions devoted to topics like system administration and integration, security and performance, Blackboard Building Blocks development, and openness. This year we will also have sessions devoted to Blackboard mobile development, so those of you that are curious about how to develop using Blackboard Mobile’s SDK (software development kit) can satisfy that curiosity.