K-12

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) has named four finalists for the 2012 National Superintendent of the Year Award – and they’re all Blackboard clients! The Blackboard K-12 team congratulates: •    Diane Frost of Asheboro City Schools (NC) •    Heath Morrison of Washoe County School District (NV) •    Lorraine Lange of Roanoke County Public Schools (VA) •    Susan Smith Bunting of Indian River School District (DE) These four superintendents have been honored for their outstanding leadership and their dedication to providing quality education for all students – with impressive stats to show for it. What a positive way to kick off the new year! To learn more about each of the finalists and their accomplishments, read the full article on AASA’s website. AASA will announce the winner of the 2012 National Superintendent of the Year Award on February 16 at the National Conference on Education in Houston, Texas.

Christie Smith, a Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Director and the Director of Online Course Development, Lone Star College-Online recently chatted with two 2011 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program winners—Dorothy Jones and Gillian McKnight-Tutein. Dorothy teaches for Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia, and Gillian teaches for Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the first time either instructor submitted a course for program review, and they both won! In addition, Gillian participated as a course reviewer to gain experience from the other end of the process.

Both faculty members had their students in mind when they decided to participate in the Exemplary Course Program. Dorothy explained that she was interested in having her course evaluated externally against established standards that indicate “value and quality to potential students.” Gillian’s goal was to receive feedback that would help her to make learning more enjoyable for her students. When asked what makes their courses exemplary, Dorothy mentioned the overall best practices in course design that were used to redesign her course and the positive feedback she received from her students. She states, “When students enroll in my course, I often hear that it is different from many of the online courses they have taken.” Gillian says her course was built upon the Quality Matters ™ framework, a program similar to the Blackboard ECP that focuses on research-based best practices in course design. View Gillian’s Course Tour.

Guest Post by Christopher Tiné, Producer, NBC Learn and EducationNation.com “Just about every challenge in American education has been met somewhere, by somebody.” – Bill Clinton. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to hear Bill Clinton speak about education at NBC News’ Education Nation summit.  He spoke with Brian Williams about competitiveness and cooperation, but right at the end as he was wrapping up he made a comment that has stuck with me.  He said, “Just about every challenge in American education has been met somewhere, by somebody…why are we so lousy at copying the competition and adapting it to our own circumstances?” Bill Clinton challenged the audience to look around and see where things were working, and adapt solutions to fit their own educational challenges.  NBC Learn and Blackboard have tried to do just that with the Solutions in Action series.  So often the focus of the education conversation is on what’s wrong with the system.  Solutions in Action is our effort to spend a few minutes shining a spotlight on what’s right in education – thinkers with new ideas, effective solutions, and scalable strategies.

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 Virtual School Symposium organized by iNACOL is the premier K-12 conference for online and blended learning each year.  With many of our K-12 clients in attendance, the Blackboard K-12 Team, including representation from Blackboard Learn, Mobile, Collaborate, and Connect, traveled to Indianapolis to collaborate and connect with several K-12 leaders from our client community in sessions exploring trends, challenges, and best practices integrating Blackboard in online and blended learning. One highlight of the conference was a session we organized featuring students, “Student Panel:  Expanding Opportunities & Closing Gaps in K-12 Education with Multiple Online Learning Models.”  Julie Young, the President and CEO of the Florida Virtual School , expertly moderated the panel.  She welcomed students representing multiple models of successful online learning using Blackboard Learn products.  Paul Pratt, a senior from Fishers High School from Hamilton Southeastern School District, spoke about his experiences in a blended learning environment.  Nikki Kuhlman, a senior at Saint Theodore Guerin Catholic High School, described a unique blended experience at Guerin, a 1:1 initiative in which each student uses a laptop as an integral part of the daily teaching and learning experience.  Jazmyn Styles, a senior from Pike High School, and Kati Gregory, a junior from Speedway High School, both took at least one fully online high school course at the Indiana Online Academy and spoke about their experiences participating in a virtual school.  The goal of the student panel was to explore how multiple forms of online learning have improved their teaching and learning experiences, expanded their opportunities, and closed gaps in the lives of these students.