K-12

Budget cuts to K-12 education could reach up to $2.5 billion this year according to estimates by the National Association of State Budget Officers.  Twenty-two states have slashed K-12 funding, which has led to increased class sizes, fewer tutoring programs, fewer days in the school year, fewer high school counselors, fewer college prep opportunities, and fewer teacher development resources.   Although this may paint a grim picture of K-12 education in the United States, many schools have found innovative ways to reduce costs using education technology:

Hi Blackboard Users!  I am one of the Blackboard Learn Product Marketers and am back to share more about how educators are using the Content Collection in Blackboard Learn to make life easier and save time. I started this conversation at the end of last year and after having my son and being away from the office for a few months I am finally picking it back up.  For the first two tips I shared please check my previous blog. Before I dive in, I want to share a great introduction video for people just getting familiar with the Content Collection (or Content Management module).  This was created by Melissa Kern, our Lead Designer for the Content Management module, and is good to share with new users or any educators that haven’t had a chance to check out the content management tools in Blackboard Learn.  This product video is on Release 9.1, SP6. Take a look and pass along! Link to the screencast here.

St. Hilda’s School in Australia is embracing the mobile learning trend and saving immense printing and papers costs at the same time.  Their goal is to use 1,000,000 fewer pieces of paper this school year!  The school has just launched the very first Blackboard Mobile™ Central app in K-12.  In addition, St. Hilda’s 750 students are able to access all of their courses on their mobile devices.  Learn more about St. Hilda’s mobile story, and hear first-hand from two students about what they are now able to do on their iPad!

Ever find yourself wishing that you could spend less time grading student submissions in Blackboard Learn? If yes, then a quick review of the new Blackboard Learn 9.1, Service Pack 6 Features & Enhancements is in order. I decided to experiment with the program Jing Pro, which allows you to capture short, 5 minute videos, complete with audio. What a great way to showcase some of the new features and enhancements in the Blackboard Learn platform’s latest release, Service Pack 6…I’m hooked. Service Pack 6 introduces efficiencies across multiple levels of the education experience through enhancements and new features across the entire Blackboard Learn platform.  As the Product Marketing Manager for the Course Delivery module, I selected videos that highlight new features and enhancements across core Course Delivery workflows: grading and assessment.  These videos focus on how Blackboard Learn’s latest Service Pack will help educators spend less time on the tasks that they do most often.

It’s finally July 11! Just a year ago, Blackboard announced the acquisitions of Elluminate and Wimba. Then in October 2010, at Educause, we told our customers to expect Phase 1 of Project Gemini this summer – a new take at what a collaboration platform focused on all facets of the business of education – teaching, learning, and administration – would look like. It would inherit traits from both Elluminate and Wimba but it would be simpler, it would seamlessly integrate with the core learning management system at an institution, and it would fit the needs of educators rather than educators needing to bend their teaching style to corporate meeting tools.