Products & Services

The next four months are going to fly by. How do I know?  Because the planning for the second annual Blackboard Collaborate™ Connections Summit is in full-swing, and as we continue to dot a myriad of i’s and cross countless t’s, our entire team cannot wait to see so many of you in New Orleans in mid-July. The reasons to attend are numerous.  We’ll unveil the latest enhancements to our Blackboard Collaborate™ platform.  Our fearless leader Maurice Heiblum will share the considerable progress our division has made now that we’ve had a full year under our belt as a combined company.  You’ll have full access to all of BbWorld 2012—yes, even its famous parties and keynotes.  You can roll-up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with the current version of Blackboard Collaborate.  And perhaps most importantly, you can attend nearly 50 sessions by Blackboard Collaborate customers from around the globe. And it’s always the customer-led sessions that are the showstoppers. This year’s Connections Summit agenda covers a variety of topics ranging from best practices and effective instructional design, to decreasing costs and adoption and implementation.  And perhaps most importantly, several tracks will specifically focus on upgrading from Elluminate or Wimba to Blackboard Collaborate. For many of our customers, 2012 is the year in which they’ll upgrade from one of our legacy products to our shiny new toy, and we want them to have the smoothest transition possible.  Therefore, in New Orleans, customers can attend an upgrade panel presentation featuring customers at Northern Illinois University, the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, and the Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences, all of whom have already been enjoying the new platform for months.  There will even be a presentation by the team at the University of Missouri system about its upgrade experience as well. Further, we’ll again have a walk-in feedback room in which our Product Management and Support teams can answer all your upgrade and technical questions, and I’ll likely hold a meeting for anyone who wants to learn more about our cohort upgrade programs. As we say, collaboration is music to our ears, so we feel that New Orleans is the best place for you to learn from the Collaborate team and your peers about the future of the Blackboard Collaborate™ platform.  Block off your calendars now, and I’ll see you in The Big Easy in July!

It’s always fascinating to talk to customers and learn how diverse their technology needs are. Blackboard Collaborate™ customers use a wide variety of learning management systems (LMSs), ranging from commercial solutions like Blackboard Learn or Desire2Learn®, to open source installations like Moodle®, Sakai®, and others. Customers tell us the same thing over and over again: They need software partners who can support the learning and collaboration needs of their learners no matter what LMS they have now or may have in the future. A key component of Blackboard Collaborate’s core philosophy is to provide integrations across a variety of LMS and technology portfolios that are on campus. We want to enhance the teaching and learning experience regardless of the LMS or community portal system used. Commitment to Openness – Integrations built by Blackboard and our Partners Our commitment to openness is borne out by the fact that Blackboard Collaborate offers several fully supported integrations with most of the major EDU-focused LMS providers. In addition, we offer customers and other LMS providers access to an API toolkit so they can create custom integrations. Software providers like Agilix (BrainHoney), itslearning, Epsilen and Desire2Learn have already created custom web conferencing integrations. And more partner-developed integrations are on the way later this year. These partnerships support Blackboard Collaborate’s open-integration philosophy. By providing integrations with the most common education-focused LMS providers, across all collaboration capabilities, Blackboard Collaborate helps institutions save on travel and infrastructure costs, while increasing interaction and engagement and improving learning outcomes. Annie Chechitelli, VP Of  Strategy and Operations, on Blackboard Collaborate’s open integrations philosophy.

Blackboard product teams works closely with clients to build and introduce new versions of our platforms, including Blackboard Learn(™), Blackboard Collaborate(™), and Blackboard Mobile(™).  We independently launched major versions that offered improved user experiences and brought us closer to customers in the process. Recently, we came together to discuss what Blackboard offers as a whole – across all of our platforms and services – to address the problem of student engagement that can result in dropouts, poor test scores, and transfers to other institutions.  We put aside talking about cool new features and instead talked about how to effectively break through to today’s “always on” students.   We identified how Blackboard’s entire portfolio can help students get engaged and personally invested in their learning for solid outcomes, college readiness, and career success. We are convinced that Blackboard offers the widest variety of tools to connect and engage learners in a way that each prefers – regardless of time, place, device or learning style.  It’s no surprise that this results in increased learning, retention, and institutional growth.  One client,  Ivy Tech Community College, an educator of over 120,000 students across in 75 locations across Indiana, solved their growing requirement for more robust and resourceful engagement tools by deploying Blackboard Collaborate and Blackboard Mobile after attaining a solid foundation with Blackboard Learn.  Among the benefits of the combined solution are 24×7 service to students, onboarding of 25,000 new students each year, and steady growth in enrollment with a goal of 200,000 students by 2020. What exactly does Blackboard offer to engage students?  First of all, a plethora of learning-focused features – customized online courses and vibrant communities in Blackboard Learn, access to coursework virtually anywhere with Blackboard Mobile, and live classes with breakouts and multi-user whiteboards in Blackboard Collaborate.  We also have capabilities that reach these students 24/7 on their own terms, enticing responses and interaction – “anywhere” courses with Blackboard Mobile Learn, faculty messages to mobile devices with Blackboard Connect for Learn(™), and presence and instant messaging in Blackboard Collaborate.  There are features for measuring engagement with Blackboard Analytics(™) and taking corrective action.  And finally, we work with our clients to help ensure a seamless user experience and optimization for teaching and learning. As a company, we are quickly realizing that the sum is greater than the parts.  That is, with a broad set of integrated platforms, professional services, and education expertise, Blackboard enables institutions to tailor learning to each individual student while reaching and growing the entire academic enterprise.   That’s what enables institutions to excel and stay relevant in today’s changing education environment. 

The National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC), a not-for-profit organisation, is using Blackboard Collaborate to reach women in rural, regional, and remote areas in Australia in a way they never could before. The program they are offering ensures that these women have access to information and training and are able to have a voice that the NRWC can then relay back to the government on their behalf.

Recently the NRWC was invited to showcase its programs at the Commission on the Status of Women conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The primary themes of the 56th annual conference included:

• The empowerment of rural women through their roles in poverty, hunger eradication, development, and current challenges
• Elimination of discrimination against women and girls
• Engagement of young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality

The use of Blackboard Collaborate’s web conferencing opens many opportunities for learners to come together online to expand their knowledge and expertise.  Unfortunately, mischief can happen in the virtual classroom just as in the physical classroom.  Advantage Collaborate!  Collaborate makes it easier and quicker to put a stop to unwanted, inappropriate behavior.  You can send a disciplinary warning via private chat or private announcement to the bully.  If that does not stop the disruptions then the moderator can easily remove that bully and lock him/her out of the room. Private chat is a direct channel to the instructor that is ALWAYS there for students.  Even when the chat permission is off, participants can still use chat but only moderators will see the message.  This will keep bullies from sending hurtful messages to other students in Collaborate web conferencing.  Additionally, teachers can rest assured that students in need will always be able to inform them immediately via chat if bullying is taking place. Virtual Time Out can be easily made by creating a breakout room and loading it with sensitivity training materials.  It’s easy to preload a variety of engaging content in your Virtual Time Out breakout room.  For instance, you could load this PPT I found on the North Carolina Juvenile Justice website.