A channel for news and release updates, related to each of our product platforms and service offerings as well as best practices and insights shared by our product team and clients.
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.
Recent cuts to federal travel budgets now have a considerable impact on the way federal trainers approach learning delivery within their respective agencies. As the President calls for a heavier reliance on video conferencing and web-based capabilities to replace face-to-face training courses, federal trainers must continue to foster core competency and skill set development within their workforce.Here’s our solution: Blackboard Collaborate, a solution that delivers highly effective and engaging online instruction, meetings, and help—anywhere, any time—across your government agency.
Blackboard Collaborate combined with Blackboard Learn mimics face-to-face learning that many federal learners have grown accustomed to- but it’s cost effective. So if your agency is ready to deliver succession planning, streamline knowledge transition, enhance collaborative learning, reduce training costs, and/or improve mission outcomes, Blackboard Collaborate is the solution for you. Here are some top features of the Blackboard Collaborate solution that will deliver cost-effective results for your agency:
Last month, we announced that Blackboard Connect 5 has seen strong momentum, with hundreds of clients making the switch in the first 90 days of the new release. And while the numbers are impressive, we thought it would be interesting to learn more about what Connect 5 means for individual clients as well.
One institution that recently jumped to Connect 5 is Harford County, Maryland. The county government has been a Connect client since 2009, and a wide range of organizations use it to communicate with residents and county employees. County departments like the Emergency Management Office, Highway Department and Sheriff’s Office use the system, but so do local cities and towns like Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace.
Harford is a battle-tested user of Connect, leveraging the service in blizzards, hurricanes and earthquakes. When they decided to make the switch to Connect 5, we gave local officials an on-site training session for the new release, and they were kind enough to share their migration experience with us on camera.
One user who spoke up was Leo Matrangula, Chief of Police for the Town of Bel Air. He told us, “I think this new Connect 5 system is going to make it easier for someone like me who is not real technical with searching maps and drawing lines and borders. It’s going to make it a lot simpler to get the message out to the people in a timely manner.”
It is a question often asked during budget season and all too often, it crops up during a conversation that involves the learning management system. I know, I’ve been there and provided an answer to one of my former provosts. But upon further reflection, did I answer his real question?
As a former head of academic computing, I sought answers to the provost’s value question in data. I tracked adoption and utilization of all services I could measure, and not just the LMS. I cross-correlated computing lab logins with LMS traffic, media classroom use with electronic reserves, bandwidth consumption with faculty digital media support volume, and so on. What the data provided was a sense of return on investment: quantifiable measures that reflected short-to-medium benefit. But in terms of value, the data didn’t get to the heart of my provost’s question.
The Australian National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC) is using the latest Blackboard Collaborate™ technology to help women in rural parts of Australia build leadership skills, network and learn better business practices. The virtual classroom environment allows the women to connect from all across the continent to engage in active learning through virtual workshops.
To learn more about this e-learning and leadership program, supported by the Australian Government, check out this story from a local Australia paper.
Recent cuts to federal travel budgets now have a considerable impact on the way federal trainers approach learning delivery within their respective agencies. As the President calls for a heavier reliance on video conferencing and web-based capabilities to replace face-to-face training courses, federal trainers must continue to foster core competency and skill set development within their workforce.Here’s our solution: 
