Products & Services

For the third year in a row, Blackboard Connect has been selected by the readers of District Administration magazine as one of its Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products for 2011. The list is decided by DA readers, made up of school superintendents and district-level leaders, by nominating exceptional education products worthy of recognition and widespread adoption by their academic and administrative peers. While we are appreciative of every award bestowed upon us, we are especially grateful to be receiving this honor as it stands as a testament to our clients’ satisfaction with our service year after year. This award serves as the cherry on top of what has been an especially sweet year for the Blackboard Connect team. In this past year, we launched Blackboard Connect 5, we sent a record-breaking 19.2 million messages in one day,  we helped our clients communicate during hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and freak snow storms, all the while maintaining our ability to help administrators and educators improve student success through routine messaging and regular community outreach. We would like to take this opportunity to thank not just those that submitted nominations, but all of our clients for their continued support and partnership. The satisfaction of our clients serves as constant motivation, as we strive to continually deliver innovative and reliable product and enhancements.  To learn more about our commitment to superior service, watch our online video.

Blackboard Mobile has successfully entered the German higher education market with the launch of RUB Mobile, a Blackboard app developed specifically for Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). With approximately 34,000 students total, RUB is not only one of Germany’s largest universities, but also one of Germany’s strongest research universities that have made it to the final round of Germany’s Excellence Initiative in 2007 and 2011. The RUB Mobile app will officially be launched during the RUB Mobile Day taking place on campus on 22 November 2011, an event organized by RUB intended to introduce the RUB Mobile app to students and staff. RUB came up with a number of promotional activities for the launch. The RUB app will be promoted by means of promotional teams awaiting students and staff at the main entrances of subway and bus stations leading to the campus, easily recognizable by their red RUB Mobile t-shirts with the QR-code for the official RUB Mobile website printed on them. Posters, table tents, postcards, press releases and radio interviews, tweets, Blackboard giveaways and a Facebook fanpage are a part of the promotional activities. In addition, Blackboard and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum are jointly organizing a contest among RUB students and staff in which contestants are challenged to unleash their creativity. It is an ideas competition in which contestants have to demonstrate how RUB Mobile supports teaching and learning, anytime anywhere. Contest submissions will be in the form of a video/animation, design/illustration, or photo. The judges, consisting of both Blackboard and RUB representatives, will award the top three submissions with great prizes.

This week at The University of Edinburgh, educators and community leaders from all over Britain converged on the Teviot Debating Hall for the ninth instalment of Let’s talk about txt. The twice-annual event is a forum for representatives of universities, local councils and other institutions to highlight and share the latest knowledge and best practices for utilising SMS in community engagement, teaching and learning. Keynoter Brian Hipkin, Dean of Students at Regents College, gave an eye-opening talk that emphasized how texting has come to serve as the underlying fabric of social connection. With txttools, a service of Blackboard Connect, Hipkin has put together impressive programmes that attract, engage and retain students at several higher education institutions. Perhaps most impressively, in his entire 45 minute presentation, Hipkin used only 176 characters – demonstrating how much one can accomplish, even under the severe constraints that SMS imposes.

On October 4, 2011 the following tweet from Mariette DiChristina (@mdichristina), Editor in Chief of Scientific American, appeared on my Twitter timeline.  The message was simple: After reading the short article Calling All Scientists, I was inspired.  Scientific American magazine is calling all scientists who are willing to volunteer to advise on curricula, answer a classroom’s questions, or visit a school in their geographic area.  Also, Nobel laureates at the Lindau, Germany meetings are extending a special invitation to its scientist attendees to be a part of 1,000 Scientists in 1,000 Days initiative to get scientists involved with schools.   This comes at a wonderfully appropriate time.

Originally published on the Mobile Garage Blog. The Northern Arizona University app just made its debut in the Apple App Store and Android Market. The app features a movable classroom via Blackboard Learn for students and faculty to access course information. It keeps users connected with the latest news from Inside NAU, Alumni Relations and NAU Athletics. It offers YouTube videos and campus photos, a university directory and a calendar of upcoming eve  nts. It also features an interactive map of the Flagstaff campus and real-time tracking of Mountain Link and on-campus bus services. Admissions and Dining modules will be added in the next few weeks and regular updates will continue to enhance the app’s features. Congrats to the team at NAU, and make sure to check out their fabulous, spirited commercial, highlighting just a few of the NAU Mobile app’s many features and benefits.