Professional Education

A recent video produced by the United States Army features soldiers taking Arabic lessons on smart phones, fixing a truck with information on a tablet PC, and engaging in peer-to-peer learning via video conference.  These aren’t dreams of a distant future for military learning: the Army plans to integrate these new technologies into its educational regimen in just a few short years. The US Army’s Learning Concept for 2015, the official plan for these new innovations, details the Army’s need to leverage new technologies in its training and continuous learning plans.

There are many reasons why the Army believes mobile and digital learning technologies will be vital in the future, including:

This October 24 through 26, join senior-level Government and Military officials, industry partners, and academic communities in the 4th Annual Social Media for Defense Summit. The event – put on by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) – will be held in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. With an agenda chock full of influential speakers and educational information, attendees are sure to learn just how the world of government and military can benefit from social and collaborative technologies, while still addressing privacy and security concerns. Click here to download the PDF brochure for program details.

This excerpt from the event website explains why the Summit is so important for the DoD community: “With the introduction and adaptation of social media as a vital tool of communication in the Department of Defense, there is a constant struggle to maintain Operational Security and manage and mitigate the risks that come with it. Social media has been widely used in the military and government departments for recruitment purposes, counter media, psychological and special operations and warfare, information gathering and counter intelligence. The military, especially, has adapted an industrial approach to deal with social media, but with more resources and more needs, the military has learned to proactively leverage this new “environment” to achieve organizational goals.” Click here to register for the 4th Annual Social Media for Defense Summit!

Recently, the ProEd division of Blackboard caught up with Gary Woodill, CEO and Senior Analyst at Ontario’s i5 Research and author of The Mobile Learning Edge.  With expertise in both technology forecasting and e-learning developments, Woodill shared his insights as to what’s next in social and mobile learning.

Look Under the Radar to See What’s Next Woodill explained that because technology can take time to develop and catch on, looking at prototypes and start-ups is a good way to see what is on the horizon.  “Any technology that we’ll see five years from now is already in development,” he said, adding that most people have not heard of those early-stage products yet.  However, once more people start adopting these technologies, they will reach a “tipping point” and be proliferated throughout the market. So, what corporate learning trends are near this ever-important tipping point?  According to Woodill, social and mobile learning technologies will be the next developments to change the way education occurs in the workplace.  “We are still very early in terms of mobile and social.  We’re just at the tipping point for mobile.”

Education is Going Mobile Woodill emphasized that “mobility is a radical shift,” since professional education often takes place in a static classroom setting.  Though younger employees are increasingly demanding new training technologies that move away from classroom models, “they’re coming into a workplace culture that already exists and has a structure.”  While this established culture is often resistant to change, Woodill concluded that there are progressive CEOs and managers who already understand the benefits of adopting more mobile technologies in their companies’ training protocols.

Couldn’t get enough of our summer tour?  Well then you’ll be excited to learn that those of us who work on the career college team here at Blackboard are ready to continue growing our expertise and meeting others in the field by attending career college conferences throughout this fall.  Attending these conferences allows us to stay on the cutting edge of the career college sector and to share our passion for online learning and collaboration with others who understand the important role that career colleges play in the professional and higher education worlds. Will you be joining us at…?

California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) Annual Conference October 12-14 San Diego, CA Visit us at Booth #3 The California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) is the only California State Association representing the many diverse kinds of Private Postsecondary Schools in California.  This year’s CAPPS conference will focus on the compliance, legislative, and regulatory issues that impact the career college sector.

 

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference October 18-21 Philadelphia, PA Visit us at Booth #427 or join us at our corporate session Blackboard is proud to be a Platinum Partner of EDUCAUSE – a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. Whether your focus is on administration, teaching and learning, information technology infrastructure, information systems, cybersecurity, policy, library systems or information technology leadership, there’s something at the annual conference for you.

More than 70 people joined our recent webinar to hear from Colonel Jeff Waechter, the Director of the Joint Continuing Distance Education School at National Defense University, on how he is using blended learning to further military education. One of several schools to participate in Blackboard’s Military programming for distance learning, Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) has designed a 40-week blended course for its students, who also serve in the military Reserves.