by Andrea Meier
Earlier this year, a handful of leader’s from higher ed institutions met at a symposium for a day-long session to chat about key topics and issues facing their institutions. One of the topics of the day was on Social Learning – what it is and what it isn’t, and no, it’s not new. What dawned on us after the conversations is that the term means a lot of different things to different people.
So, drawing upon the key takeaways, subsequent discussions and research of our own, we’ve compiled some myths (and truths) to help you better understand what is often misunderstood about social learning.
While the list could go on, we landed on four myths of social learning. First we are going to address them and then we’re going to debunk them.
Over the next few weeks we’ll present a breakdown of these myths and take a deeper dive into what they mean for active learners and instructors..
- Myth 1: Social Learning Is New
- Myth 2: Social Learning Is the Same as Social Media
- Myth 3: Social Learning Is Just for Fun
- Myth 4: Social Learning Is a Fad
Want to be the first to know when our paper is ready? Tweet us @Blackboard with the hashtag #4myths and we’ll send you a copy before it’s available to others!
by Jenn
Last month, we launched a special contest just for Blackboard Learn System Administrators. At Blackboard, we recognize these IT Professionals as the key to opening doors to new technologies at their institution. The contest distinguished its participants by recognizing the individuals in this extraordinary group as Blackboard Sys Admin Superstars because they took time out of their very busy schedule – during the back-to-school time frame – to install the latest and greatest Blackboard Building Blocks from our Publisher Partners. Because these Superstars participated in our contest, the Faculty at their institutions can now integrate dynamic digital content in to their Blackboard Learn courses for this fall. And this isn’t just any kind of dynamic digital content. It’s the content that is used by over 75% of students.
by Katie Drossos
Forbes recently asked readers to nominate their favorite and most useful career websites and received submissions for 700 different websites. The final list was just released, and we are very excited to learn that Blackboard Premier Partner Internships.com has been selected for their list of The 10 Best Websites for Your Career!
by Sheryn Anthes
Today we announce the launch of a new MOOC powered by the CourseSites Open Course Series, Designing an Exemplary Course.
If you’re not familiar with the term MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), read on to learn how the latest (free) trend in Professional Development can impact your classroom instantly.
The newest addition to the CourseSites Open Course Series centers around the Exemplary Course Program (ECP) Rubric, which is a useful guide created by distinguished educators and instructional designers that will empower you to improve your online teaching experience. Whether you are just getting started or are an advanced online educator, this course will provide you with a framework to help identify and disseminate best practices for designing engaging online courses. But you will not be alone in your journey!
by Jenn
At ISTE this past June, I had the opportunity to meet Cybrary Man. Cybrary Man (a portmanteau of Cyber and Library) is Jerry Blumengarten, a former New York state-based educator who spent years compiling educational resources from around the web and then sorted them by subject area and audience type on his blog.
He has a cult-like following in the K-12 community and it’s easy to understand why – he offers an endless number of instructive content and resources for teachers, browsing sites made by academics, educators, and students. Despite its 1.0 look, it’s really one of the best resources I’ve come across in a long time.
If you’re not familiar…
What I love about the Cybrary Man site is its simplicity and its expansiveness. The site is broken down into sections by audience – Parents, Students, Educators and General Interest. One of my favorite topics is on the Flipped Classroom. The premise of making lectures the homework and using class time for more interactive learning is one we discuss frequently on the Blackboard blog, as well. Cybrary Man has compiled an extensive list of resources on the topic from articles, to podcasts, to people to follow on Twitter.
Cybrary Man is a resource that’s both fun to explore and educational. See for yourself!
