Welcome

For the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of supporting the Blackboard User Group (or BUG) program and assisting a number of User Group Leaders to launch or support their groups. So I can confidently say that if you’re not an active member of a Blackboard User Group – unlike the more than 1600 of your peers that are – you’re missing out on a great opportunity to positively impact teaching and learning at your institution. So, what’s so special about Blackboard User Groups? They’re client-run groups that give you- its members- the opportunity to network, stay up to date on the latest trends and information, collectively give feedback to Blackboard management, engage with subject matter experts and share best practices with a community of peers. More importantly, it’s this new community of peers – dare I even say friends – that are leveraging technologies as you and have faced similar challenges or decisions, peers that you can now turn to for advice and ideas to help you successfully advance your institution’s e-learning programs.

Digital learning content is a hot topic – both across the education landscape and especially here at Blackboard. With the growing importance of online learning, course designers and instructors are constantly evolving the elements they incorporate into their digital curriculum. Every educator has their own style, their own methods, and their own set of students with unique needs. And with so many options out there, deciding what content to choose can be overwhelming. For more than six years SoftChalk, a leading provider of content authoring software for educators in K-12, higher ed and medical programs, has partnered with Blackboard to offer a tool for publishing user-generated lessons to Blackboard Learn. It’s been a fabulous run, and 2012 has been no exception. Recently SoftChalk and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) were chosen as a bronze Learning Impact Award winner by the IMS Global Learning Consortium for the revolutionary Learn on Demand program offered through KCTCS Online. SoftChalk also announced the winners of its 2012 Lesson Challenge – with winning lessons submitted by instructors covering a wide range of subjects, including Spelling, Integers & Real Numbers, First Aid, Nonverbal Messages, and Public Health. But what’s most exciting about SoftChalk this year is their announcement yesterday that their product is officially available in the Cloud. That means SoftChalk users can create original, media-rich, engaging lessons that can be published anywhere, anytime – with or without an LMS. SoftChalk content is reusable, sharable and completely customizable. And what do customers claim is the best part about SoftChalk? It’s easy to learn and convenient to use! So if you’ve ever asked: How do I create personalized content that addresses the diverse learning needs of students? How can I reliably track detailed student score results for my learning content? How can I create content for mobile learners quickly and easily? SoftChalk could be your answer. Join the Blackboard Partnerships team for a free webinar on June 20 and see why.

Social Learning has been taking place forever – in college dorms, high school hallways, university quads, and so on.  But how can institutions foster Social Learning online, where today’s students spend so much of their time, in order to increase student engagement and ultimately retention and graduation rates?  I’m really looking forward to hearing some different perspectives on this question at BbWorld this year!  Social Learning is one of the BbWorld 2012 themes, so there are a variety of sessions dedicated to this topic.  But how will you decide which to attend?  To help you out (and since Social Learning is of particular interest to me), I thought I’d pull together a list of the five Social Learning sessions at BbWorld you shouldn’t miss.

• Harnessing the Power of Social Media – Eric Sheninger is the Principal of New Milford High School in Bergen County, New Jersey and is passionate about establishing and fostering learning environments that are student-centered, collaborative, flexible, and prepare all learners to succeed in the 21st Century.  Eric has emerged as an innovative leader in the use of social media and web 2.0 technology and will speak about how to harness the power of social media to engage students, improve communications with stakeholders, and help educators grow professionally.
• Transform Online Student Engagement: See the Future with “KnowU – Where Social Meets Learning” - Harrison College will discuss the new online social learning platform they developed – KnowU – that integrates with their Blackboard ANGEL LMS and blends traditional online learning tools with a virtual college support system and a social media hub.  They will share their vision and motivating factors driving the project, findings from their first pilot groups, and a demo of KnowU.

Edline has been a part of the Blackboard K-12 family since October, and we’re thrilled to finally have our very own OFFICIAL Blackboard name—Blackboard Engage™! With a new name for our organization comes a new opportunity to grow with Blackboard AND with your school’s evolving needs.