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This week Blackboard interviewed Melissa Stange, a BbWorld 2012 VIP blogger. To say that Melissa wears a few hats would be an understatement. In her day job, Melissa is the Title System Administrator at Shenandoah University where she runs all Blackboard products. In addition, she is working on her PhD in Information Systems Management from Walden University and teaches at Lord Fairfax Community College in the evenings. Melissa told us she saw the blog contest as an opportunity to challenge herself and take on blogging. She tells her students to blog, and now she knows more about the process. Her blog covers information on BbWorld in addition to must-know cultural knowledge about NOLA. You wouldn’t want to travel down south and forget to eat the official doughnut of Louisiana, would you? Or not know how to pronounce it for that matter (Beignet= Ben YAY). Check out the specifics from the interview below: Bb: How long have you worked at Shenandoah University? MS: I have been at SU since May 2009, but I have been teaching on Blackboard since 2004. Bb: Have you been to BbWorld before? How would you describe your experience?

For most, summertime means sunny days and warmer weather. But for those living in areas near the Gulf Coast and the East Coast, the summer season can bring unpredictable tropical storms and hurricane formations. At Blackboard Connect, we have worked with numerous clients over the years to help local and community leaders effectively communicate with their residents before, during and after a storm. Putting our knowledge and experience to good use, we have produced the Hurricane Playbook, an informative resource to help local officials prepare for the hurricane season. Download it here. Hurricane season officially begins today, June 1^st,and with experts predicting an active season, it is critical to begin preparing response and recovery efforts. Join our upcoming webinar to learn more about planning hurricane communications from the City of La Porte’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Jeff Suggs.  As La Porte’s EMC, Jeff weathered Hurricane Katrina and a direct hit from Ike and recently shared his hurricane communications expertise at the National Hurricane Conference this past March.  This webinar will help you avoid common mistakes and teach us all about the importance of coordinating with other local communities before a hurricane strikes. In the meantime, here are a few steps local leaders can take to help ensure they are appropriately prepared:

These days it’s almost impossible to have a conversation about education without hearing the rallying call for the adoption of new technology in the classroom – and with good reason! Technology and social media have changed traditional consumption patterns for today’s students, and consequently the priorities of educators may need to change accordingly. Here are some statistics that may surprise you:

• Forty-six percent of drivers aged 18 to 24 said they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to the research firm Gartner. Getting the keys to your first car used to be the ultimate rite of passage (I know it was for me a more than a decade ago), but today’s learners are more interested in having easy access to the information highway than the interstate. Recognizing this shift drives home the need to create dynamic learning spaces that seamlessly integrate online and offline components.

Do you remember that one subject in school that you could never quite understand? For me, it was chemistry. What is stoichiometry anyway? The class was moving too fast and the textbook was dry and confusing. Now, thanks to Salman Khan, there is a remedy for all the misunderstanding.

When the Federal Government created new educational regulations stating universities must better prepare students for gainful employment, Troy University saw it as a chance to fine-tune its own efforts. With unemployment at record high levels, Troy decided to make internship placement more readily available to all of its students in an effort to help them gain employment after graduation.

Troy already had career centers at each of its four campuses, but an increasing number of students were taking classes online from remote locations without access to the on-campus centers. With roughly half of the student body online, Troy University needed a new solution to help the students find internships prior to graduation. “There was definitely a need for internship placement for the online students,” said Ronnie Creel, director of Education Technology at Troy.