Welcome

Last week the IMS Global Learning Consortium announced its certification of the Basic LTI 1.1 standard, and at this week’s IMS Learning Impact conference in Toronto you’ll hear much more from the standards organization about this new standard. For those of you not familiar, LTI stands for Learning Tools Interoperability. The LTI standard allows for third-party tool providers to easily plug their applications into Blackboard Learn and other learning management systems. I’m a musician at heart, so when I explain LTI I often use Noteflight as an example. Noteflight is an online music writing application that lets you create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality, right in your web browser. Since Noteflight supports the LTI standard, a music teacher can create composition-based assignment and grade the assignment all within Blackboard Learn. That’s just one example! The LTI standard has been used by educators to integrate content from other providers into their courses creating truly rich course content. At Blackboard we’ve prided ourselves on rapid implementation of IMS standards, and Basic LTI 1.1 is no different. Blackboard’s support of IMS open standards demonstrates a continuing commitment to creating a learning management system devoted to interoperability and openness. We continue to work with the IMS Global Consortium to expand standards support in our software and lead in the establishment of other industry standards.

BbWorld 2012, Blackboard’s education technology conference, is happening this summer in New Orleans! And we called upon you to be our VIP bloggers from the event! We received over 30 blog entries as part of this contest so, before I announce the winners, I would like to call attention to some of the incredible posts we received. Every single entry was creative in its own way. Aside from blogging four separate times, Laura Orsetti from Frontier Nursing University, blogged while holding her 23-month old on her lap! JD Ferries-Rowe from Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, an Edline user, not only has a lot to say about BYOT (bring your own technology) but he’s excited for some olive sauce on his muffaletta (must be a NOLA thing). And, Kelt Dockins from University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a 2012 Golden Catalyst Award winner for Innovative Development definitely had the coolest blog layout that I’ve seen Well enough stalling… It is my great pleasure to announce the following individuals as the BbWorld 2012 VIP Bloggers!

Just last week I tuned in to HBO to watch the induction ceremony of the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012. Since I hail from Cleveland – the hometown of the Rock Hall – I always try to watch the induction ceremony as it contains a who’s who of modern music history performing numerous classics.  As I sat on my couch watching the likes of Donovan, the Beastie Boys, and Guns ‘N Roses perform their celebrated hits from the last 25 years, I couldn’t help but think ahead a couple of months to when we here at Blackboard Collaborate will induct our own Class of 2012. Now an annual tradition, the Blackboard Collaborate™ Hall of Fame for Excellence in Collaboration celebrates educators around the world who have shown exemplary innovation and creativity in their use of the Blackboard Collaborate platform.  In fact, last year we inducted six schools from across the globe into our hallowed halls. While there are no specific categories, inductees will have demonstrated excellence at a college, university, district, or school in using Blackboard Collaborate to accomplish any number of the following:

I was at a dinner party recently and the conversation turned to the ways we see teens and young adults using technology.   A friend at the table said his son and friends used their devices during the Superbowl not to text, tweet, or chat, but to record their own audio commentary of the game while recording it.  In essence, they used technology to capture their own personal experience of the game.  Of course we know as “digital natives” these tools are seamless extensions to them, but I still get surprised at how differently and inventively a device can be embraced by this generation. So what does this mean for educators?  A  LOT.

Today’s the day! Our VIP Blogger contest for BbWorld 2012, Blackboard’s education technology conference, closes tonight.  So, if you’ve been procrastinating your entry, now’s the time to act. I’ve been amazed with the level of creativity and thoughtfulness that each of these bloggers have put into their entries. I wish you could all be VIP’s! Here’s another clever submission, the first of a few, from Laura Orsetti, an Instructional Designer Frontier Nursing University. Check out her blog for more! Hmm. Well, who really doesn’t want to be a VIPBbWB?