July 2012

Open Up More Possibilities with the NEW Kaltura Video Building Block

Today’s digital natives – those who have had access to computers, cell phones, email, and other forms of technology since birth – expect their professors to integrate media into the curriculum to augment learning in the classroom. 

Kaltura, a market-leading open source online video platform and a Blackboard Premier Partner, helps universities deliver on this expectation by allowing faculty to easily create, edit and upload videos with a click of a button. Once the videos are uploaded to the platform, students can view the videos from any device in any location.

This July, Kaltura is introducing a new version of their popular Kaltura Video Building Block, complete with new features including:
  • Seamless authoring, uploading, recording, searching and streaming of campus media content, including lecture capture
  • Optimal playback experience on desktop and mobile devices (including iPhone, iPad and Andriod)
  • Rich media ingestion, transcoding, editing, content and metadata management, and analytics
  • Advanced user access control and right management featuresIT4BC
  • Easy-to-use tools such as:
NEW! Mashup Tool Integration – Allows users to use/share more videos anywhere within Blackboard by embedding videos in the WYSIWYG editor, with a one-click access to videos in My Gallery and in the Faculty Repository. This simple flow enables additional functionality such as video assignments, video in forum posts and more.

NEW! Faculty Repository – Allows faculty members to easily share content with each other by making their media public in the searchable Faculty Repository. The repository also allows faculty to use library/curriculum media content for their courses.

My Media Tool – Provides each user with a personal media library where they can upload, edit and manage content, as well as share content with fellow course members.

Course Gallery – Allows members to search and view rich media assigned to a course. Administrators and faculty can also define content permissions to control viewing, uploading and sharing privileges.

Please visit www.blackboard.com/Kaltura on July 9th to download the new Video Building Block.

Need more convincing? 
Indiana University/Purdue University adopted the Kaltura solution to help streamline the university’s media needs.  Samanatha Birk, associate director for Instructional Technologies is an advocate of Kaltura’s solution, “Kaltura’s flexible and easy-to-use platform integrates well with Blackboard, allowing faculty to embed videos with specific lesson plans,” said Birk. “This solution provides a more rounded learning experience for our students.” 

Read the full case study.

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Things We Learned from the Transition to Online Course Evaluations at the University of Louisville


Wednesday, August 15th - 2pm ET

In fall 2010, a major metropolitan research institution transitioned our entire university from a paper/pencil administration of course evaluations to an online administration. The issues addressed in this presentation include, (a) successes of the transition; (b) data quality issues encountered during the transition; (c) the business practice of administrating online course evaluations using eXplorance's Blue/Evaluation software leveraging the Blackboard Learn platform; and (d) our continuing efforts to improve response rates. Issues addressed in this presentation are relevant to institutions who have either already made the transition to online course evaluation administration or are considering a transition in the future.

Join us for an eXplorance, University of Louisville, and Blackboard Webinar. 

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Announcing the Job & Career Accelerator Building Block for Blackboard Learn


Thursday, August 23rrd - 2pm ET

Join LearningExpress for an overview on how to fast-track your students’ careers! Colleges can now enhance their Blackboard Learn environment with LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator™ and give their students easy access to an award-winning, powerful career exploration and job search tool.

During this webinar, we will demonstrate the exciting functionality of the Job & Career Accelerator, which integrates everything students need to conduct a successful job search and achieve professional success beyond the classroom. Interactive wizards guide students through each step of the process, from researching occupations that match their interests, to finding available jobs, preparing resumes, completing job applications, and organizing a successful job search.

Learn more at http://learningexpressllc.com/.

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ExamSoft: Using Real-time Performance Data to Help Students at Different Levels of Academic Performance


Wednesday, July 25th – 2pm ET

How do you make a material difference in student learning outcomes? Providing students with specific performance data is an invaluable tool to help them reach their academic goals. Join Eric Ermie, Program Manager for Assessment and Evaluation at Ohio State School of Medicine, and ExamSoft, a leader in computer-based testing, to see how personalized reports provide a clear picture of performance while removing the guesswork from self-directed learning efforts.
 
During this webinar, we will introduce the new ExamSoft Building Block, ExamSoft Connect. ExamSoft Connect synchronizes courses, student records, add/drop information, and grades seamlessly into the Blackboard Learn™ platform to create unified user experience for faculty and students.
 
Learn more at http://www.examsoft.com/.

New WileyPLUS Building Block Available Now!

We are pleased to announce the availability of the WileyPLUS Building Block, built by Blackboard, for the Blackboard Learn™ 9.1 platform, Service Pack 5 and above. Faculty and instructors can now access WileyPLUS materials directly within Blackboard Learn, making it easier than ever for faculty to create a rich learning environment for their students.  Tested by instructors and students, this best-in-class integration is designed to meet varying levels of digital usage.


With Blackboard and WileyPLUS, faculty and students can enjoy a unified learning experience by integrating all course materials into their Blackboard Learn environment.
  • Single sign-on provides faculty and students with direct access to all WileyPLUS content with the convenience of one login.
  • Direct links to WileyPLUS readings and assignments give faculty greater control over how they deliver information and allow students to conveniently access their course work.
  • Gradebook synchronization ensures all grades appear in the Blackboard Grade Center, saving instructors time and increasing student accountability.
  • Student data privacy compliance means student data is always protected and secure.
Part of a larger Blackboard effort to make it easier for clients to get the most out of digital content and tools within the learning platform, this integration is another example of how Blackboard Learn 9.1 enables an improved teaching and learning experience through open architecture and standards-compliant software.

We encourage you to install the free building block before the fall semester begins so your faculty and students will be ready to take full advantage of the integrated solution.

For more information on the building block, visit blackboard.com/wiley.


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Choice Made Simple: Streamlining Access to Digital Content

There’s no doubt that the growth of digital learning content is accelerating. Multiple resources indicate that a higher ed world of blended and online learning is rapidly approaching; some resources even cite the “flip to digital” occurring in the next 5 years. Textbooks aren’t going away any time soon but their use in the classroom is declining steadily. And, expectations are that instructors will graduate from eTexts to the more sophisticated integrated learning systems being developed by publishers.

What does this mean for you?
Blackboard can be a channel for all this content and tools, helping faculty make sense of the numerous digital content options available to them. Blackboard offers a broad choice of content to choose from right within the Blackboard Learn course. 

Blackboard and Cengage Learning have partnered to streamline access to digital solutions and content within the Blackboard Learn™ platform. Instructors and students can now access Cengage Learning digital products, including CourseMate and MindTap™, directly within the Blackboard Learn platform.

Read more about how creating dynamic courses just got easier and how you can get started.

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The New Course Ecosystem

As we write about in the blog, “Choice Made Simple: Streamlining Access to Digital Content” there’s no doubt that the growth of digital learning content is accelerating. The benefits of this technology revolution to educators are massive – including access to infinite content sources from around the world, ability to build and manage courses quickly and efficiently, powerful learning tools that engage students and improve student outcomes. However, the options can also be daunting.

Introducing Blackboard Digital Content™

Blackboard can be a channel for all this content and tools, helping faculty make sense of the numerous digital content options available to them. Now faculty can quickly and easily integrate rich digital content – all from directly within the Blackboard Learn platform:

  • Access to infinite content sources from around the world
  • Ability to build and manage courses quickly and efficiently
  • Powerful learning tools that engage students more
  • Opportunity to improve student outcomes by addressing varied learning modalities
  • Ability to easily exchange ideas and content with peers

Blackboard Digital Content includes:

  • Publisher-Generated Content: Faculty can pick and choose rich digital content from a wide variety of publisher sources, including Cengage Learning, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Wiley. All seamlessly integrated into the Blackboard Learn platform.

  • Community-Generated Content: Faculty can leverage the contributions of peers and share their own content, exchange innovative ideas and content, and easily find and integrate community-generated content into courses with just a few clicks.

  • Instructor-Generated Content: Faculty can leverage the Blackboard Learn platform to create their own content – including podcasts, videos and webinars. Easily pull in resources from YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare and more – and share their customized course with peers regardless of their LMS.

Give Your Instructors the Power to Succeed

Blackboard Learn has a wide range of integrations that incorporate the company’s industry-leading approach with digital content from Learning Management Systems, including our newest partner integrations from Learning.com and Pearson. These integrations enable instructors to easily find, adopt and share all types of content within their customized courses.

Empower your instructors with more choice in a single download. Install the free publisher and Learning.com Building Blocks today, and enable your instructors to easily integrate rich digital content directly into their courses—all from within the Blackboard Learn platform.

Find out more at Blackboard.com/DigitalContent.

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Internships.com: Upgrade to the Newest Version

Is your Internships.com Building Block up-to-date? As an education technology company, we’re only as good as our products and tools – that’s why we’re constantly striving to improve. Download the latest version of the Building Block and make sure you’ve upgraded to take advantage of the latest functionality and resources from Internships.com within the Blackboard Learn platform.

Want to learn more?

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Join the conversation @BbPartnerTeam and don’t forget to use #BbPartners when tweeting about Blackboar Partners.

Upcoming Webinar: Things We Learned from the Transition to Online Course Evaluations at the University of Louisville