| September 2012 |
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Spotlight on CourseEval by ConnectEDU We’re excited to announce that our Signature partner, ConnectEDU, is releasing a new version of their CoursEval product – including an updated Building Block for the Blackboard LearnTM platform – on October 4. CoursEval 3.74 will offer a variety of improvements suggested by current customers including organizational changes, a new look and feel, and the ability to cross-list courses and access to powerful new reports. Here are some of the new features of CoursEval:
Signature Partner, Atomic Learning, offers educational institutions cost-effective solutions for on-demand technology training and support through a library of more than 65,000 software training tutorials. We are excited to announce that Atomic Learning’s technology solutions will soon be available through the Atomic Learning Building Block. The Building Block will more deeply integrate Atomic Learning’s online training videos within the Blackboard Learn™ platform. The Building Block is slated to be released in October. Features of the Building Block include: Atomic Learning module Search Mashup Grade Center Sign up at al.atomiclearning.com/buildingblock to be notified when the Building Block becomes available.
ShareStream Launches New Website ShareStream is pleased to announce that it has gone live with a new corporate website. ShareStream’s new website provides the most up-to-date source of product information for ShareStream’s Video Platform for Education.
System Administrators: The Key to Implementing New Technologies 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. Bottom line: Sys Admin Superstars are providing students at their institutions with a more convenient and digital learning experience with their course content within their Blackboard Learn course. Everyone who participated in the contest is a Blackboard Sys Admin Superstar and we welcome everyone to use the official “Superstar” badge posted here on your Facebook, LinkedIN, Pinterest, blog or any other personal channel profile. Or, print it out and tape it to your computer monitor, pin it to your bulletin board, or tape it to your office door! Either way, know that this badge is a reminder of our appreciation of you.  We’d also like to give a special thanks to participant Melissa Stange from Shenandoah University. Melissa owns several of Blackboard’s badges: BbWorld VIP Blogger, 2011 Blackboard Catalyst Award Winner, Digital Badge for participating in Blackboard CourseSites first MOOC and can now add Blackboard Sys Admin Superstar to her growing professional repertoire. Thank you, Melissa, for leading the charge! View the list of Sys Admin Superstars who are eligible to win the $100 American Express Gift card!
Internships.com Named One of the "Best Websites for Your Career" 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! The 10 Best Websites for Your Career - #7 Internships.com From the Forbes article: Click to read the full article on Forbes.com and view the rest of the list – The 10 Best Websites for Your Career, Forbes.
With an eye towards increasing faculty adoption and usage of Blackboard Learn, Blackboard is rolling out a number of faculty-focused activities this Fall. Take a look at these upcoming events and share these with faculty at your institution. The Digital Content Cohort Program is a 6 week series of virtual meetings designed to help faculty learn how to find, adopt and share content efficiently and seamlessly through Blackboard Learn. Beginning September 24th and lasting through November 5th, the program consists of weekly Monday sessions from 4pm-5pm ET via Collaborate. The course creation process can be overwhelming with many content options available to instructors today – from textbooks and the publishers’ integrated learning systems to infinite amounts of web content and resources. Blackboard is pursuing a strategy to integrate all of this content into the single and familiar course experience of Blackboard Learn. Clients now have access to publishers’ rich digital content, community-generated content and instructor-developed content in a single location. Instructors and students both can expect greater choice in teaching materials and more options for consuming instructional content. Find out how Blackboard Learn can become your power source for dynamic content and creative tools. The Digital Content Cohort is targeted towards Higher Education Educators, Instructors, Faculty, and Instructional Designers/Technologists. It will give attendees the opportunity to:
Participation is easy and flexible. Join our Blackboard Collaborate (VOIP only) live weekly sessions or watch recorded sessions at your convenience. Please note that to integrate the Publishers' content in your own courses, you must be running Learn 9.1 SP6 or higher.
For more information and to register, click here.
(CPE credits available for Accounting and Nutrition instructors.*)
VaBUG 2012 ConferenceMore than 120 attendees from over 50 institutions gathered at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA September 21st for the third annual conference of the Virginia Blackboard Users Group (VaBUG). Attendees had the opportunity to view demonstrations and presentations as well as interact directly with Blackboard leadership and the eight Blackboard Partners including WileyPlus, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Pearson, CourseSmart, Waypoint Outcomes, Atomic Learning, School Chapters, and Software Secure that exhibited at the conference. Highlights from the conference include:
 PalmettoBUG 2012 Conference On Friday, September 21, Winthrop University welcomed 30 members of the South Carolina Blackboard Users Group (“PalmettoBUG”) to Rock Hill, SC for their fall conference. The event was packed with presentations from Blackboard and our partners. Blackboard Strategic Partner WileyPLUS was represented by Julie Porterfield, a Human Anatomy and Physiology instructor from Tulsa Community College, who shared her expertise integrating WileyPLUS content into Blackboard Learn with the WileyPLUS Building Block. Attendees stayed well after the conclusion of Blackboard Premier Partner Kaltura’s presentation to ask questions and get more information about their rich media and video management solution, which is accessible directly inside of the Blackboard Learn platform. Blackboard Premier Partner Internships.com demonstrated their Building Block for Blackboard Learn, which gives students access to the largest marketplace for internships, part-time jobs, and entry level positions from directly within the Blackboard Learn environment. Attendees were also excited to learn more about Blackboard Signature Partner Respondus’ LockDown Browser, a custom browser that locks down the Blackboard Learn testing environment. And instructors got a glimpse of Blackboard Signature Partner CourseSmart’s Building Block, which gives faculty instant access to assign and deep-link to eTextbooks from their Blackboard Learn course. For more information about our partners or how to join a Blackboard User Group, please email BbPartnerTeam@blackboard.com.  EDUCAUSE. Sign Up for up-to-the-minute conference updates via voice/text message or email. Be the first to hear about the big Blackboard announcements at EDUCAUSE 2012, and get on the list for your favorite Blackboard events:
Meet with Blackboard Interested in speaking with someone from Blackboard during EDUCAUSE 2012? Schedule a meeting with your account representative or a Blackboard executive. Click here to sign up now.
CourseSmart Webinar: Free Faculty Access to Textbooks Leverage your pre-existing Blackboard Learn environment to provide free faculty access to over 30,000 core textbooks and easily deliver digital course content to students utilizing the CourseSmart platform.Need a free, non-intrusive solution for providing faculty access to over 90% of available core-textbooks? CourseSmart seamlessly integrates with the Blackboard Learn platform, providing faculty instant access to the largest library of digital course materials used in higher education today. Additionally, you can add links to course materials within your course outline to provide a seamless learning experience for your students. As the leading service provider in higher education, we extend the capabilities of the Blackboard Learn platform to provide a streamlined instructor workflow as well as superior student experience – all while providing savings of as much as 60%. What you’ll learn from this webinar series
Friday, September 28 at 9:00am PST / 12:00pm EST To view the presentation, select the following link: http://coursesmart.adobeconnect.com/fia/ Dial in for audio: 1 (877) 746-4263 Participant Code: 02 40 965# We look forward to your attendance! |
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