Blackboard+9.1

[|Blackboard] is a Web-based course-management system created and designed to allow faculty and students the ability to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials, [|mashup] resources and activities to complement face-to-face teaching. Blackboard enables instructors to provide students with course materials, discussion boards, journals, blogs, wikis, live collaboration, online quizzes and assessments, learning modules, rubrics, a grade center and more.
 * [[image:BB_logo.jpg width="138" height="135" align="left" link="Blackboard 9.1"]] Description:**

Blackboard's open architecture includes Blackboard [|Building Blocks] - this allows schools to enhance the online education experience for their students and faculty. School administrators can assemble a solution of commercial and open source software and tools using Blackboard Building Blocks that best meet their needs whether it is a discipline-specific tool or seamless integration to a subscription database at the institution library. An example is the ability to combine [|Turnitin.com]within Blackboard as a resource for teachers to readily create Turnitin.com assignments. Although originally geared towards colleges and universities, many high schools are now using Blackboard in their school systems.

History:
Blackboard was created by the partnership of two companies. [|CourseInfo][|LLC], a course management system company founded by Dan Cane and Stephen Gilfus while at Cornell University, and Blackboard LLC, founded by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky. Originally the Blackboard company began as a consulting firm contracting to the non-profit Instructional Management System (IMS) Global Learning Consortium developing e-learning specifications. CourseInfo was the most popular Course Management System in use at the time. In 1998, the two companies joined to be known as Blackboard Inc. Blackboard is now being used by over 3700 educational institutions in more than 60 countries, and is currently used by nearly 400 K-12 clients in 47 states. Blackboard Inc. now reports strong momentum in customer demand for Blackboard Collaborate solutions since the acquisition of [|Elluminate] and [|Wimba] was announced in July 2010.

Blackboard now has developed four solutions to designed specifically for K-12 which is a relatively new market for Blackboard. They include:
 * 1) Blackboard Learn - is a comprehensive online solution that helps teachers deliver a personalized learning experience to impact each student's performance on a daily basis.
 * 2) Blackboard Collaborate - is able to deliver open, education-focused and live collaboration for K-12 that enhance learning by enabling more effective instruction, meetings, and help.
 * 3) Blackboard Mobile Learn -takes interactive teaching and learning to the mobile device and gives teachers, students instant access.
 * 4) Blackboard Connect - It's the most efficient way to keep your campus and community more secure, informed, involved, and prepared via voice, text, e-mail and more.

Impact on Teaching and Learning:

 * Provide extended access to materials allows the students to repeat and reflect until they are comfortable with their level of understanding.
 * Provide multiple types of resources (text, images, graphics, links, audio, video, animation, discussion, chat, file sharing) where learning is enhanced for all types of student learning styles such as visual, aural, read/write or kinesthetic.
 * Enhance communication between teacher and student, and student to student.
 * Promote constructivist and active learning to be more learner-centered.
 * Enhance collaborative teaching and learning through blogs, discussion boards, and journals.
 * Provide asynchronous and synchronous communication.
 * Promote higher expectations via peer review and feedback by using peer and self evaluations.
 * Provide prompt progress information on activities by giving students immediate feedback on assessments and graded activities.
 * Enable stronger group collaboration with the ability to work within contained groups where file sharing, emailing, chatting, or group editing will allow for further idea development.
 * Promotes and fosters life long learning by always being able to access needed information.

List of features available:

 * Adobe Connect Pro
 * Announcements
 * Blogs
 * Class Calendar
 * Collaboration
 * Discussion Board
 * Glossary
 * Journals
 * Respondus LockDown Browser
 * Rubrics
 * SafeAssign
 * Self and Peer Assessment
 * Send Email
 * Tasks
 * Tests, Surveys, and Pools
 * Turnitin Assignments
 * Turnitin Assignments by Groups
 * Wikis

Practical Applications:

 * The practical applications are wide and varied. We have seen teachers use this in areas such as homerooms to send out information to students, pass on any pertinent news regarding registration, class meeting locations, assembly seating areas, any last minute news that can't be posted in flyers which were created the day before and require two days notice. Homeroom teachers find this a more efficient way of passing news on that might be setup to communicate more directly with their students.
 * Teachers are able to give links, embed videos they create, design interactive rubrics which students can view too, and create online assessments for formative and summative assessments. Students are then able to view these items and get feedback immediately.
 * A few teachers use the discussion board feature in a few different ways. One, they can post the students writings or teacher's prompts ahead of time, get peer feedback then have much more robust in class discussion because most students were not afraid to express themselves by writing their responses online. Another teacher uses discussion board to evaluate student projects online by allowing for peer and teacher feedback.
 * Teachers find this as a one stop shop where they can create, collaborate, communicate, and evaluate most of the items they upload to Blackboard. Blackboard also has the feature of content management where teachers can upload their documents onto the site, and be anywhere and on any device to link or create an assignment, post a blog, etc.

Demonstration of Blackboard in a Class setting:
//Please click on the link below to view the video//

[|Blackboard in action]

References:
Blackboard Platforms: [] Wikipedia: [] Gilfus Education Group: [] Behind Blackboard: [] Introduction to Journals, Blogs, and Wikis: [|http://www.screencast.com]

[|Edutools and LMS]
[|Impact on Teaching]

**External Links:**
Blackboard Official Site: [] Bb World Conferences site: [|http://www.blackboard.com/BbWorld/2011/] Blackboard Resources: [|http://kb.blackboard.com/Resource Center]