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    • What did you learn at BbWorld '09?
      thread posted Jul 17 by Sahar Javadi
      761 Views, 13 Comments
      Title:
      What did you learn at BbWorld '09?
      Content:

      Now that BbWorld '09 has come to a close, its time to reflect!
      What were the top 3 things you learned from the conference?
      What are you going to try to incorporate into your own school or institution?

    Comments

      1. Drexel University can maintain its traditional "close follower" role. Blackboard Learn v10 is likely the version, a few years away, that we will have to wait for - in order to have near parity with what we all enjoy using in Bb Vista 8.0.2 here at Drexel.
      2. When it comes to Outcomes - separate the need to "do assessment because it is the right thing to do" from the need to "do assessment because you have accreditation timelines looming in your not-too-distant future."
      3. Vista SWAT, the BIE, the Behind-the-Blackboard folks, and our other sub-groups are all what Seth Godin characterizes as "tribes." Some notes from his keynote address that I believed were particularly salient, follow.
        • "Compliance doesn't work to create value."
        • "Compliant work goes to the lowest bidder."
        • "The giant shift ....."
        • "How do I create a tribe of people who want to create change?"
        • "KIVA - Loans that change lives." (http://www.kiva.org)
        • "Movements don't start with everyone - movements start with the committed."
        • "Positive deviants -
          • find the other ones
            • give tham a platform."
        • "Every successful tribe has been led by a heretic."
        • "Charisma does not create leadership, rather, leadership gets one charisma."
        • "It's not an opportunity - it's an obligation."
        • "Focal points to consider:
          • Challenge
          • Culture
          • Curiosity
          • Charisma
          • Communicate
          • Connect
          • Commit
          • Create Meaning
          • Make a Difference
          • Matter."

    • 1. A better picture of the road map for NG.  Granted as a Vista user, we may have to wait for 9.2 or beyond to really have all the features we are used to having in Vista, but there is hope on the horizon.  Meanwhile, there are great features already in Bb Learn 9 like Communities, that may entice us to bring up Bb 9 sooner in co-production mode, which would allow us to include our Moodle LMS systems on campus in a common login.

      2. Being able to meet with the lots of Bb staff.  It was a chance to converse with upper level management personnel.  Being able to express concerns and gratitude within the many levels of management was great.  Everyone seemed to want to listen.

      3. Meeting in person other attendees traveling on the same trail we are.  Able to trade ideas, get answers and give answers through hallway conversations was valuable.

    • The best learning for me occurs through interaction with those attending BbWorld '09. The three things I like most about attending the BbWorld conference:

      1. Being able to meet up with long-time friends from around the world (literally) and making new acquaintances by discussing challenges and swapping war stories.

      2. Being able to share our institution's experiences and victories with others through presentations (Upgrading to Blackboard 9.0, status of Project Astro) and talking to attendees during that precious time after the presentation is over.  Talking to other clients through the Ask Dr. C program.  It's for Blackboard Classic too!  I heard some clients who didn't know this yet (tended to be long-time Blackboard Classic clients).

      3. Seeing old Bb collegues and meeting new Bb staff who asked for opinons and feedback as opposed just explaining what is coming. Being able to say "great work!" in person (when warranted) and listening to their passion for the product that they produce and support.  In particular, those in Product Development, Technical Support and Client Engagement.

    • 1. Meeting new people, and hearing about the different projects they have coming up. Meeting with colleagues at different colleges, BB staff, vendors, etc. It is great to see people excited about what they do! I also hope sharing some of my ideas left the same impression on others.

      2. Seeing embeded Google calendars in a community environment. This completely changes a project I've started on really, has me starting over on an etirely new way of thinking out the project.

      3. The NBC video integration. I'm looking forward to the official release and to see pricing.

      1. BRING MY BUSINESS CARDS and get a smarter phone.
        There has to be an app that will let me take a picture of the person i am talking to (w permission - let's not get creepy) EASILY note some major points of our talk and allow a follow up. There were a number of good interactions, too many for me to keep track of effectivly (not sure if this is a best or worst thing I learned)
      2. Sometimes it pays to speak truth to power.
        BB does listen, but can't respond easily or consistently. There is a LOT of top down and fiefdoms in a company that must be flexible and open to support the new wave of education that is here/comming. There are a LOT of brilliant and motivated people inside of BB and anything that users can do to help free them up to speak withing their company would make a huge impact on everyone.
        I hope that with the new embrace of openess at the corporate level, BB will also open access between their employees. (an example of this in real life is outlined in www.cluetrain.com - while market focused the basic ideas and lessons point to how openess and external review can be a longer term benefit) 
      3. It is great to be both an expert and a total n00b all within the span of 1.3 minutes!
        I was answering questions and offering suggestions about things like content management one minute and in the course of the conversation I learned about a new use for grade center. Attendees were like brother Theo's monks - they were there to teach and listen and not to convert or form a tribe. (see         http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Theo_Ankises )
      4. Malcom Murray is not really what one would call a "cat person".


    • Things I learnt:

      1. That our aims for the next year are sound and achievable, as demonstrated by Hugh and Helen (albeit we're aiming for a slightly larger scale implementation)
      2. That there are plenty of possibilities for incorporating other cool stuff without having to build the blocks for it, courtesy of Akilah's poster.
      3. That voki.com (Lisa Frazier's pres) might be really useful in problem-based learning scenarios.
      4. That if working wifi (and thoughtfully provided extra sockets) is plentiful, then a backchannel is a great addition to the conference.
      5. That Deb Everhart and I are academic soulmates from c.1994 ;-)

      Things I already knew:

      1. That the most important bits of the conference are often the missed sessions, dinner conversations and coffee chats.
      2. That I have made real friends over the last ten years. Who I will be sorry to leave when I (hopefully) change jobs next year but I hope I will never lose.
      3. That you never want to be scheduled against Team Astro, I'd rather have heard them than me too :)
      4. That for whatever I said about quality of a good half of our sites, they're still well placed in relation to other institutions.
      5. That there are some exciting things Bb could be doing with Second Life and I'd like to be able to contribute.
      6. It's touch and go whether I hate security at US airports or Heathrow most.
      7. That I have a very talented team to work with of whom I am very proud. 
      8. Life is always better with a supply of decent vanilla lattes and blueberry pancakes.

      I'll be blogging at http://eat.scm.tees.ac.uk/blog/tag/bbworld09/ and http://katielou.blog-city.com later this week.

    • I truly enjoyed BBWorld 09 as it was my first BB conference since 07.

      Top 3 things for me about the conference:

      1. Seeing old friends, colleagues, and of course, my fellow Dr. C's that I may not have seen for years.  It was great to see each other, catch up, and share stories about our lives and of course, teaching and learning with Blackboard products!
      2. Standing out in a crowd and getting noticed.  It was neat to see people pick us out of the crowd while we were wearing our Dr. C shirts and hear their comments such as, "are you a real Dr. C?", or "I truly love the answers you give online!"  It was great to hear the compliments and share in the answers people had with their in-person questions.
      3. The announcement of Mobile-EDU.  What a great product!
      1. I learned that I really enjoyed the opening keynote speaker Seth Godin and his presentation on Tribes. I'm going to try and incorporate some of the things he talked about in the coming year to drive change at Blackboard and in my neighborhood.
      2. I learned that there are a lot of exciting plans and discussions happening within the Blackboard Users Groups. The collaboration (and sometimes commiseration), friendships and fun that these groups have is inspiring.  I'm looking forward to attending many of the user group meetings that will be happening in the coming months.
      3. I learned that posting to Blackboard Connections, using twitter, blogging, updating facebook and posting to flickr are great ways to keep folks at home connected to the conference. AND they're great ways for conference attendees to see what is going on with fellow attendees and re-live the experience later.  The tally for #BbWorld09 was 3,195+ tweets, 267 contributors, averaging 456.4 tweets per day, plus 350+ photos posted to flickr.com and dozens of videos captured by client reporters. Thank you!

      I'm already looking forward to #BbWorld10.

      Jan

    • Sahar, perhaps the most important thing I learned at BlackBoard World is the potential in delivering content to PDAs.  This is the area that many student are asking about on a regular basis so I was excited to see what the Terribly Clever folks had to say!  I also appreciated your time at Connections in helping me to see the capabilities offered!

       

      Cheers,
      JC

    • My big takeaways were:

      • I am very excited about the MobleEdu product.  I can see this maybe becoming the new killer app on campus in a few years, expecially once it is connected to the Bb LMS.
      • Hearing more about Learn 9 and the product roadmap for us CE/Vista customers.
      • It is always great to re-connect with old friends and meeting new ones.
      • I also have to agree with Brian Morgan's comments about the recognition we got as Dr C's.  It was pretty hard to miss us this year with our bright yellow bowling shirts.
      • Ray is a pretty nice guy!

      Harold

    • Hello,

      I'm sure this is not the right place for me to post this question, but I couldn't find the right place for it anyway.

      I'm checking out the BbWorld'09 presentations and I noticed that not all presentations are there. Seems there are few missing presentations that I would like to have a copy of.

      For example, "Lights, Camera, Interaction! Developing and Using Interactive Applications" by Alex McDaniel is not on the list. That also goes for "Leading the Definition of Quality Online Education ..." by Brady Anderson and "Blended Learning, the Best of Both Worlds" by Elaine Plemons.

      I'm sure there are more missing presentations for others.

      Is there a way I can get a copy of those presentations? Is there a way I can contact the presenters for a copy?

      Thank you for reading and responding to this post.

      Kent

    • Hi Kent,

      We've asked each of the presenters to post their session powerpoints and any handouts or other relevant materials on Connections. While we don't have them all just yet, more continue to be uploaded as presenters return home and catch up on their emails. 

      I hope you enjoyed BbWorld.

      Jan

    • Ahhh....learned I am not alone in hating multiple choice questions.

      That even a nobody can have acknowledgement from the top of Bb if they write sincere emails. Thanks so much Michael & Ray! I felt overwhelmed and supported. Gave me new energy.

      That I have a tribe and didnt know it, so why aren't I working it? *slaps face*

      Second Life and I are going to break education wide open to the world with experiental learning and understanding globally.. (ok maybe going a little overboard here..smile...but I am presenting at SLCC - Hey, it is a start.)

      That a philosopher can indeed fit in? *grimaces* Well maybe not totally, BUT I camoflaged nicely.