Blackboard Digital Learning Content Pilot Program

April 27, 2012

Company Overview

Blackboard has been very active in the digital learning content movement in recent years and is becoming a channel for content, from user generated content to commercial content to Open Educational Resources (OER) content.

More on the different components that make up Blackboard Digital Learning Content:

  • User-generated content: Through partnerships, such as Kaltura, instructors can create their own video repository. The Mashups tools within Blackboard Learn allows instructors to search for and add rich content from SlideShare, YouTube or Flickr.
  • Commercial content: Publishers are partnering with us to integrate their digital, whole course solutions into Blackboard Learn. Last year we launched McGraw-Hill Connect and Create and hundreds of thousands of students are already benefiting from the integration. This year we are launching several more publisher integrations.
  • OER content: CourseSites, Blackboard’s free platform for creating and teaching up to 5 online courses includes OER authoring tools that allow for the reuse and sharing of OER content.

Description of Pilot

Goals

  • Introduce different ways to access and use digital content in Blackboard Learn and CourseSites
  • Gather user feedback
  • Facilitate the creation of courses in Blackboard using different types of digital learning content that can be easily shared with other users – both as Blackboard courses as well as OER courses
  • Develop community advocates

Benefit for Participants

  • Training around the use of digital learning content available
  • Improved quality of instruction using various types of digital learning content
  • Helping to shape one of Blackboard’s biggest corporate strategies
  • Course that can shared and re-used

Pilot Profile

Timeline /
  • Fall 2012
  • 6-8 week program

Target Participants /
  • Faculty

Target Institution Participation /
  • 6-8 institutions
  • 3-5 faculty per institution

Type of Institution /
  • 1 large public
  • 1 community college
  • Big 4 year

Institution Profile / Blackboard Learn Customer
  • Running Release 9.1 SP5+
Department/Discipline
  • General Ed: Mathematics, Psychology
  • Major Specific: Political Science, Environment

Pilot Agenda

Weekly meetings will be held with attendees using Bb Collaborate to cover a series of topics related to digital learning content. Participants will have homework each week and be asked to actively participate in Blackboard Learn course as well as CourseSites.

Week 1: Getting Started

Introductory Week – getting a sense of how they teach, how they find and use content, why they use certain types of digital content

  • Review pilot agenda
  • Account setup and technical logistics
  • Getting started Q&A
  • Why types of content do you rely on?
  • How do you currently use content in your courses?
  • How do you find content?
  • How do you use it?
  • What makes you decide to start using it?
  • What courses do you teach?
  • What levels?
  • When do you use certain types of content?
  • HW: get started building your own course in groups (need to be of like discipline)

Week 2: User Generated Content

Week 3: Publisher Integrations – part 1

-McGraw-Hill Higher Education

-Wiley Plus

Week 4: Publisher Integrations – part 2

-Pearson

-Cengage

-CourseSmart

Week 5: eBooks integrations

Week 6: OER

-Move course over from Bb and share via CourseSites as an OER course

Week 7: Digital Learning Content Use Enablement

-How can we help you access and use more of the resources available today?

How to Participate

If you would like to participate or have further questions please contact:

Julie Kelleher:
Director, Product Marketing
Blackboard Learn / Emily Lange:
Senior Director, Product Marketing
Partnerships