Archives for July 2013

Honored to Receive 2013 Blackboard Key to the Community Award

Jason Rhode receiving key to community award

I was extremely honored and humbled to have been nominated and chosen as one of six inaugural recipients of Blackboard’s annual Key to the Community Award, which recognizes outstanding service to the Blackboard client community. I accepted the award at BbWorld13. The Blackboard client community truly is a collaborative and supportive network of colleagues and it’s my pleasure to continue to be a part.

Blackboard Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations: Features and Considerations for Institutional Adoption

With the release of Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 10, the “Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations” tool adds a robust and flexible set of new capabilities tightly integrated within Blackboard for conducting surveys and course evaluations on a wide scale. This session at BbWorld13 shared Northern Illinois University’s recent experiences exploring the new features and developing a roadmap for institution-wide implementation. Slides are available here.

Blackboard 2013 Catalyst Award Poster: Cross-Platform Strategy for Staff Development

My colleagues and I from Northern Illinois University Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center are honored to have been selected to receive two Blackboard Catalyst Awards this year, one for staff development and the other for teaching and learning. Both awards are in recognition of NIU’s first online teaching effectiveness institute that our center offered in 2013, the first of what we hope will be many such online professional development opportunities offered for NIU faculty and teaching staff in the future.

The poster below was shared during the welcome reception poster session at BbWorld 2013. Click here to enlarge.

Poster

The online course developed for this initiative, initially only available for NIU faculty and teaching staff, is now available on CourseSites here for anyone to self-enroll and view. The course is also shared as an open educational resource and may be downloaded as a Blackboard Package or Common Cartridge 1.1 Package.

Additional related resources shared regarding mobile teaching using Blackboard include:

My BbWorld13 Presentation Schedule

BbWorld13

I’m fortunate to be able to attend BbWorld for the second straight year. In additional to presenting, I’ll be leading a pre-conference workshop. I’m also honored to be able to accept a Blackboard Catalyst Award on behalf the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.

Here’s a list of the presentations I’ll either be giving or be a part of at BbWorld…

Scheduled Presentations

Offering Online Professional Development for Faculty Using a Cross-Platform Strategy

For the very first time, Northern Illinois University offered a fully-online teaching effectiveness institute utilizing a combination of Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Collaborate, and Blackboard Mobile platforms. This cross-platform approach has proven to be very successful and provides a model for faculty to incorporate an integrated approach for implementing all three platforms in their teaching. In this session we will share NIU’s cross-platform strategy, practices, and lessons learned that can be applied to any online professional development initiative. Bring your own questions and experiences to join in the discussion!

Date/Time/Location: Tue, 7/9/13, 2:00PM-2:55PM, Venetian I
Presenter(s): Jason Rhode, Stephanie Richter

Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations: Features and Considerations for Institutional Adoption

With the release of Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 10, the new “Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations” tool adds a robust and flexible set of new capabilities tightly integrated within Blackboard for conducting surveys and course evaluations on a wide scale. This session will share Northern Illinois University’s recent experiences exploring the new features and developing a roadmap for institution-wide implementation.

Date/Time/Location: Wed, 7/10/13, 2:00PM-2:55PM, Venetian I
Presenter: Jason Rhode

Lessons from Tacos and Pizza: The Importance of 24/7 Access for Students

Forget the famous saying about Las Vegas; what happens inside your classroom should NOT stay inside your classroom. For students, the learning experience beyond lecture hour is just as important as what happens during class. Thanks to modern technology, it is now easier than ever to make academic resources available 24/7, and use them to enhance teaching practices and the learning experience.

Date/Time/Location: Wed, 7/10/13, 3:10PM-4:05PM, Titian 2303
Presenter(s): Jason Rhode, Stephanie Richter

It will be a busy week, but one in which I am looking forward to! Let the presentation preparation begin.

If you’ll be at BbWorld, look me up! I’ll be tweeting @jrhode and will share my presentation slides and other resources here on my blog. I will try to also blog my experiences at BbWorld.

Looking for Presentations Slides/Handouts?

I will be posting the slides and accompanying resources from my BbWorld presenters here on my blog along with any other BbWorld-related reflections. Enjoy!

Take the BbWorld13 Mobile App Tour

Headed to BbWorld13? Be sure to install the free BbWorld app before you arrive to plan your scheduled, connect with other attendees, and easily access the latest conference news and updates. Watch this tour to learn more about the features in the app.