{"id":938,"date":"2013-02-07T09:32:41","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T09:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/?p=938"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:16:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:16:23","slug":"blackboard-users-conference-january-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/blackboard\/blackboard-users-conference-january-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackboard Users&#8217; Conference, January 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-941\" alt=\"13th Durham University Blackboard Users Conference #durbbu\" src=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/durbbu.png\" width=\"212\" height=\"109\" \/>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dur.ac.uk\/lt.team\/conference\/\" target=\"_blank\">2013 Blackboard Users&#8217; Conference<\/a> was held at the welcoming University of Durham. With a full programme of research and experience from around the UK both College Learning Technology Assistants, David and Stephen, were able to attend and participate in the activities.<\/p>\n<p>Presentations this year covered all aspects of Blackboard use, as well as a great insight from Blackboard\u00a0themselves\u00a0on the development of the Blackboard Learn product (of which we have version 9.2, service pack 8 at the moment).<\/p>\n<p>The conference theme of &#8216;make do or spend&#8217; is further explained by the organisers that<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c.. at a time when the technologies that support learning are changing \u2013 we\u2019ve seen mobile trying to go mainstream, institutions dipping their toes into the world of MOOCs, and apps for almost everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and are we, UK HEIs doing enough to protect as well as develop ourselves in the changing economic climate.<\/p>\n<p>Keynotes were from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Professor Alison Littlejohn, Glasgow Caledonian University: &#8220;The learning ecology: why the promise of an economy of scale has\u00a0not been achieved&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Greg Ritter, Blackboard Inc.: &#8220;Blackboard\u2019s Take on the Conference Theme plus Roadmap&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Jeremy Knox, University of Edinburgh: &#8220;MOOC pedagogy: the challenges of developing for Coursera&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Professor Alison Littlejohn,\u00a0Glasgow Caledonian University: &#8220;<strong>The learning ecology: why the promise of an economy of scale has\u00a0not been achieved&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sector\/Institution focus belies what is happening outside and around you \u2013 \u2018look up\u2019 and see, collaborate, crowdsource, share, consult, and network.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cEvery graduate from the UK HE sector has the ability, confidence and mindset to plan and implement his\/her own learning pathway, to achieve his\/her learning outcome.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cLearning together through objects of activity\u201d interesting, backed up with question \u201cdo inter-relationships change in pone, unstructured environments?<\/li>\n<li>MOOC mentioned but questioned about the learning in unstructured, yet networked environments.<\/li>\n<li>Collective knowledge cycle: connect to a resource\/person; consume; create new knowledge; contribute new knowledge back to collective.<\/li>\n<li>How can learners be prepared? SRL (self-regulated learning) MOOC study hypothesis: \u201cusers who display a high degree of self-regulation \u2026\u201d Zimmerman:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcu.ac.uk\/academy\/srl-mooc\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.gcu.ac.uk\/academy\/srl-mooc\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Throughout all of this, does the relationship change between academics (and therefore the Institution itself, including student support, administration, etc.) and students (attending or distance learners?). Each student will have different needs, and therefore different levels of requirement, based on attendance, background, and experience.<\/li>\n<li>Discussion around question \u201cshould networked knowledge creation be a mainstream approach to learning in universities?\u201d concentrated, among my colleagues from Leicester, was \u201cdefine mainstream?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Should we \u2018Make Do or Spend?\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Professor Littlejohn concluded with the phrase \u201cTo move forward we need to do some \u2018unlearning\u2019.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-948\" style=\"border: 1px solid black\" alt=\"Blackboard Users' Conference\" src=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130108-120512.jpg\" width=\"491\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130108-120512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130108-120512-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Greg Ritter, Blackboard Inc.: <strong>&#8220;Blackboard\u2019s Take on the Conference Theme plus Roadmap&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blackboard Analytics [product]: extract student data, from both Blackboard and Institution student-records systems, for use in reporting to different stakeholders.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on fundamentals, 2010 to 2012:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1697\" style=\"border: 1px solid black\" alt=\"Blackboard Users Conference #durbbu: Blackboard Roadmap and The Challenges Ahead\" src=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130109-094909.jpg\" width=\"491\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130109-094909.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/files\/2013\/02\/20130109-094909-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Student engagement &amp; retention, the \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk\/blackboard\/the-voice-of-an-active-learner\/\" target=\"_blank\">active learner<\/a>\u2018: ebooks, text messages, etc. (learner-driven support processes), identify the at-risk students who do not engage.<\/li>\n<li>Data-driven decision making: improve student \u2018success\u2019, optimise online and blended learning, leverage VLE investment (capacity planning, measure learning initiatives, etc.), goal (and performance reporting) alignment, activity reporting, module\/unit evaluation \u2018announcement\u2019 (desktop and mobile editions) and reporting.<\/li>\n<li>Student views and tweets are generally positive to Blackboard updates, changes are impressing the students and, when the changes to the discussion boards are made, will only increase!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jeremy Knox, University of Edinburgh: <strong>&#8220;MOOC pedagogy: the challenges of developing for Coursera&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>cMOOC (connectivist) and xMOOC (Udacity \/ Coursera \/ edX \u2013 Institutional led): what is the value to the distinction between each?<\/li>\n<li>MOOC tutoring &amp; support is \u2018light touch\u2019 approach with low study hours per week, with certificates for completion and not credit.<\/li>\n<li>Udacity is more corporate association developing MOOCs (for-profit, independent of institutions).<\/li>\n<li>Coursera is for-profit, partnered with 33 institutions. edX is non-profit partnered with 6 institutions.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cOne big difference between a MOOC and a traditional course is that a MOOC is completely voluntary. You decide that you want to participate, you decide how to participate, then you participate. If you\u2019re not motivated, then you\u2019re not in the MOOC.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/halfanhour.blogspot.com\/2012\/03\/what-mooc-does-change11.html\" target=\"_blank\">Downes, S. (2011) What a MOOC does<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are some more reflections and feedback on the Conference:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/learntechgalway.blogspot.co.uk\/2013\/01\/notes-from-blackboard-mobile-users.html\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"line-height: 13px\">Sharon Flynn, NUI Galway<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk\/?s=%23durbbu\" target=\"_blank\">David Hopkins, Leicester<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.downes.ca\/post\/59779\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Downes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2013 Blackboard Users&#8217; Conference was held at the welcoming University of Durham. With a full programme of research and experience from around the UK both College Learning Technology Assistants, David and Stephen, were able to attend and participate in the activities. Presentations this year covered all aspects of Blackboard use, as well as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[232,118,239,108,240,117],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blackboard","tag-blackboard","tag-college-of-social-science","tag-conference","tag-learning-ecology","tag-mooc","tag-university-of-leicester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/telsocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}