1. Engaging Learning Communities: The Power of the Blackboard Community System™

2. 2 Table of Contents Challenges and Solutions Overview of Key Capabilities in the Blackboard Community System™ Achieving Success with the Blackboard Community System™ Discussion, Q & A Case Studies and Best Practices

3. 3 Challenges Faced by Learning Institutions Engaging Students –Meeting the needs of a diverse student body, from the Millennial generation to adult learners Delivering effective student services –Retention –Remediation

4. 4 Challenges Faced by Learning Institutions Revenue Generation and Effective Resource Use –Developing innovative programs –Fostering distinctive identities for different programs and departments Globalization –Finding international partners –Ensuring that students have a global perspective –Fostering 24 x 7 information access and exchange

5. 5 Overview of Key Capabilities in the Blackboard Community System™

6. 6 Academic Services & Collaboration Engages students in academic and co-curricular collaboration with peers, faculty, and the community Offers convenient one-stop access to student services and coursework Preserves unique identities of programs and colleges when online, saving resources

7. 7 Spotlight on One-Stop Access to Services The Blackboard Community System™ provides a single access point for students to find critical services –Access to coursework, content repositories, campus wikis, libraries, and other academic services –Links to institutional portals, e- Commerce functionality, and other critical campus services –Timely, targeted announcements, news, and event information Institutions with successful portals can augment these capabilities by using the Blackboard Community System as an Academic Gateway

8. 8 Spotlight on Learning Communities The Blackboard Community System™ connects people across and throughout the campus with powerful tools and shared workspaces –Learning communities, including cohorts, study groups, and academic projects –Faculty committees, working groups, and research teams –Academic advising, tutoring, and peer mentoring –Extra-curricular clubs and groups, student government, and volunteer organizations

9. 9 Spotlight on Online Identities The Blackboard Community System™ allows campus constituencies to manage their own online presences, while leveraging a single, central infrastructure –Let different schools, campuses, or programs have their own ‘branded’ identity –Delegate control by creating domains and domain administrators –Use a powerful role engine to customize user permissions, access, and look-and-feel A member of the faculty… A full-time student … An online student …

10. 10 Spotlight on Channels and Modules Deliver regularly updated headlines and content to users Individual users can customize their personal web pages Availability of modules is role-based Deliver over 100 modules and channels Build an unlimited number of additional ones

11. 11 Spotlight on Modules Provide high visibility to bricks-and-mortar and online services to help students succeed –Offer easily- accessed information about existing services and opportunities –Cohorts and peer groups can leverage online learning environments to help each other

12. 12 Spotlight on e-Commerce Charge for items via a student’s campus card or credit card including: –Services –Events –Merchandise –Courses –Organization membership –Other items View their one-card account balance, transaction history, and deposit funds* *with the Blackboard Commerce Suite™

13. 13 Case Studies and Best Practices

14. 14 Learning Communities at Grand Rapids Community College About Grand Rapids Community College –14,000 students enrolled in over 1,600 liberal arts and occupational courses; another 10,000 in non-credit classes All Academic Tutoring labs have Blackboard organization sites –Providing informational resources –Facilitating collaboration and communication

15. 15 Learning Communities at GRCC In Fall 2006, the Tutoring Center began a program to galvanize student- initiated study groups –Research showed that students connected to the educational community succeed at higher rates –Blackboard organization sites for each study group

16. 16 Innovative Programs at Arcadia University “Fast Facts” on Arcadia –3,500 students –Student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1 The Arcadia Promise U.S. News and World Report recognized Arcadia as one of its top 22 study abroad programs in the U.S. in 2005 MyArcadia “Our goal is to have every student participate in an off-campus experience that is culturally different. We use Blackboard to integrate back and forth.” - Norah Shultz, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Faculty Development at Arcadia University

17. 17 Student Services at Arcadia University Freshman who study abroad in Arcadia’s award- winning First Year Study Abroad Experience use “MyArcadia to access course materials and campus resources Community-building and easy access to support services are critical for students studying remotely at the start of their academic careers “Even though they spend their first college semester overseas, these freshman are already integrated into the fabric of the stateside campus when they arrive in January, thanks to the virtual connections they have been making through My Arcadia. They’ve been using our library while they were overseas, seeing campus announcements and photos, e-mailing friends, and accessing services.” - Param Bedi, CIO and Associate VP for Technology, Arcadia University

18. 18 Durham University Fast Facts about Durham University: –Higher education university –10500 undergraduates, 3000 graduates –16 separate colleges The Blackboard Community System™ (Durham University Online “Duo”) serves as the student portal –One stop shop for accessing services and ensuring effective student services Dedicated institution role for Freshers prior to arrival on campus –Building community, forging ties Individual colleges have separate identities and ways to communicate with students

19. 19 Custom Building Blocks at Seneca College Fast Facts about Seneca College –18,000 full time students –80,000+ part time students –9 campuses Central point of access for all users. Applicant  Alumni; Staff  Senior Executives Provides centralized services with custom building blocks and integration with other on campus services. Personalized content targeted to individual roles and delegated administration to ensure content is accurate and up to date.

20. 20 Sheffield Hallam University’s Student Portal Fast Facts about Sheffield Hallam University: –32,000 learners, 3000 staff members –Offers traditional full-time courses and distance learning and part-time courses The 2007 Portal Evaluation study showed that the portal as a key part of the student learning experience; –60% described the portal as essential –31% described it as valuable. It is my life!!!! I get all the information I need. If it wasn’t for the portal, I wouldn’t know where I was or what I was doing. I find that university is very different from school. I would feel a lot more alone and scared if it were not for the student portal. It brings everyone together and it is a way of feeling like a unit and engaging in the university life. I have seen other university systems and I’m proud to show my friends from these universities how efficient our system is. - Sample of Student Feedback

21. 21 Organizations Serve Students at Sheffield Hallam Student Support services use Organization sites –Team Dyslexia –The University English Scheme –The Mentoring Project –Placement support Organizations are set up for each course cohort –Providing key information about the course –Enabling discussion groups –Ensuring that administrators can hear and respond to student feedback. Role-based capabilities of the Blackboard Community System are critical to success –The portal knows “who you are” and provides relevant information accordingly –Channels enable specialized information to be provided to student groups

22. 22 Achieving Success with the Blackboard Community System™

23. 23 Spotlight on the Power of the Blackboard Academic Suite™ Enhance your Blackboard Learning System™ implementation –Expand your faculty’s toolset to include community- and partner-developed learning tools available through Blackboard Community System™ modules Enhance your Blackboard Content System™ implementation –Use institution roles to define members of a community that should get distinct and special services: Implement limited pilot programs and roll-out functionality as needed… not all at once Determine who can manage and submit learning objects to a moderated catalogue Specify different disk quotas –Encourage sharing among users with common roles –Provide front-page shortcuts to critical Blackboard Content System™ functionality Better together!

24. 24 Spotlight on Enterprise Administration Leverage powerful Blackboard functionality and ease of integration –A single login and integrated user experience with the Blackboard Learning System – Enterprise, CE Enterprise, and Vista Enterprise licenses –Scalable technology infrastructure can grow as your implementation gets more complex –Support for multiple languages, including multi-byte characters –Compliance and interoperability with key educational standards

25. 25 Spotlight on Blackboard Services Consulting Services –Address your institution’s unique mission imperatives –Comprehensive: from strategic analysis to project management to technical integration –Efficient and expert custom applications development Training and Professional Development –Offerings to improve quality –Train your trainers –Create ‘power users’ “Trusted Advisors” Client Strategies Services Capabilities Delivery Excellence Measured Outcomes Objective Alignment E N A B L E S D R I V E S

26. 26 Spotlight on Blackboard ASP SM The highest level of service –Operational in seven days –Scalable, reliable, and fully- managed solution, with a 99.7% uptime guarantee –Multiple redundant routers, firewalls, load balancers, switches and servers Reduce management concerns –Inherit a staff of 50, with experience managing hundreds of Blackboard solutions –Develop a disaster-recovery plan –Control costs and introduce transparency into future spending Proven Hosting Provider

27. 27 Questions?