Community Profile

Since the beginning, the members of SLATE thought that is was important to share information and provide details about an institution so that "like institutions" - regarding number of students, number of faculty, support staff, resources, online programs, deployed applications, versions of software, etc. could find common ground. As soon as a SLATE web site was developed, a very rough and drafty attempt was made to capture this information.

In version 2.0 of the SLATE Community Profile Initiative (now completed) a more defined and cohesive set of parameters was determined to gather this information. An online form was created that asked the same questions of each insitution so that a common format and platform could be developed. Included were some of the obvious; current version of Bb (or other CMS that your are running), building blocks deployed or developed, campus ERP system, ASP hosted, and the campus Bb contact(s). Other helpful information like links to the institution home page, department, and training information is provided. Since SLATE meets as a group on a monthly basis, the URL to the campus map and directions was inlcuded for reference. Statistical information like number of students, number of faculty, term, and active courses were included. It was thought that is was just as important to know what other groups, organizations, or association memberships an institution was affiliated with to build further relationships and collaboration.

To date, about 70% of the indentified SLATE schools have completed their online profiles. Almost immediately this information has been used to compare what release schools are on in relation to others for determining upgrade timeframes and paths. People are already asking for other features - such as search capabilities. Click on the SLATE Community link to learn more.

Hey, Blackboard - What about this

Everyday we all come up with ideas, thoughts, suggestions for how Learning System applications, tools, features, and options can be better. After all, that is the theme for our conference each year, "Build it Better". This initiative will provide a mechanism to pass along those ideas to the Blackboard development group. The hope is that Bb will take some of those brainstorming thoughts and expand upon them, possibly incorporating those ideas into a future release. No need to be technical or come up with all the details (that is what Bb will do). This is however, NOT the place to complain.

Click here to submit your ideas that will be posted on this Web site and relayed to Bb. If you see something on the list that is of particular importance to you or your institution, pass that information along also. We can start to develop a priority list of these items to see where the real interests are.

K-12 Higher Ed Initiative

For a long time now, the question of how K-12 schools are using Blackboard has come up in various SLATE discussions. Those of us in higher ed are somewhat curious to know how installations are rolled out, how are they supported, are they installed at individual schools or throughout a schood district. More importantly, how are teachers using the functions and features of Bb and what are student reactions and expectations in using such tools. What ideas and best practices can be shared throughout the academic community and how can meaningful and informative discussions continue. In the end the hope is that there are ways that the resources of SLATE can be extended to the K-12 community of learners and a continued presence and dialogue will be established.