Learn the Basics
An Overview of Blackboard Integration Technologies: Building Blocks and PowerLinks
George Kroner, Blackboard
If you're just getting started with Blackboard Building Blocks or Blackboard PowerLinks, this presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of integration solutions for the Blackboard Learning System - Enterprise Edition and Blackboard Learning System - CE and Vista Enterprise Licenses. Gain insight into the road ahead by getting a thorough understanding of integrating with and extending Blackboard solutions.
PPT
Getting Started with Blackboard Building Blocks (Part I)
Denison Wright, Blackboard
Are you new to Blackboard Building Blocks? This is the first of two technical sessions designed to show you the basics and help you start developing your own Building Blocks. We will walk you through the basic concepts, setting up a development environment, and a basic "Hello World" example.
PPT
Getting Started with Blackboard Building Blocks (Part II)
Anupam Kumar, Blackboard
The second of two "Getting Started" presentations, we will review examples from the Blackboard Building Blocks Getting Started Guide. These will illustrate how to build a simple Hello World Building Block as well as how to give it the Blackboard "look and feel" and have it access Blackboard APIs.
PPT
Best Practices for Building, Testing and Deploying Your Building Blocks
Jeff Bradley, Blackboard
Taking advantage of industry experience is a proven way to improve the quality of your development and test practices, as well as how you deploy and roll out new applications. Without doubt, proven best practices can improve your users' experiences. In this session we'll cover the established techniques and procedures Blackboard has compiled for building, testing and deploying Blackboard Building Blocks.
PPT
OSCELOT - Open Source Building Blocks and More!
Neal Caidin, Duke Univeristy
Malcolm Murray, Durham University
Mark A. O'Neil, Dartmouth College
OSCELOT is a community of developers, users, and proponents of open source technology who create and employ solutions to e-Learning challenges. Some of OSCELOTS most popular projects include a Sign-Up tool, a Podcasting tool, and Who's Online. We'll explain what the benefits are, some real world successes, and how interested parties can get involved today!
PPT
Educational Tools
The SIMILE Timeline Building Block
Heather Natour, Blackboard
Learn how we implemented MIT's open source SIMILE Timeline widget as a Building Block for creating timeline content items. The widget can be used as a learning tool to visualize events over time. Walk through the code and see an example of how to integrate graphical Web 2.0 content inside of your courses. SIMILE is a joint project conducted by the MIT Libraries (http://libraries.mit.edu
) and MIT CSAIL (http://www.csail.mit.edu).
PPT
An iTunesU Building Block: User Self Service for iTunesU Provisioning
Nicholas S. McElveen, Clemson University
John Ulmer, Clemson University
Clemson University is using iTunesU to host instructional podcasts. This presentation will demonstrate a Building Block that allows Blackboard instructors to allocate space on iTunesU. Instructors select the tool from the control panel, complete and submit a form. iTunesU space is allocated and mapped to their Blackboard course and tied to their course roster. In addition, we will describe how we are incorporating training about copyright and fair use to accommodate university counsel.
PPT
Discover Repositories: Development of the Federated Repository Search Tool Using the O.K.I. Repository OSID
Jeff Kahn, Verbena Consulting
Mark A. O'Neil, Dartmouth College
The Federated Repository Search Tool solves many issues involved with the discovery and (re)use of content for Blackboard users. It does so by giving users a tool which allows for searching of external repositories. We'll discuss how discovered content may be reused, added as "new" content in courses and organizations, linked to from other web sites, or, if permitted by the repository, downloaded and used in research papers and other documents.
PPT
Living with the Consequences...
Malcolm Murray, Durham University
Blackboard Building Blocks are great and allow you to really make your Blackboard server your own. But are there some things you shouldn't or can't change? This session looks at the questions you need to ask BEFORE you make major changes to your Blackboard system using Building Blocks and language packs so you avoid unexpected results and upgrade easily.
PPT
Extending the Platform
The Xythos File Bridge Building Block: An Open Source Tool for Blackboard Content Management
Patricia Goldweic, Senior Software Engineer, Northwestern University
The File Bridge Building Block was developed at Northwestern University to expose content via the Blackboard Learning System in a highly secure manner even with content that is actually stored in another system, the Xythos Digital Locker. The File Bridge Building Block also provides students easy access to their own Xythos file spaces by offering faculty a more convenient way of sharing content they use in their own scholarship. A number of other Building Block innovations that File Bridge has inspired at Northwestern will also be described.
PPT
Blackboard PowerLinks Web Services, Integration, and Authentication Capabilities
George Kroner, Blackboard
The Blackboard PowerLinks Kit allows institutions to customize and extend the e-Learning environment to meet their unique needs. Institutions can fully integrate their own custom applications, third-party solutions or open-source tools into the online environment creating a seamless experience for faculty and students. This session will provide an overview of the System Integration API, explore the authentication capabilities of the platform, and discuss the web services capabilities of the Blackboard Learning System - CE and Vista Enterprise Licenses.
PPT
Extending the Functionality Available to Blackboard PowerLinks
Stephen P Vickers, The University of Edinburgh
This presentation describes some open source utilities designed to enhance the power of PowerLinks, such as providing access to term-related data and a persistent data store for proxy tools. When developing Blackboard PowerLinks, we've found that additional features enhanced the quality of the application. This presentation will describe open source utility packages and how they have been used in conjunction with outbound authentication modules to develop more sophisticated PowerLinks in a simple, extensible manner.
PPT
Backgrounds Tasks and Building Blocks
Eric Denman, Blackboard
Jeff Johnson, Blackboard
Many administrative tasks are made easier through scheduling and automation. In addition, the ability to schedule tasks gives flexibility for some interesting and complex integration projects. Come learn best practices from developers who have implemented solutions to address background task processing.
PPT
Integration
Managing Data Sources Within the Blackboard GUI
Carl Hardin, University of Tennessee
Mark L. Spurlock, University of Tennessee
This presentation will describe a Building Block that manages data sources used by the snapshot, providing a means for system administrators to control the functionality typically supplied separately by a snapshot.properties file and the snapshot controller through the Blackboard Learning System GUI. Using the Building Block, you can control which data sources will be processed, default values for specific snapshot fields, data source reassignment and more.
PPT
Blackboard System Integration at University of Maryland, College Park
Charles Goldman, IT Specialist, University of Maryland, College Park
Tandeep Sidhu, IT Coordinator - Application Developer, University of Maryland, College Park
During the presentation, we will demo the Learning Online Tool (LOT), which is the primary tool used by faculty, students, and Blackboard administrators at the University of Maryland to manage our Blackboard software. We will also be highlighting some of the Building Blocks that we have built to support LOT that update passwords, extract Gradebook data, manage course groups, update quotas, and fill course and section numbers in the Gradebook.
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Managing and Optimizing the System
Managing your Blackboard Learning System -CE License Environment
Jonathan Abourbih, Blackboard
A favorite from last year, this workshop will focus on the fundamental skills and knowledge necessary to manage a Blackboard Learning System - CE License (Version 6) implementation from a technical perspective. Topics will include the CE 6 architecture, the WebLogic console, monitoring and backups.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording
Best Practices for Load Balancing the Blackboard Application
Nick J. McClure, University of Kentucky
Blackboard software, like any web-based application works best when the load can be spread across multiple application servers. This presentation is based on our migration from the Blackboard Learning System, Version 6.2 to Version 7.0 while incorporating database and file server clustering as well as incorporating the F5 Big IP load balancer and multiple application servers. We'll also cover performance tuning of the application servers and network and how to trouble shoot problems with specific application servers using built-in operating system tools or third-party applications.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording | Handout
Learning Environment Connector for Vista and CE - Lessons Learned
Dean Holik, Blackboard
Ben Wang, Blackboard
The Blackboard Learning Environment Connector enables an institution using the Blackboard Learning System - CE License (Release 4 or 8) or the Blackboard Learning System - Vista Enterprise License (Release 8) to integrate with and leverage the full capabilities of the Academic Suite (the Blackboard Community System, Blackboard Content System and Blackboard Outcomes System). In this session we will review the integration goals, provide an overview of the system architecture, and explore a live integrated system.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording
Blackboard Academic Suite: Configurations and Considerations
Justin Gray, Blackboard
Tito Holloway, Blackboard
Geared toward system administrators using the Blackboard Learning System - Enterprise License on both Windows and Unix platforms, this presentation will discuss topics including tuning the system configuration, log analysis, database considerations and garbage collection. It will be followed by a Q&A session.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording
Performance Development Tools
Mesfin Mulugeta, Blackboard
Join us as we discuss web service performance topics such as response time and throughput from both the client and service provider points-of-view. Moreover, we will look at different technology (primarily open source tools) that can be used for performance testing web services.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording
Virtualization and Blackboard
Mehrdad Karjoo, Blackboard
Considering using virtualization technologies such as VMWare to address development testing and Blackboard software Quality Assurance needs on your campus? Are you considering the use of virtualization technologies in some other capacity on your campus and want to know more? Come learn how Blackboard utilizes virtualization technologies in various capacities and hear about the challenges we've encountered along the way.
PPT | Echo 360 Recording
Bonus Presentations
Advanced Performance Forensics
Steve Feldman, Blackboard
Join us as we introduce tools that can be used to simplify the process of performance forensic analysis. We will also more deeply explore advanced concepts of Performance Forensics. This session is applicable for users of all Blackboard products, including the Blackboard Learning System - Enterprise, Vista, and CE Licenses.
PPT
Collaboration in Learning: The MediaWiki PowerLink
Ron Santos, Simon Fraser University
Amy Severson, Simon Fraser University
Do you remember the student homepage tool from WebCT 4.0? Students can now collaborate anew using a Blackboard PowerLink wiki for Blackboard Learning System - Vista Enterprise License. We chose to install the MediaWiki PowerLink due to growing interest in Web 2.0 technologies. This session will review why we chose to install the PowerLink, its installation and integration.
PPT
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