Eric Kunnen’s GRCC Blog

This just in…

There are some really cool features that were just added to the Blackboard Scholar social bookmarking service! I think what I like most about this announcement is that it points to a more social NETWORKING direction of this tool. Which I am really happy to see, since learning is social, and being able to easily connect to others in a visual way will help bring more online community.

Here are the highlights from a recent email I received:

Dear Scholars,

Store, share, and become Friends!

We have just released new features and functionality in Scholar ®, that improve the academic resource sharing, as well as allow users to build relationships and network, right from within Scholar.

New features and functionality includes:

• Create your Network – Build relationships with other Scholars and create your Network of Friends, Favorites and Fans.
• Expand your Profile – Provide more information about yourself, including Contact Information, Interests, Education and Work History.
• Upload your picture - Upload a picture of yourself to represent you and your profile throughout Scholar.
• Find other people with similar interests – Tag your profile with “Interests” and find people with similar interests.
• Update your status – Keep your Network up-to-date on what’s going on with you. Every time you update your status message, your network will get notified.
• Customize your new homepage – Your new Scholar Home gives you a window into all of your Scholar features including your streams, Tag Cloud, Profile, Network and Notifications.
• Search better – Try the new user search feature to find other Scholars or filter bookmark searches by your Network.
• Invite people to join Scholar – Invite people to join Scholar to start sharing their resources and building relationships.