Eric Kunnen\’s GRCC Blog

I wanted to take a moment to provide an update on the soon-to-be-released Blackboard Sync Facebook application. According to the dates presented in today’s Blackboard webinar, Sync should be available in the April/May time frame.

While Blackboard Sync still appears to be in prototype, I thought I would try to collect what I saw in today’s webinar as far as potential features and place the features side-by-side with CourseFeed from Classtop Inc., which has been in operation here at GRCC since November 2007. In fact, since November, over 1,200 users on the GrandRapidsCC network have added the CourseFeed Facebook application.

While I have yet to get my hands on Sync, and realizing it is still in a prototype phase, it seems that CourseFeed has a more typical look and feel of a true Facebook application with the way notifications and updates are handled and displayed. I also like CourseFeed’s email notification capability and the personal mini-feed that can be placed on a users’ Facebook profile page. CourseFeed seems to integrate with the Facebook environment very nicely, and presents information in a way that users have come to expect with other applications.

That being said, the Sync application appears to have some outstanding potential, and I’m definitely excited and interested in trying it out. According to today’s webinar, Sync will be first available around the April time frame as an “Open Access” Facebook application, which would allow a student to add the Sync Facebook application without any institutional involvement. Institutions can “block” this Open Access connection by installing a simple “Opt Out” text file on their server. Another option for institutions is a Building Block that can be installed on the institution’s server which handles authentication slightly differently and has the potential for providing more accurate synchronizations.

Sync will eventually be included and bundled with an upcoming release of Blackboard. I’d imagine this will be similar to how Scholar and SafeAssign are now bundled with Blackboard 8. What intrigues me most is the potential for Sync to also integrate with additional social networks such as Google OpenSocial, and support other Bb products such as Bb Connect. In addition, Sync’s framework has potential for extending capabilities into other communication channels such as Windows Vista Gadgets and Apple Dashboard Widgets. This is impressive. I have heard some buzz about gadgets and widgets in Sakai, and it surprises me a little that someone hasn’t written a gadget or widget yet for Blackboard.

Here are some important notes about how CourseFeed and Sync handle the privacy of student and course information. CourseFeed and Sync:

• Do not share Blackboard course announcements or content outside of the course – only students enrolled in the course have access to the information.
• Do not transfer content to Facebook – only links to the content are displayed in Facebook.
• Do not display student photos from Blackboard – student roster photos come from Facebook.
• Do not make public a student’s private information.

The benefits of CourseFeed and Sync:

• Allows students to receive their Blackboard course updates in Facebook.
• Alerts students when new announcements and content are posted to Blackboard.
• Provides a way for students to form study groups, ask questions, and interact with each other.
• Encourages engagement with other students and helps to increase communication between students and instructors.
• Helps to make learning social by providing classmates a way to connect, interact, and collaborate.

The following table below provides a comparison of Blackboard Sync vs CourseFeed by ClassTop Inc. The information below is compiled to the best of my knowledge:

Just in!  Blackboard is joining the ever growing list of Facebook application providers.  Based on a recent client email, I’m very happy to see that Blackboard is planning to provide some integration with Facebook, since social networking can provide some very powerful capabilities for enhancing connection, communication, and collaboration.

Classtop’s CourseFeed Facebook application was FIRST on the market, and currently more than 1,200 of GRCC students have added the application to their Facebook pages.  CourseFeed does an excellent job of providing updates, announcements, what’s new, email notices, and even a course wall for classmates to exchange information with each other.

Apparently the tool is not yet available, which is disappointing – since I want to give it try!  I’ve signed up for the webinar that Blackboard has set up to learn more.  It will be interesting to see how this tool compares to CourseFeed.  As I scan through Blackboard Sync Wiki, it looks like there will be some Scholar integration which would be a value added capability, compared to the CourseFeed application.  Meanwhile, more information about Blackboard Sync is available here: http://www.blackboardsync.com/

Back in February, Wimba Inc. was on campus with a video crew. The purpose of the visit was to begin writing a case study and to record a series of video interviews of students and faculty related to their experiences with using the Wimba Voice Board and Wimba Pronto. Ann Alexander, Bernard Manker, Britt Price, Daniel Anderson, Eric Kunnen, Garret Brand, Jeff S. Kissinger, and 2 students were part of the video interview.

The video and case study are currently being featured on the customer spotlight area on wimba.com. In addition, the video that was shot back in February was played during a keynote session as the first annual Wimba Connect Users conference in Orlando on March 4th.

Click here to watch the complete video interview and to access the case study.

I was very happy to discover that Grand Rapids Community College was highlighted in a recent NISOD Newsletter. The newsletter article featured the following GRCC initiatives in the Hook’em Up NISOD Newsletter (March 2008, Volume 2, Number 5):

• GRCC’s use of Blackboard Scholar – “One of the first Blackboard clients to participate in the focus groups was Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). As part of this effort, Eric Kunnen, coordinator of instructional technologies at GRCC, conducted a student survey that indicated most students were not well-versed in using social bookmarking tools. “They really did not know what social bookmarking meant until they got to use it in a group activity,” says Garry Brand, faculty development coordinator and associate professor, Business Law.”
• You can learn more about what GRCC is doing at GRCC’s YouTube Channel.
• Congratulations to GRCC instructors Julie Hess and John Doane as 2008 NISOD Excellence Award winners!

I was very happy to learn that all of the hard work that Klaas Kwant, Garry Brand, and I have put forth on creating our GRCC’s YouTube channel is getting some recoginition.

Blackboard’s “educate/innovate” blog just ran a feature that included information about Blackboard’s new BbTV YouTube channel. In this blog post, GRCCTV was featured. Here is a quote from the article:

“For educators and staff members seeking ways to use video in a Blackboard environment, in classroom teaching and learning, or across your campus, I highly recommend a YouTube Channel created by Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC): GRCCTV.

On its GRCCTV Channel, Eric Kunnen and his colleagues post video recordings of campus lectures and courses, and archive thought-provoking and cool education videos.

Amidst the 420+ videos (uploaded by Klaas Kwant and Media Technologies) in the GRCCTV archives is this interesting little 20-second clip with the description “Student uses mobile device (iPhone) to take a Blackboard assessment in a Business Law class.” (This student is in Garry Brand’s course.)”

Read the entire blog article here.