Here's the Blackboard page that highlights new features for SP10. (This doesn't include SP9 or SP8, which will also be new for our district, since we are currently using SP7.) Some of the things that jumped out to me:
- Improved calendar for students and teachers;
- Providing academic networking for students, distinct from social networking;
- Students can create non-course spaces, for clubs or study groups;
- An improved editor, for teachers creating course content;
- New item analysis reports;
- Integration with YouTube: students or teachers can quickly record from their webcam and post it to BB with just a few clicks;
- "Post first" discussion boards: Students have to post something before they can see what anyone else has written.
- BB xplor: a learning object repository, which will allow teachers to share standards-based assessments and other materials with colleagues across the hall or across the country.
Some of these are available now; others are scheduled for release within the next year.
One thing that struck me is that much of the newer BB interface is similar to that of Haiku. I don't know if this is intentional or just convergent design, but it's welcome, because I have been a fan of Haiku for a long time. Another is the realization that if we want to move to 21st-century learning, we need to move to a 21st-century LMS.
Currently our district doesn't provide a BB class for teachers unless they request one. I'm going to change that next year. Every teacher will automatically get a BB class for each course they teach, with some useful defaults. Hopefully the content management capabilities will make it much easier for teachers to build and use courses in BB.
