bboogle: bringing blackboard and google apps together for collaborative learning

Bboogle: Bringing Blackboard and Google Apps Together For

Collaborative LearningBrian Nielsen, Northwestern University

With support from

Jonathan Smith, Patricia Goldweic, James Altman

Overview

• Google Apps for Education: a quick review

• Alternative models for learning

• Bboogle: integrating Bb and Google Apps

• What can one do with Bboogle?

What Is Google Apps for Education?

• http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/

• Gmail

• Google Docs (docs, presentations, spreadsheets and forms)

• Google Calendar

• Google Sites

• Northwestern students have been using GAE since 2007 in Our “@u” domain

“Traditional” Model for Teaching

Today’s Model for Learning

What is Bboogle?• A “connector” technology: Google Apps in

Blackboard Learn

• An open source Building Block, available at http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle

• Developed at Northwestern for Blackboard 8 , 9, and 9.1

• As open source, we are encouraging other developers/instructional technologists to join us in contributing to the future of Bboogle

What Does Bboogle Offer? 1 2

3

Google Bookmarklet

4

Single SignOn5

But What Does Bboogle Do?

• Collaborative writing

• Group presentations

• Aggregating data collection and management

• Calendar overlays for coordination of personal and academic life

• Collaborative multimedia hypertexts – Google Sites

And, Importantly …

Manages permissions and

Creates Groups

A Class Project

• “The subject of this course is vast and in order to create an organized mental map of the people, places, concepts, and events we encounter, as a group we will collaborate to create a web-based encyclopedia that will both help you prepare for your midterm essay and final exam, and serve as a source for future reference.”

-- Prof. Geraldo Cadava

Project Scenario

• 27 Students in a 10-week course• A group of 2-3 students becomes “editor for

the week”– Responsible for determining and assigning articles– Manage editorial review and style uniformity

• Remainder of students become author/ researchers, submitting 2-3 entries per week

• Weekly rotation of responsibilities

Demonstration

Google Site: Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Student Entry: Encyclopedia of Latin American History

Collecting Student Papers

Other Applications

• Data sharing

• Calendar coordination

• Sharing student writing

• Collaboration on group presentations

• etc., etc.

• For developers, work with the Google API

Thinking About Evaluation

• Students are engaged

• Instructors are pondering possible instructional activities/designs

• Many instructors need more assistance and support for Google Apps than for Bboogle

• Modeling other learning project scenarios will help promote adoption of Bboogle

ResourcesProject site: http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle

Meetings of Bboogle Community Developers/Users twice monthly via AdobeConnect session

A listserv: email pgoldweic@northwestern.edu or b-nielsen@northwestern.edu to subscribe

Test/demonstration accounts available through Northwestern University

Video featuring Encyclopedia of Latin American History http://new-learning.northwestern.edu/bboogle

Please provide feedback for this session by emailingBbWorldFeedback@blackboard.com.

The title of this session is:

Bboogle: Bringing Blackboard and Google Apps

Together For Collaborative Learning

Presenter contact:

b-nielsen@northwestern.edu