Integrating Blackboard Solutions and the Google Wave

Platform

George Kroner

Agenda

• What is it? / What does it look like?

• How do people use it?

• How could you use it?

• Should you decide to use it…

What is Google Wave

• Wiki + IM + e-mail + collaboration + social networking/groups + media sharing + widgets all-in-one, in real time

• "equal parts conversation and document”

• Play-back-able stream of thought/activity

Other relevant background

• A tool once limited to a select few now available to everyone

• Now part of Google Apps for Education

• Unique offering in that it can be hosted by Google or locally at your institution – and it’s open source

What can it be used to do?

• Real-time collaboration

– Text-in-real-time is its top strength

• Resource sharing

– Photos, videos, files

• Extensions

– Video/audio chat communication– Tasks/Scheduling– Ratings/polls– Real-time translation– Maps

• Bots

Use cases

• Teacher– Ultimate discussion

forum– Teacher collaboration– Playback– Polls/surveys

• Student– Note-taking– Group areas– Real-time collaborative

document authoring

Search Google:Google Wave in educationGoogle Wave educational use cases

Techniques for Making Wave Work for You

• Embedding Google Wave into Blackboard

• Wave Widgets & Capabilities

• Linking to a Wave

• Bots & Advanced Integration (better get the tech folks!)

Demonstration – Blackboard Discussion Forum integration

• http://bit.ly/bbwave

• http://bit.ly/waveinedu

– https://wave.google.com/wave/#minimized:nav,minimized:contact,minimized:search,restored:wave:googlewave.com%252Fw%252BDefxt6ZiA

Is this the end of the LMS?

• Have you tried Google Wave?

– High barrier to get started

• Usability quirks

– Browser incompatibilities– Glitches and page refreshing– Can’t link directly to a Wave unless logged in first– No grade book or quiz integration

• Policy incompatibilities

– FERPA

• Technology in search of a purpose?

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

The subject of the email should be title of this session:

Google Wave and Blackboard