Thursday, 11 October 2012 | 9.30AM - 4.30PM Hosted by Nanyang Polytechnic

WE ARE SORRY THAT WE HAVE TO CLOSE REGISTRATION DUE TO THE EVENT BEING SOLD OUT

Venue: Block L, Lecture Theatre L3 (LT-L3), School of Information & Technology, Nanyang Polytechnic, 180 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, Singapore PROGRAM 9.30AM    Registration with Tea and Coffee 10.00AM    Welcome 10.15AM    Re-designing Teacher Education amidst a Changing Educational Landscape: Building an Evidence-base Speaker: Associate Professor Low Ee Ling, Associate Dean, Programme & Student Development, Office of Teacher Education, National Institute of Education This presentation will provide an overview of what building evidence-base for Teacher Education in Singapore entails from both local and global perspectives. A scan of the literature and a meta-analysis of the local and global educational landscape forms an important basis for crafting an evidence-informed policy. This includes analysing the strengths and weaknesses of different types of teacher education models, what works and why. Next, it is important to build an evidence-base to inform future policy and practice by establishing a baseline understanding of what current practices are so as to decide what ought to drive further review and enhancement processes. This keynote presents Singapore’s teacher education model for the 21st Century in its 5-year journey from conceptualisation to realisation and which has, as its underpinning philosophy, the conviction that “21st Century learners call for 21st Century teachers and that 21st Century teachers call for 21st Century teacher educators.” 11.00AM    Beyond the Four Walls – Southern Cross University (Australia) Speaker: Stephen Rowe, Lecturer, Southern Cross University  What happens when you decide to break the constraints of collaborating in a physical room? What is "attendance"? What is "participation"? Using usage statistics for Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing by staff and students, for meetings and teaching, an interesting dichotomy emerges in the way our staff and students take advantage of the flexibility afforded. The value of even the basic functionality of audio and chat are highlighted to demonstrate how the level of engagement can be enhanced beyond those four (physical) walls. 11.45AM Communication Tools to Drive Feedback and Student Engagement Speaker: Margot Hirsch, VP-International, Blackboard Connect Join this Blackboard-led session to learn about the latest cross-platform tools for reaching students using the channels they prefer most for communicating, including SMS and social media. Blackboard Connect experts will share the latest tools – including Bb Connect 5 and the new 2-way SMS building block for Learn - as well as the best practices for using them. Learn how local institutions like Nanyang Technological University have made the most of these tools to drive academic success from the ‘feedback generation.’ 12.15PM LUNCH 1.15PM Implementation of Business Intelligence - The Experience of Lingnan University (Hong Kong) Speaker: Prof William Lee, Associate Vice-President (Academic Affairs) & Registrar, Lingnan University To ensure the flow of empirical information to support data driven decision-making at the institutional and departmental/unit levels, in particular with the implementation of the 4-year curriculum in Hong Kong, Lingnan has acquired a BI solution that could help pull data collected from different academic departments and functional units into a single system for reporting and analysis. The session will cover the implementation process, how data is transformed to information for decision making by senior management and what are the challenges encountered. 2.00PM Always Connected, Always on – Griffith University (Australia) Speaker: Michael Garner, Team Leader, Identity Management Team, Collaboration & IT Access, Information Services, Griffith University Going mobile is one of the most effective ways to instantly enrich teaching, learning, and campus life—for everyone, wherever they are. Griffith University has partnered with Blackboard Mobile solutions where they empowered their students and faculty members to access their courses, content, and organisations on a variety of mobile devices, and extend their existing Blackboard Learn™ implementation in an engaging and intuitive way. Michael will share their experience since the adoption of Blackboard Mobile into their institution and how the platform has changed learning and teaching within their institution. 2.45PM Afternoon Tea Break 3.15PM University 2.0: Social Learning – Collaborative, Participative and Sustainable Speaker: Associate Professor Daniel Tan, Director, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Nanyang Technological University Web 2.0 has opened enhanced opportunities and new dimensions in the use of web technology to support effective learning and teaching in universities. It also promises to integrate various services into a more holistic model for scholarship. At the Nanyang Technological University, they have adopted a campus-wide approach to social learning to synthesize the various aspects of educational support to create a collaborative and participative environment for both faculty and students. The challenge of sustainability of such practices was operationally considered to ensure that initiatives undertaken will not be short-lived but remain effective for faculty under continual usage. 3.45PM The Road Ahead - Blackboard Learn & xpLor Speaker: Yee Jenn En, Solutions Engineer, Blackboard Get a glimpse of Blackboard Learn's product plans for the remainder of 2012 and beyond.  This session will provide insight into the future development directions for Blackboard Learn. We'll also discuss how our roadmap is preparing us to meet the requirements of emerging trends in education. 4.15PM Closing by Singapore Blackboard User Group Chair 4.30PM Ends

Prof William Lee AVP (Academic Affairs), Lingnan University of Hong Kong

Stephen Rowe Lecturer Southern Cross University Australia

Margot Hirsch VP, International Blackboard Connect

Prof Low Ee Ling Assoc Dean, Programme & Student Development National Institute of Education

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Join us for the upcoming Blackboard Teaching and Learning Forum. The theme for the Forum this year is 'Responding to Change in Education'. International and local speakers will discuss challenges facing institutions and faculty members as they try to keep up with changing expectations of today's learners who require greater flexibility and immediacy when it comes to learning.