Sahar talking about Blackboard Backpack
Last week at BbWorld, Sahar Javadi and I spent time talking about and demonstrating a new product called Blackboard Backpack. Agilix, my employer, has worked closely with Blackboard to develop the Backpack application.
Backpack works on a student’s laptop computer and helps them download and manage all the information professors add to the Blackboard online system, stay organized with a calendar of assignments and due dates, and take searchable, digital notes on their computer. If you think about how iTunes works, Backpack is very similar. Backpack connects to the student’s account at their school’s Blackboard account. All the course information posted to the web is downloaded and stays in sync when new items are posted or if things change.
Dan Cane, a Blackboard Founder and current VP of R&D, joined in on the fun. Dan’s the “executive sponsor” of Backpack inside Blackboard. He uses Backpack for courses he’s taking at George Washington University in DC.
Two of the highlights for me at the event included:
- a keynote presentation given by Chris S. Thomas, Chief Strategist, from Intel. He spoke on the benefits of a Personal Learning System like Backpack on the student’s mobile computer that can work at the “speed of the student” rather than the speed of the Internet or web-based systems. The mobile application will take advantage of the local processor so things work faster than waiting for web pages to load.
- a presentation from a student from Seton Hall University, Danielle Calcado. Danielle talked about how she uses Blackboard Backpack as a replacement for her paper binder. She also uses Backpack as a planner to stay organized. Danielle is busy as a student, an employee on campus in the instructional technology center, and the president of a sorority at Seton Hall.