From a Distance...

 
Online Newsletter for Arkansas Distance Learning

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Conference Review: ArBUG
by Terry Patterson

The Arkansas Blackboard Users Group, also known as ArBUG, held its inaugural conference at UALR in March.  Over 100 attendees from 19 colleges and universities from around the state participated in the two day conference.  We didn’t expect so many institutions our first year!

ArBUG also announced the Diamond Award for Excellence in Online Education which will be given out at its 2010 conference.  The award will be given to online courses that use Blackboard products while spotlighting the great work Arkansasans are doing in this field.  A committee has been developed to review the courses and will use the Blackboard Exemplary Courses Program as a guideline. 

Attendees were able to network with others from around the state and attend sessions ranging in topics from policy development to online interaction with students.  The highlight for many attendees came in the closing session where Blackboard 9 was demonstrated.  A few lucky participants even received hands-on time with it.  All in all, we are very happy with our first conference and look forward to next year at Pulaski Technical College. 

More information about ArBUG and its work can be found at http://www.arbug.org.

About the Author

Terry Patterson is the Director of Distance Learning at South Arkansas Community College.  “It is my belief that distance learning can be one of the most exciting and challenging fields at any institution of higher education. To be successful in developing content meaningful for the students, faculty, and staff, one is required to possess three strong attributes:  technological mastery, strong communication ability, and development expertise within learning environments.”  Terry is the president of ArBUG.

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