Have no Fear... Training is Here!

As we are quickly nearing the end of the semester, many of us are going through our checklists to make sure we are ready for the months ahead. Some of these lists may include preparing for next semester, finalizing grades, watering the fiscus, walking the dog, watching Netflix, and maybe even washing the car. In addition to all of that, AU is changing Learning Management Systems, which may take some time to learn. There is just so much to do and so little time! I'm here to ensure you that we are here to help with the transition from Angel to Blackboard Learn (Bb) in any way we can. 

We just kicked off our first round of training this week and I appreciate all of those who were able to make it in such short notice. We will be offering a number of training and meeting times throughout each coming week. If you have not signed up, or could not find a suitable time for your busy schedule, we have added additional "open office hours" at each of the Colleges. These sessions will being the first week in May. If we still have not offered the sessions at the times you are looking for, drop us a request here and we'll do our best to accommodate your needs.

One of the sessions I believe some of you would really benefit from is our online training. This will utilize the Collaborate real time learning tool, which all of you will now have access to! Blackboard Collaborate is a highly interactive environment which allows you to set up various rooms that can be utilized for office hours, synchronous and asynchronous lectures, virtual classrooms and more! This means that not only will you be able to have web conferencing built in to your learning environment, but also the ability to record meetings and lectures and link them directly into your blackboard course. By attending one of these online sessions, you will be able to experience exactly what your students will be experiencing.

Now some of you may be asking, "who can attend all of these amazing training opportunities"? The answer is all Faculty, Staff and Adjuncts. You can even attend the same session twice, to ensure that you are really understanding the material we are training you on. Remember that this training is about an online learning platform, so it would be best if you brought your own computer. This will allow you to navigate and explore Blackboard Learn (Bb) on the device that you will be using most often. You can even favorite the link to our Blackboard Learn (Bb) site! 

I'm looking forward to working with each and every one of you in the future and I wish you all the best. Be sure to hit us up on Twitter at #LearnAU, or shoot us an email if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Remember we are here to ease you through this process. We understand that you have a lot going on, but in order to make this a successful transition, we need to work together. Check out our updated training calendar here and sign up! I'm excited for the future!