For those who have not been following me, I have recently become the Senior Programmer / Analyst in the Office of eLearning & Innovation (eLi) at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Two weeks ago, I went on my first business trip for the college. It was to Blackboard World (BbWorld) 2009 as well as the Developers Conference (DevCon). Since I have a few colleges as well as Blackboard users following me, I figured I would write a blog entry.

First things first: BbWorld was held near Washington D.C. at the beautiful Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center. My room was overlooking the atrium. It was a lovely room; however, I was not there to relax. I spent as much time as I could at the convention.

Since this was my first BbWorld, I did not quite know what to expect. Before I left, I created an itinerary of the sessions that sounded like they would be useful. I had two specific goals: First, in the last few months, I had communicated with a number of Blackboard staff as well as other schools. I wanted to put a face to those names. Second, as I am in the process of rewriting the connection between our SIS (Student Information System) and Blackboard, I wanted some insight and/or best practices on accomplishing both. I am happy to state that I met both of my goals.

I have only known Blackboard, both as a company and as a product, for a short time. However, I am excited to see how they are progressing. Blackboard Learn, Release 9 looks like an awesome production. In addition, I am happy to see Blackboard's push towards openness and improved customer support.

As happy as I was to go traveling and learn a bunch of new information, I am happy to be back home again. It will probably take me a few weeks to catch up on my work load as well as to absorb all these tidbits.