Bboogle: Bringing Blackboard
and Google Apps Together For
Collaborative Learning
Brian Nielsen, Northwestern University
With support from
Jonathan Smith, Patricia Goldweic, James Altman
Overview
• Google Apps for
Education: a quick
review
• Alternative models for
learning
• Bboogle: integrating Bb
and Google Apps
• What can one do with
Bboogle?
What Is Google Apps for
Education?
• http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/
• Gmail
• Google Docs (docs, presentations, spreadsheets and forms)
• Google Calendar
• Google Sites
• Northwestern students have been using GAE
since 2007 in Our “@u” domain
“Traditional” Model for Teaching
Today’s Model for Learning
What is Bboogle?
• A “connector” technology: Google Apps in
Blackboard Learn
• An open source Building Block, available at
http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle
• Developed at Northwestern for Blackboard 8 ,
9, and 9.1
• As open source, we are encouraging other
developers/instructional technologists to join
us in contributing to the future of Bboogle
What Does Bboogle Offer?
1
2
3
4 Google
Bookmarklet
5 Single SignOn
But What Does Bboogle Do?
• Collaborative writing
• Group presentations
• Aggregating data collection and management
• Calendar overlays for coordination of personal
and academic life
• Collaborative multimedia hypertexts – Google
Sites
And, Importantly …
Manages permissions
and
Creates Groups
A Class Project
• “The subject of this course is vast and in order
to create an organized mental map of the
people, places, concepts, and events we
encounter, as a group we will collaborate to
create a web-based encyclopedia that will
both help you prepare for your midterm essay
and final exam, and serve as a source for
future reference.”
-- Prof. Geraldo Cadava
Project Scenario
• 27 Students in a 10-week course
• A group of 2-3 students becomes “editor for
the week”
– Responsible for determining and assigning articles
– Manage editorial review and style uniformity
• Remainder of students become author/
researchers, submitting 2-3 entries per week
• Weekly rotation of responsibilities
Demonstration
Google Site: Encyclopedia of Latin
American History
Student Entry: Encyclopedia of
Latin American History
Collecting Student Papers
Other Applications
• Data sharing
• Calendar coordination
• Sharing student writing
• Collaboration on group presentations
• etc., etc.
• For developers, work with the Google API
Thinking About Evaluation
• Students are engaged
• Instructors are pondering possible instructional
activities/designs
• Many instructors need more assistance and
support for Google Apps than for Bboogle
• Modeling other learning project scenarios will
help promote adoption of Bboogle
Resources
Project site: http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle
Meetings of Bboogle Community Developers/Users twice monthly
via AdobeConnect session
A listserv: email pgoldweic@northwestern.edu or
b-nielsen@northwestern.edu to subscribe
Test/demonstration accounts available through
Northwestern University
Video featuring Encyclopedia of Latin American History
http://new-learning.northwestern.edu/bboogle
Please provide feedback for this session by emailing
BbWorldFeedback@blackboard.com.
The title of this session is:
Bboogle: Bringing Blackboard and Google Apps
Together For Collaborative Learning
Presenter contact:
b-nielsen@northwestern.edu