The Cobb County School District is a large suburban school district located outside the city of Atlanta, Georgia. With 106 schools and centers (including 16 high schools), Cobb’s administration and staff face the challenge of serving a diverse and widely dispersed population of more than 100,000 students and nearly 8,000 classroom teachers. With rigorous teacher certification requirements, ambitious student achievement benchmarks, and limited resources, Dr. Donald Beers, Deputy Superintendent at Cobb, believes that educational technology provides possible solutions to meet the district’s needs.

“A solution like Blackboard was a logical choice for addressing some of the challenges we face at Cobb County,” says Dr. Beers. As a professor in the Education Leadership Department at Troy University and a Blackboard user, Dr. Beers witnessed first-hand how Blackboard solutions can improve and expand professional development offerings, increase student learning opportunities, and enhance communication.

Beverly Addison, Supervisor of Online Staff Development Programs, was part of the original team that selected the Blackboard Learning SystemTM

and Blackboard ASPSM (Application Service Provider) Services in 2000. She explains that the role of online learning at Cobb is to fill in the gaps of

face-to-face professional development programs and classroom instruction.

ENHANCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Like all K-12 districts, Cobb faces the daunting challenge of meeting state certification requirements. In Georgia, all teachers must receive 100 hours of professional development every five years and must meet the special Georgia technology requirements by completing 5 staff development units (SDUs) or 50 hours of technology training before 2006. In addition, all paraprofessionals must receive 100 hours of staff development by 2006. “Certifying nearly 10,000 people in a short period of time required us to focus our resources to deliver cost-effective, convenient, and effective professional development,” says Addison. To accomplish their goals, her team leveraged the Blackboard platform to achieve the following four outcomes:

Increase Capacity by Adding an Online Technology Course. By modifying their face-to-face technology in-service program (which had a minimum capacity of 15 seats per session and a maximum of 18) Cobb is able to serve an unlimited number of teachers online—helping CCSD reach their goals faster.

“To accomplish our academic and professional development goals, we needed to offer more flexible options for our teachers and students—and Blackboard® solutions help us do that.”

Beverly Addison Supervisor of Online Staff Development Programs,

Cobb County School District

Blackboard and Cobb County School District

Cobb County School District

Public School District

100,000 students

8,000 teachers

Blackboard Client Since November 2001

Blackboard ASP Client since June 2002

Blackboard Case Study

Fast Fact on Funding

Because Cobb County

School District uses

the Blackboard platform

for both professional

development and student

instruction, they are able

to fund their Blackboard

Learning System license

and Blackboard ASP

Services through their

operating budget and

through eHigh School

tuition.

Increase the Number of Professional Development Offerings. Using the Blackboard Learning System for professional development enabled Cobb to offer additional training opportunities to help teachers meet certification requirements. The district now delivers many online staff development courses for teachers, including: TechConnect Online, Exploring Inspiration, and the Online Course Developers Training.

Supplement Face-to-face Offerings with Online Components. To increase the effectiveness of existing training opportunities and to facilitate on-going collaboration between participants, Cobb also enhanced their face-to-face courses by supplementing them with Blackboard software. “Our in-service participants are able to use the Blackboard Learning System for post-event collaboration on projects, which allows them to extend the value of in-service programs by building on the new skills they’ve acquired. Teachers really hone their critical thinking skills and become more involved personally with an added online component,” explains Nancy Howell, Cobb’s Blackboard System Administrator.

The district also uses a “blended model” of delivering professional development in which courses meet face-to-face for the first few sessions followed by two or three weeks of online activities and discussions. This model is very popular with participants since it reduces travel time as well as the amount of personal time spent on professional development.

Individualize Instruction to Engage Teachers. “Teaching with Blackboard [software] allows us to develop materials for all levels of mastery, which keeps teachers engaged in their professional growth. If a teacher has already mastered a concept, he or she can simply take the assessment and move to the next assignment,” says Addison.

The impact has already been profound.

More than 500 teachers have received credits toward certification through Blackboard and the numbers continue to grow each semester. With this success under their belts, Cobb plans to expand their use of the Blackboard Learning System by converting more of their traditional face-to-face courses to the blended model.

ANyTIME, ANywHERE ACCESS TO LEARNINg

Just as Cobb wanted to “fill the gaps” in their face-to-face professional development offerings, the District recognized the need to provide students with increased access to high-quality courses regardless of their geographic location. Whether a student is hospital-homebound, experiencing scheduling conflicts, needs to recover credits for graduation, or is involved in fine arts or after school programs, the district wanted to accommodate the varying needs of its student population.

To this end, Cobb County began preparing courses in Fall 2000 for its first eHigh School term in Summer 2001. Originally, the online program offered two courses and served 25 students in its first summer term. During the 2004-2005 school year, nearly 700 students will participate in more than 40 fully online courses and take approximately 900 online credit hours. “In our first year, fewer than 100 students registered in eHigh School courses—we are projecting that more than 1,200 students will take one of our online courses next year,” says Becky Nunnally, eHigh School Coordinator, as a testament to the program’s ability to meet student needs.

Courses Available for Every Student. Nunnally believes that eHigh School courses have helped many students complete their high school requirements. “Many of our students are working after school, traveling athletes, hospital homebound, and performing arts students involved in magnet and marching band programs who otherwise need to explore instructional

opportunities outside the traditional high school experience. By providing online opportunities, courses are available for students for remediation, acceleration and enrichment in Cobb County,” says Nunnally.

Preparing Teachers for the Modern Classroom. More than 22 Cobb teachers are highly qualified and trained to deliver online courses, which range from 9th Grade Literature and Composition to Astronomy and Euclidean Geometry. The majority of these courses are core classes which meet district and state curriculum standards. To further highlight the demand for Cobb’s extensive professional development program, Nunnally reports that technology fluency has become a criteria for hiring and evaluating teachers in the district.

“To continue growing Cobb’s eHigh School and to best prepare our students, we must have a group of tech-savvy teachers that can deliver an online course with the same skill and enthusiasm as an off-line course.” With ISTE standards as its rubric, Cobb seeks teachers that can effectively integrate technology into the teaching and learning environment. For more information on this topic, see the chart on page four: Six Ways Blackboard K-12 Solutions Can Help Address ISTE NETS Benchmarks.

Christi McMahan, a social studies teacher at Osborne High School, is one of Cobb’s pioneer online teachers and uses the Blackboard Learning System extensively, including the collaboration and assignment manager capabilities. “I have had several students from magnet and alternative schools tell me that they learned more in my online class than any other course they’ve taken. Online students take greater control over their own learning and invest more of themselves—it’s not surprising that they get more out of it,” she explains.

SELECTION OF BLACkBOARD ASP SERVICES

The CCSD believed that contracting with Blackboard ASP Services was the

best course of action for three primary reasons: 1) Cobb’s desire to focus on teaching and learning, 2) the ability to leverage the technical expertise of the Blackboard staff, and 3) savings on hardware and related costs. These factors enabled Cobb to get up and running on Blackboard quickly and cost-effectively.

Hardware and Related Cost-Savings. As an ASP client, Cobb County was able to increase reliability and reduce its investment in the hardware required to effectively run an enterprise-wide platform such as the Blackboard Learning System. Blackboard ASP Services are available to Cobb 24 hours a day 7 days a week. “24x7 support is a must when running a virtual school,” says Howell, who notes that the CCSD team has been pleased with the responsiveness and professionalism of the ASP team at Blackboard.

Focus on Teaching and Learning. By outsourcing technical aspects of daily platform operations such as server maintenance, system upgrades, and database back-ups, the team at Cobb has been able to focus on its core mission—providing their end-users with a teaching and learning environment that enables student success. Becky Nunnally reports that “ASP [services] have helped minimize technical concerns, enabling our team to spend more time working with the online teachers and developing top quality content.”

Leveraging Technical Expertise of Blackboard Staff. “Having Blackboard ASP Services is like adding a team of technical experts to our staff,” reports Beverly Addison. As an ASP client, Cobb County has access to experts in enterprise platform management and database programming and maintenance—significantly extending the capabilities of the Cobb team without assuming additional human resource costs.

Learn. Connect. Share.

Fast Fact on Integrating Technology into the Classroom

More teachers and

administrators use

Blackboard solutions

in their graduate and

pre-service programs

than any other platform.

This familiarity helps

educators integrate

technology into the

curriculum more quickly

and can reduce training

costs.

MAkINg ONLINE TEACHINg AND LEARNINg THE STANDARD INSTEAD OF THE ExCEPTION

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Development, Dr. Kay Wideman, is encouraged by the early success of the eHigh School and is optimistic that, “Infusing technology into instruction will soon become second nature to teachers. Just as the chalkboard is seamlessly integrated into everyday teaching, teaching with Blackboard [software] and other online resources will become the standard not the exception.” She believes that technology is an effective way to individualize instruction to meet each student’s unique schedule, learning style, and goals and is eager to continue the use of the Blackboard Learning System in the district.

Donna Oliver, Director of Distance Learning at Cobb, is also eager to see more teachers incorporate Blackboard into their teaching, “There are three fundamental components: content, teachers, and a delivery mechanism. With a cadre of teachers trained to develop and deliver standards-based content and our delivery mechanism [Blackboard software] in place, the district is well-positioned to accomplish its goals.”

Copyright © 2006. Blackboard Inc. All rights reserved. Blackboard, the Blackboard logo and Blackboard product names are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Blackboard Inc.

TO LEARN MORE ABOuT HOw BLACkBOARD CAN HELP yOu POwER yOuR NETwORkED LEARNINg ENVIRONMENT, PLEASE VISIT OuR wEBSITE: www.BLACkBOARD.COM/k12

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ISTE Standard How Blackboard Can HelpTechnology Operations and Concepts

Demonstrate continued growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current technology.

To enable teachers to demonstrate continued growth in technology skills and knowledge, districts must offer a centralized place for teachers to track and showcase their achievements. Faculty and staff can develop online portfolios through the Blackboard platform to house their professional development and certification materials for easy access and review.

Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences

Plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

Teachers can engage students of multiple learning styles and differentiate instruction with the customizable and easy to use course environment in the Blackboard Learning System. This flexibility opens doors to the many ben-efits of technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum

Apply technology to develop students’ higher order thinking skills and creativity.

With a variety of flexible tools at their disposal, teachers can enhance their curriculum with on-line components that challenge students and expand their minds. For example, many teachers promote the use of discussion boards within the Blackboard platform to facilitate group discussions on relevant topics and to conduct peer review of postings from fellow students.

Assessment and Evaluation

Use Technology resources to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings to improve instructional practice and maximize student learning.

Whether a teacher conducts an online quiz or posts exam review material, the Blackboard platform helps gather and report useful data on performance and system usage. Easy access to information, such as grades, enables teachers and students to monitor on-going performance and make neces-sary adjustments in a timely fashion.

Productivity and Professional Practice

Use technology to engage in on-going professional development and life-long learning.

Whether districts are delivering professional development completely online or supplementing their face-to-face offerings, using the Blackboard Learn-ing System can increase teacher familiarity with education technology and increase the likelihood of its use for classroom instruction.

Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues

Facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students.

Because teaching and learning on the Blackboard platform requires little more than a computer, Internet connection, and a Web browser, students can access course materials from anywhere--including computers at home, in resource centers, and in public libraries.

SIx wAyS BLACkBOARD k-12 SOLuTIONS CAN HELP ADDRESS ISTE NETS BENCHMARkSBy adding an online component to the school district’s professional development program, CCSD is helping its faculty and staff address the six standards areas outlined in the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS). The following is a brief overview of how teachers can enhance their technology proficiency by integrating the Blackboard Learning System with their curriculum.