Facebook and Blackboard – a matter of time

It was inevitable really, and just a matter of time before somebody tried this. Mashable reports on CourseFeeds, a Facebook application that connects to your Blackboard course with your Facebook profile

This is, of course, in part to Facebook’s decision to open the development of applications and allowing integrations to other web apps.

Of course, this sent me off digging to see what else I could find regarding Facebook apps linked to Education Technology. A quick scout of the main VLE vendors and other educational technology didn’t yield any results but then at present some view Facebook as the cafe/bar on the campus where all the informal learning and chit chat takes place.

I do, however, think this could be an interesting development. It would be worth watching the take up of the CourseFeeds app. Do students want to engage with their learning and teaching in this way? Will this initiate a trend in using the likes of Facebook as a PLE (which some students may be doing anyway)? With Facebook’s present take-up and Blackboard’s large presence, particularly in the US, whatever your personal views on these particular applications, the connection between the two could provide some interesting data.