It had to happen - Blackboard now integrates with Facebook. The product is called BlackboardSync. I don’t have access to Blackboard so am unable to fully review. I merely report on its existance. There is also a support wiki. What if… …your students could use their online social network to help them learn? hehe - its from the Ad on the wiki. Thats funny! What if… …your students could learn from the social tools embedded within the LMS???? Now thats the question, that should be asked!

I must confess to using Del.icio.us an awful lot but rarely by actually going to the website. The reason is simple, the Del.icio.us Firefox extension encapsulates browsing, bookmarking and tagging into a seamless workflow. I installed the Del.icio.us Facebook app almost a year ago. At first it did not seem all that useful - My recent bookmarks were displayed on my profile page and recent bookmarks of my friends were displayed on my homepage. I find myself these days clicking on some of the recent bookmarks made by my technically minded friends. Facebook coupled with Del.icio.us is actually a very subversive way to gain an insight into what your friends/colleagues are working on, researching or investigating. I’ve become a bookmark spy!

• Rate your Professor
  Evaluations gone extreme and shared! You’ll even be able to see the grade history - yep how many A - F’s were given.
• DoResearch4me
  They don’t write an essay, but ResearchBitch.com will do research for you. Just send your draft notes and back will come research in approx 10 - 30 mins.

Finally got some time to take a look at the Facebook app catalogue. Lots of apps that have no use or would just get annoying. I did however come across CourseFeed that integrates with Blackboard to show course content, announcements and rosters.

… But your school/uni must be supported - there is a list of supported school which will hopefully grow.

Some useful features even if your school is not supported:

• Course Wall
• File storage
• Share Course posts (feeds) with other students
• Who’s Online - via Facebook Profile

Kinda best of Facebook social collab mixed with content from Blackboard. … So why is Blackboard not doing the social stuff be default! Why?