Customer Spotlight
Building Stronger Connections: A User Group Leader Driving Collaboration Across the Blackboard Community
Title
Teaching & Learning Applications Specialist
Institution
William & Mary
Tenure
9 Years
Blackboard Community Involvement
User Group Leader
Social
Meet Kristy Walker
With more than two decades in higher education, Kristy Walker has built a career around supporting the advancement of student learning through digital tools. As the Teaching and Learning Academic Applications Specialist at William & Mary, she serves as the institution’s Blackboard LMS administrator, helping faculty and staff navigate the evolving landscape of digital learning tools. Having worked with the platform since her early years at a Virginia community college, Walker has witnessed and contributed to the transformation of the learning management system over time. Her passion lies in empowering educators to use technology effectively and creatively in their teaching – a mindset that continues to shape her work with faculty across campus.
How Kristy Walker and her Co-Group Leaders are Making an Impact
Walker’s commitment to collaboration extends well beyond her own institution through her leadership in the regional Blackboard User Group community. Inspired after connecting with fellow administrators at the annual user conference, she – along with her user group co-leaders Mariann Hawken and Will White – helped bring together the Maryland and Virginia user groups to host a joint webinar on digital accessibility and share insights, resources, and strategies. This effort by Walker, Hawken, and White created opportunities for institutions across both states to learn from one another and exchange ideas about how they are using Blackboard LMS, as they had 20 attendees representing 9 institutions participate. The expanded network allows administrators to compare approaches, share resources, and collectively solve challenges that many institutions face. Through her leadership, Walker and her co-leaders have strengthened a community where collaboration makes innovation possible.
Throughout my career we’ve always had Blackboard as our LMS, so I’ve really been able to see how it’s evolved. Being part of the Blackboard community means we can learn from each other, share resources, and not have to reinvent the wheel.
- Kristy Walker, Teaching & Learning Applications Specialist, William & Mary
A True Partnership: Kristy Walker and Blackboard
Throughout her career journey, Walker has also built a strong partnership with Blackboard and its teams – one she describes as responsive, collaborative, and genuinely invested in customer success. That partnership was on full display during a recent new faculty orientation at William & Mary, where Blackboard staff joined Walker’s team for a campus ice cream social. While faculty enjoyed ice cream bars, Blackboard representatives answered questions, listened to feedback, and talked through real classroom challenges. For Walker, that kind of presence makes a difference as she shared “...It was awesome. It's support like that where show their enthusiasm for the product, but also recognize the weaknesses because they listen to faculty. It shows us [as administrators] support because we always feel like we're the ones that get the complaints. So for them to be willing to be the front face out there, I think that’s great and companies should do more of that.”
It’s helped me become a better support person for my institution because I’ve had that support from Blackboard. When issues come up, I know there are people I can reach out to, and that makes a huge difference when faculty need answers quickly.
- Kristy Walker, Teaching & Learning Applications Specialist, William & Mary
Blackboard would like to thank Kristy Walker, along with her user group co-leaders Mariann Hawken and Will White for being an incredible inspiration to our Community!
Interested in what the Blackboard Community has to offer? Join today to connect, collaborate, share ideas, and exchange best practices with your peers!