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What is Blackboard Learn by Anthology?
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and…
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- Assignments (30)9.090%
- Learning reporting & analytics (26)9.090%
- Mobile friendly (30)8.989%
- Learning content (27)6.161%
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What is Blackboard Learn by Anthology?
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and…
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Open LMS (formerly Moodlerooms) is an open source learning management system for educational institutions, formerly supported by Blackboard, and now part of the Learning Technologies Group.
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Tovuti's cloud-based learning management system (LMS) gives users tools to create, deliver, and track the effectiveness of eLearning programs. It helps users to create engaging interactive courses in minutes with Tovuti's interactive modules and a course creation suite. Users can build as many…
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What is Blackboard Learn by Anthology?
Blackboard Learn enables educators to deliver the inclusive, consistent educational experiences learners design, while operating alongside current tools and integrations. Backed by a community of millions of students, instructors, and administrators across more than 70 countries, Blackboard Learn has supports collaboration with educators.
With hundreds of SaaS based features that foster collaboration, personalize the learning experience, extend accessibility, and keep learners engaged, Blackboard Learn provides collaborative workflows for students and instructors alike. Some key benefits include:
Mobile-friendly course experience
Blackboard Learn encourages a more
consistent experience across a student’s courses, allowing them to more
easily locate what they need, even on-the-go.
The best test taking experience for learners
Flexible assessment types and customizable feedback options allow instructors to support
unique learning needs.
An inclusive learning environment
Every learner is unique and expects a
personalized learning experience. Blackboard Learn empowers
students to express their identity and present themselves as they want to.
No charge for crucial data
Institutions, instructors and learners
need access to actionable data insights to create engaging learning
experiences. This is part of a Blackboard Learn license, enabling learners to keep track of their
own progress and get the support they need, and empowering instructors identify struggling students early on.
An LMS built in collaboration with educators
Built in collaboration with instructors and learners from all over the world, Anthology states they focus their product roadmap based on user needs. Its users help guide the direction of Learn through the insider program, weekly focus groups, Anthology Idea Exchange, and a community site.
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Features
Learning Management Features
- Supported: Course authoring
- Supported: Course catalog or library
- Supported: Player/Portal
- Supported: Mobile friendly
- Supported: Progress tracking & certifications
- Supported: Assignments
- Supported: Compliance management
- Supported: Learning administration
- Supported: Learning reporting & analytics
- Supported: eLearning
- Supported: Assessments
- Supported: Live online learning
- Supported: In-person learning
- Supported: Video learning
- Supported: SCORM-compliant
- Supported: Social learning
- Supported: Gamification
- Supported: GDPR Compliant Learning
- Supported: Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Screenshots
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Videos
Blackboard Learn by Anthology - Product Overview
An overview of Blackboard Learn Ultra presented by Anthology's VP of Product, Jim Chalex.
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Competitors
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Mobile Web |
| Supported Languages | Arabic, Chinese- Simplified, Chinese- Traditional, Danish, Dutch, English- Australia, English- United Kingdom, English- United States, French- Canada, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese- Brazilian, Portuguese- Portugal, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh, Czech, Polish, Malay, Thai, |
Blackboard Learn by Anthology Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and government organizations. As of December 2010, Blackboard software and services are used by over 9,300 institutions in more than 60 countries. Blackboard Learn is the company's flagship LMS, supporting course management, test & assessment design and administration, and is extensible via Blackboard's suite of addable modules.
Canvas, Infor Learning Management (LMS), and D2L Brightspace are common alternatives for Blackboard Learn by Anthology.
Reviewers rate Learning administration highest, with a score of 9.9.
The most common users of Blackboard Learn by Anthology are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Recommendations
Based on user reviews, here are the three most common recommendations for Blackboard Learn:
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Consider Blackboard Learn for higher education and communication with parents. Users recommend it as the learning management system of choice, especially for higher education institutions. It is also recommended for effective communication with parents.
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Explore and utilize interactive functions. Many users find Blackboard Learn easy to manage and recommend taking the time to explore and utilize its interactive functions. The platform is considered convenient for classes and easy to use.
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Take advantage of Blackboard's tools for education. Users believe that Blackboard Learn offers a complete and effective educational forum. It is recommended for institutions with a large number of students, as it allows for uploading assignments, having timed tests, and recording live videos. Expert guidance is suggested during implementation.
While these are the most common recommendations, it is also advised to do research and consider the return on investment before choosing a learning management system. Additionally, some users suggest exploring alternative options and trying trials of other systems before making a final decision.
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Reviews
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April 21, 2021
Blackboard Learn for team work
I've used Blackboard Learn in my own area (Work Force), we use this to take Excel Courses so that our team lead keeps a track of our learning process. We started using this product because there wasn't a way of keeping a track of the new thing we were learning at the time, this has allowed everyone across my area to know which courses are still missing and which courses have already been taken.
- Easy access to modules
- Easy access to documents
- Tracking progesss
- Mobile version view
- Document sharing
- Document uploading
April 20, 2021
Learning Made easy
Blackboard Learn is currently being used as the learning management software to host courses that a student enrolls for a certain semester. Almost all the activities such as quizzes, classes, assignments and more are hosted on Blackboard Learn. I have used the mobile version as well. It is the perfect answer for students pursuing distance learning education along with their respective jobs. The best part is the Panopto video integration that allows students to listen to lectures at their convenience.
- Hosting of courses associated with a particular semester
- Integration with zoom and Panopto
- Grading of the respecitive courses and also hosts the submission of student work related to the particular home work assignments, quizzes etc.,
- Blackboard Learn has some limitations when it comes to submissions
- It is not that user friendly, I had to spend some time to get a hang of it in the beginning
- I have been struggling a bit with deletion of manually added courses
January 19, 2021
Blackboard, more beta perhaps?
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Blackboard is used college wide.
- Good for organizing content
- The content formatting features are, well, how should I say this, terrible.
April 13, 2020
Blackboard Learn Review
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Blackboard is used as a platform for students to send and receive school work. This program is operated by teachers as a web-based user software device to connect them to their students. It is incredibly important now due to the current world events regarding distancing.
- It does what it is intended to do such as connecting students and teachers alike.
- It allows teachers to upload assignments online to eliminate the use of paper.
- Good platform to take tests and quizzes.
- Sign-on errors are common and it may inhibit the students' ability to submit and receive assignments as directed.
- It is hard to navigate at times if you are unfamiliar.
- Not exactly user friendly.
- Sometimes locations of assignments are not clear, very obscure.
- Not a very appealing layout.
January 31, 2020
Blackboard Learn- When you Need the Basics in Content Delivery and Instructional Management
Blackboard Learn is used primarily as an online classroom. Blackboard Collaborate can be utilized to facilitate and record real-time lectures and discussions, but the main function of Blackboard is to provide a secure online space for professors to load course guidelines, content and student grades, as well as host non-synchronous discussion boards. It is also used by academic support programs such as mentoring and tutoring to post content and planning support for student access.
- Accepts wide variety of file types.
- Choice of layout options to fit different styles of courses.
- Interface isn't very modern.
- Low use of icons and heavy text make it tricky to navigate.
January 28, 2020
Blackboard Learn keeps the learning transparency
Blackboard Learn is used by our students and faculty to submit assignments, keep reading articles, and to get grades.
- Keep classes organized
- Keep grades and assignments in one place
- I think it does everything it should.
- Not missing any functionalities
January 21, 2020
An excellent product
Blackboard Learn is one of the tools used by my school district for sending out various types of communications to our families. We have two different communication platforms that we are able to choose from when sending out information and Blackboard is always the one that I prefer to use.
- It is really easy to create and save lists.
- Multiple types of communications can be sent at one time.
- It is not the easiest tool for people not as technology savvy to navigate.
- Training is needed to master all the features.
Blackboard Learn is our primary Learning Management System and is used both by our distance education program and for supplemental materials to in class instruction. It is used by faculty across campus in various colleges and departments as well as for staff training. The software has a portal which allows students to access their classes, each with its own web page, to view lessons, download files, access external links, take tests, and submit assignments.
- Lesson Managment
- Discussion Board
- Quizes
- File Submission
- Class interaction
- Comments on assignments
- Grade-book automation
March 08, 2019
Works to keep students engaged outside of class
All of Stony Brook University uses Blackboard Learn to maintain communication between students and educators in and out of the classroom. Assignments are posted and submitted, announcements are made to students, and discussion threads are used. Using Blackboard eliminates communication issues and encourages students to be involved outside of the classroom.
- Easy to use tabs to get to different sections of the courses
- Easy to communicate directly with the educator and other students through messaging.
- Easy to submit assignments directly by uploading.
- The mobile Blackboard app is not easy to use on my Android phone as the sizing is off and some functions do not work.
- The discussion threads are a little more difficult to navigate, between replying to the current thread or needing to start a new one.
- The grades section is not always correctly updated on my end even though the educator has posted them.
February 23, 2019
Performs as expected
I use Blackboard to manage my courses, access documents, take quizzes, view grades, and communicate with peers and faculty. It is used across the entire institution, excluding one school.
- Clear, consistent organization/menus.
- Communication tools within Blackboard and email.
- The tools section is overwhelming and a lot of them don't seem useful.
- Limited functionality of the mobile app.
Blackboard Learn is the supported Learning Management system at the University of Kansas. It is used across the organization, with a focus on academic courses. All courses in our PeopleSoft Student Information System automatically receive a corresponding Blackboard class. It allows students and instructors to coordinate assignments and grades for academic classes, and is sometimes used as a communication tool for non-academic use.
- Number of Integrations. Up until fairly recently, Blackboard Learn was the only option that scaled well for an institution of our size. They purchased competitors, and dominated marketshare. Due to this, most integrations from publishers or other educational technologies had to create a Blackboard integration.
- Adapting to Web Standards. Blackboard is currently releasing REST APIs and LTI integrations, and encouraging these as the standards moving forward. This is an excellent direction, and will allow Blackboard to be more competitive in the future.
- Customization. Each Blackboard course can be fully customized by the Instructor, using as much or as little as each individual instructor would like. For those that enjoy complete control - this is really useful.
- Self-Hosted Option. I anticipate this to eventually be depreciated, but currently we can host our Blackboard instance - which grants full flexibility and data analysis capabilities that are not available in the managed or cloud hosted options.
- Lack of APIs. Blackboard is catching up, but other competitors are much further along since those competitors started as a web-based company. The other factor holding these back is the different hosting options. All APIs are available for cloud-hosted, but not for managed-hosted or self-hosted.
- Lack of defaults. While highly configurable, Blackboard is really intimidating for instructors used to default course structures. You can lock this down, but our users enjoy the customizability - which causes issues providing for both values. Instructors have multiple ways to do tasks - and often there isn't a clear pathway.
- Lack of focus on core. Blackboard keeps releasing new products : Analytics (usage), Transact (purchase / card system), Ally (accessibility), Predict (early warning)... while the core experience lags behind. Blackboard is trying to sell the idea that their stuff works well with their stuff... while competitors keep improving the core system and make integrations easier. Personally, I believe Blackboard needs to refocus on the core competencies.
- Lack of communication / proactivity. Blackboard relied on an integration with Crocodoc for assignment markup. Crocodoc was purchased and shuttered by Box, who had a general press release a year out. Blackboard worked with Box to replace this functionality - but DID NOT DO A GOOD JOB. Communication on progress was non-existant, it required an unplanned restart, and there was a massive feature loss. We still experience some performance issues, and it's been over a year since the switch.
- Lack of migration pathway. There are distinct differences between self-hosted and cloud-hosted. The migration path from self hosted to cloud hosted is just as complex as migrating to another LMS. Blackboard has been really pushing cloud-hosted as a better experience, but many institutions of our size have had extreme difficulty migrating and some have ultimately switched to a competitor and had an easier time migrating. If you are considering going to the cloud, Blackboard SaaS will probably be as big of a change as a competitor.
- Poor Branding. Ultra is a ubiquitous term that Blackboard has settled on, but there are too many Ultras. Ultra was originally the branding for SaaS, a technology that was Vaporware for two years and then ultimately came out half-completed. Then they started offering Collaborate Ultra, Ultra Course View and Ultra Experience. I think there is even now an Ultra theme that is available for Learn Original. They need to find another word, because it's extremely confusing for administrators - let alone instructors.
February 10, 2019
Great Tool for Learning
I've used Blackboard both as a teaching assistant and a student.
- As a student, I get mobile access and notifications about grades, announcements, and course changes that help me manage my learning.
- As an instructor, Blackboard lets me integrate a lot of different types of media, structure time released content, vary assessments, and deliver individualized learning opportunities.
- I also like the Best Practice parts of the help site -- it helps you to get ideas of how you can use the tools.
- In terms of support from Blackboard.
- I find it difficult to transfer information from one semester to another.
- Slow (even when on the same network node or high-speed cable connection) -- needs a code rewrite/optimization.
February 09, 2019
It can be configured to do anything you want. It is Blackboard's blessing and curse.
Blackboard Learn is used for the majority of courses at our university. Each class uses it differently from just posting a syllabus to a grade book, to robust use of Collaborate, discussion boards, and content submission. It is up to each professor how deep they choose to use the tool in aiding instruction.
- It can be configured to do anything you want.
- It makes it easier for the students have a common destination for information.
- I like that I can do all of my assessments and grading in one place.
- It can be configured to do anything you want. Be careful.
- Its architecture feels old, but because they support so many schools that are change adverse, it is hard to update.
February 06, 2019
Blackboard Learn - great for classrooms
It’s being used across the university as a class hub.
- Great file repository.
- Good for in-depth documentation layouts.
- Good for record keeping.
- Better mobile integration.
- More online training.
- More walkthrough samples.
February 06, 2019
BlackBoard learn - a solid course management system
Blackboard is the course management system used by both recent employers. I have used it for several years as a student too. The system is very reliable, easy to navigate and customize. It includes several modules, one of which is blackboard collaborate which enable live remote sessions.
Having online students is so common these days and having all course collaboration and live sessions in one secure centralized location is a necessity for both students and universities.
Having online students is so common these days and having all course collaboration and live sessions in one secure centralized location is a necessity for both students and universities.
- Instructors can easily customize the course page.
- It has the capability to do online exams, class discussions, automatic grading, and live sessions.
- Integrates with local LDAP and single sign-on services.
- Although the current graphic user interface is easy to use, it can be improved with larger fonts, dynamic menus, and attractive graphics.
- The system does not include a module to pay the school fee.
- The roster tab lacks detailed information about students.
January 28, 2019
Making the most of a Blackboard Learning Management System
Blackboard is one of the leading Learning Management Systems (LMS) is the education industry. The platform is fairly flexible and integrates well with most Student Information Systems (SIS) allowing a school or higher education university to automate the creation of a 'website' for each section it may be running from semester to semester as well as supporting the manual creation of 1-off 'Organization' sites as needed.
Using the Blackboard LMS allows faculty who may be technical novices to easily share files, store and grade assignments and scan written submissions for originality. While the initial course shell or template is fairly basic, a user with basic HTML/CSS knowledge can unlock a lot of the system's potential. There are also ways to add javascript enhanced elements and SCORM modules from programs such as Articulate or Captivate, but that is most likely more suited for advanced technical users such as Instructional Technologist or Designers.
Using the Blackboard LMS allows faculty who may be technical novices to easily share files, store and grade assignments and scan written submissions for originality. While the initial course shell or template is fairly basic, a user with basic HTML/CSS knowledge can unlock a lot of the system's potential. There are also ways to add javascript enhanced elements and SCORM modules from programs such as Articulate or Captivate, but that is most likely more suited for advanced technical users such as Instructional Technologist or Designers.
- The assignment tool is very helpful, it allows for individual and group assignment submission and can scan all work for originality via the integration of SafeAssign. This feature also acts as a repository for resolving student grade challenges and in collecting data for accreditation efforts.
- The open HTML features allow for incorporation of video very easily through embed codes or mashup tools
- Communication - the announcement, emails, discussion boards, and group tools allow enhance the classroom and allow students to stay engaged without the need to know 50 different email addresses.
- Blackboard ingrates very well with hundred of 3rd party tools either through a building block installion on LTI link. Very help for incorporating publishing content from a textbook for example.
- The Mobile features off the site and lagging behind, especially if you try to access the site through phone on safari or chrome vs the BB Mobile app.
- While Blackboard allows for HTML and CSS it has a bad habit of throwing extra tags and other forms 'of junk' HTML after saving that slow down the system and hurt accessibility for screen readers.
- The UI of BB Learn overall is dated and in major need of modern re-design
- BB Learn lack a common search feature, mean students have no choice but the hunt and peck around course looking a specfic peice of content.
- While this may be a result of my version of the system being self-hosted I have found Blackboard to overall be a slower platform than other LMS systems such as Canvas or Coursera
December 17, 2018
Blackboard is great for student grading management
Blackboard Learn is used by almost everyone at the University of Alabama. I use it to manage student organizations and for classes I teach. For large student organizations, Blackboard is essential for keeping everyone on the same page. We use it to share documents and important information because we can ensure it will be sent to all of the necessary recipients.
- Blackboard is pretty intuitive to learn. It's not very hard to figure out what you need to do.
- The assessments are easy to create and easy for students to take. The deadlines are helpful as well.
- It's nice that there isn't a limit for the content that you are able to put on Blackboard.
- On Mac specifically, when you pull up the full grade center, for some reason it won't let you scroll over.
- Deleting everything is SO time consuming. There isn't a way to bulk delete columns for grading.
September 08, 2017
Great collaboration between Students and Teachers
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I used Blackboard back in college and it was a great tool for connecting students with their professors. It made it so easy to access assignments or different handouts from class that you may have missed. In addition, it provides a way for you to virtually hand in assignments if you miss class or if it's easier for the professor to do it that way. The platform also allows for collaboration among student groups for class, because you're able to have discussion boards and your own group pages to collaborate with one another.
- Collaboration
- Discussion
- Connecting educators and students
- User-friendly
- Access to assignments
- Access to class information/updates
- Not very visually appealing
- Would be nice if all professors adopted it, some refuse to use it
- Frequently get errors when sometimes handing in assignments or uploading documents
September 28, 2015
Blackboard Review
In my previous position, we were using Blackboard Learn through a consortium with Blended Schools Network to build a Virtual Academy for at risk students.
- Blackboard allowed for easy import and export of content from publishers like test generation in the Exam View Suite.
- The integration of Blackboard with Turn It In was also a positive of its use in the K-12 setting.
- Blackboard required significant training for new users to set up classes and incorporate their own content.
- The user management was a bit cumbersome, but this may have been due to Blended Schools restrictions.
September 25, 2015
Think twice before you approach the Blackboard.
It is being used across the entire organization to support Online Education for the the entire Organization. It also helps up organize our academics.
- It was easy for the end-user to accomplish tasks.
- It would extend to outside resources well.
- The backend software was almost unmanageable.
- Updates were poorly tested and often ended in downtime.
- Even Blackboard Managed Services has difficulity maintaining uptime.
Blackboard is the enterprise course management solution at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). All faculty, staff, and students have accounts on the system and every course each semester has a Blackboard course site available for faculty to use in their teaching. In addition, organization sites are used by a wide array of departments and student groups.
In addition to traditional face to face courses, the Blackboard learning environment is used by GVSU's online and hybrid classes as the virtual classroom, enabling faculty to deliver engaging content and media while providing active learning-based assignments and assessments which include student feedback. Blackboard powers a collaborative and high-touch campus community with communication tools that span the range of asynchronous (announcements, email, discussion boards, etc.) to synchronous tools that include Blackboard Enterprise Instant Messaging and real-time live capabilities with Blackboard Collaborate.
By leveraging the system to provide role-based information through personalized information with the Blackboard Community system portal, the university can fine tune messaging and help to communicate through the clutter. In addition, the Enterprise Survey tool within the Blackboard system helps to deliver surveys and serves as an effective way to learn the pulse of the faculty, staff, and students.
Blackboard powers the networked learning environment at GVSU.
In addition to traditional face to face courses, the Blackboard learning environment is used by GVSU's online and hybrid classes as the virtual classroom, enabling faculty to deliver engaging content and media while providing active learning-based assignments and assessments which include student feedback. Blackboard powers a collaborative and high-touch campus community with communication tools that span the range of asynchronous (announcements, email, discussion boards, etc.) to synchronous tools that include Blackboard Enterprise Instant Messaging and real-time live capabilities with Blackboard Collaborate.
By leveraging the system to provide role-based information through personalized information with the Blackboard Community system portal, the university can fine tune messaging and help to communicate through the clutter. In addition, the Enterprise Survey tool within the Blackboard system helps to deliver surveys and serves as an effective way to learn the pulse of the faculty, staff, and students.
Blackboard powers the networked learning environment at GVSU.
- Blackboard is an effortless, easy-to-use, and scalable environment that includes a suite of tools and capabilities that enhance face to face teaching while powering high quality online and hybrid teaching and learning.
- Blackboard empowers universities, colleges, and K12 schools with the ability to extend the boundaries of the classroom through content delivery, assessment, and a suite of communication tools.
- Blackboard provides an environment of customization, personalization, and integration through the Building Blocks program. This provides an effective way to extend the capabilities of the system through the addition of third party, open source, and home grown applications.
- Blackboard is focused on accessibility and the support of a variety of standards that include LTI and ADA.
- As Blackboard has grown in adoption, popularity, and use over the years, one challenge has been supporting a multitude of users and campus constituencies that are running a wide variety of hardware and software versions. The Blackboard listserv community has come along side of users to assist users by the sharing of clients, along with a newly renewed focus on end user support.
- With the wealth of tools and capabilities, as well as Blackboard acquisitions over the years, the integration of these tools has sometimes lagged and taken longer due to competing priorities with support, new product development, and maintenance. With new leadership at Blackboard in the past few years, the integration of a variety of solutions and tools is now a clear priority.
September 22, 2015
Blackboard works
Blackboard Learn is being utilized by our entire University to deliver fully online, blended, and face-to-face courses. Faculty use it to deliver content, assessments and communications with their students. It also facilitates asynchronous online student collaboration.
- Integrates seamlessly with many external vendors, services, & content providers.
- Provides a robust set of tools.
- Enables complex grading schemes.
- Allows for a highly organized content structure.
- Needs responsive design for mobile users.
- Course copy process often breaks html based modules.
September 17, 2015
Blackboard is Good, Not Great!
My institution utilizes Blackboard in all three of our colleges for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. It is utilized in web-enhanced, blended and fully online courses for content delivery and teacher-to-student and student-to-student collaboration. The product is also integrated with Blackboard Collaborate for synchronous communication, Respondus for test-generation purposes, and Turnitin for plagiarism detection.
- The product engages students well with the course content being studied.
- The product engages students in a community of learners with various educational technologies.
- The product allows educators to interact with their students in online courses so that they feel as if a real person is behind the posted course information and content.
- Blackboard Support representatives should be more knowledgeable of their products. This is detrimental during busy times throughout the academic year.
- Software add-ons are not always functional and easily integrated with the platform.
- The Grade Center layout and options do not allow for full customization by the instructor (attendance capability, using personalized calculation formulas, etc.).
March 13, 2015
Blackboard Review- Chalk and Eraser?
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Blackboard was used as an online resource for courses in all departments at the University of Georgia. It served as a tool to disseminate syllabi, course readings, handouts, Power Point slides, notes, and study guides. It also allowed instructors to create discussion boards for students to share their thoughts, questions, and comments regarding course topics. Some instructors used Blackboard as a means for collecting written assignments and administering quizzes. Finally, it served as an online database for grades and course progress. It addressed several problems, including: handing out readings/course packets, administering quizzes, and making sure that students had a safe space for sharing their comments with their peers as well as with their instructors.
- The email service in Blackboard allowed teachers to send group messages to the entire class very easily.
- The discussion board feature of Blackboard helped facilitate group discussion and gave students who may have been shy in class or did not think of a comment in time a place to share their thoughts.
- The grade book feature of Blackboard allowed students to quickly access their progress in the course.
- Posting slides and presentation notes allowed students to come to class more prepared.
- The email service operated only within Blackboard. In order to have messages forwarded out of the system, one needed to change the settings. This led to a number of emails being lost, especially when students were not familiar with the system.
- Posting course readings online could be problematic because students would not take the time to read articles on their computer or devices. Hard copies tended to get better results.
- Discussion boards could sometimes be hard to track. Replies to user comments could get lost in the board, resulting in a lack of response.
January 25, 2015
It may be great for some, but it has been a nightmare for us
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Blackboard is being used to deliver webinars to customers both within the education system and for corporate clients. It allows for clients to participate in training without having to travel to a classroom. The business problems it addresses include clients' inability to get to training; overhead associated with physical classrooms; and flexibility for content delivery.
- Students can speak to the class if they have the correct hardware. This allows for a two-way conversation, when applicable.
- Students can virtually raise their hand, add emoticons to the chat and vote with canned answers. This makes up for the students' inability to always send audio.
- It's relatively easy to switch between pre-loaded content (slides) and a live share of your desktop. This makes it easier to give examples of the concept you're teaching.
- They need to find a way to eliminate the need for java. This is by far the biggest obstacle for the successful delivery of a webinar.
- The ability to use Blackboard on any platform is a must now, including mobile devices.
- There needs to be a way to monitor the quality of the internet connection as the moderator / instructor. We often have quality issues and drop-outs with no way of knowing what is at fault.