Blackboard is A-OK!
February 24, 2014

Blackboard is A-OK!

Angel Dawkins | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Blackboard 9

Modules Used

  • Blackboard Learn
  • Blackboard Collaborate

Overall Satisfaction

Blackboard was used by the organization I worked for previously as the primary system for the online classroom. It was used across the entire organization to facilitate learning and communication between students and faculty members. IT staff such as myself also had access to it to support users when technical issues arose. The Blackboard platform created a more streamlined and easy-to-use classroom for the students; much better than previous versions.
  • Blackboard allows users to communicate with each other very well. Communication is one of the most important factors in an online classroom, and through the use of the Mail tool, Discussion boards, and the Gradebook, students were able to have easy access to their instructors and speak back and forth freely.
  • Blackboard integrated support tools such as TurnItIn very well also. Having modules such as TurnItIn integrated into the classroom interface gave instructors the help they needed to make sure students were completing their work ethically. Having the flexibility to add these types of tools as needed is a great strength for Blackboard.
  • Blackboard's administrative options are also a strength, I believe, because as a support analyst, I needed to be able to see what my users were seeing. Blackboard allowed us to see both the student and faculty view to best assist both of these types of users when they encountered problems in the classroom.
  • During my time as a support analyst, many users would complain that the online classroom timed out entirely too quickly. Now as an IT professional, I understand that timeout is completely necessary for the safety and security of the user's account, but perhaps a longer timeout period could be set as a compromise.
  • Integration with Java functionality was always a huge problem with users, especially when new versions came out. They would be unable to add attachments, use the HTML creator, and sometimes have issues with viewing Grades as well. Now some of this could possibly be attributed to user error, but perhaps the use of another tool that is not as volatile as Java would be of better use in the online classroom.
  • The main positive impact Blackboard had on the organization's objectives was better customer service, and higher customer satisfaction.
Blackboard is extremely easy to use and as stated before, I have not encountered any other platform that has the flexibility and ease of use as well as support tools that Blackboard has.
I honestly don't think there are any specific scenarios where the Blackboard Learn platform would be inappropriate, especially for an online classroom. It is highly customizable which can be a great option for certain clients and is a bit more friendly than other platforms such as Desire 2 Learn.