It may be great for some, but it has been a nightmare for us
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
Software Version
12.6.3.7647
Modules Used
- Blackboard Collaborate
Overall Satisfaction with Blackboard
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.
- On the positive side, Blackboard has allowed us to deliver content to clients no matter where they are, and without need for a classroom.
- On the negative side, our reputation has been tarnished due to the ongoing and annoying technical issues we've had establishing and maintaining a good connection with our various clients.
As I am a contractor for this organization, I was not involved in the selection of the product. I can't even tell you for sure how many other products were considered. What I can tell you is that my contact in the organization that organizes my courses and moderates the sessions is beyond frustrated at the technical issues we've been having and is now considering abandoning the product, possibly for GoToWebinar or something similar.