Linda Neff
June 17, 2011
Throughout 2010, Northern Arizona University piloted both Moodle 1.9 (an open-source LMS) and Blackboard Learn 9.1 in anticipation of the current system (Blackboard Vista) reaching the end of its product lifetime in 2013. The Provost's Academic Computing Advisory Committee (PACAC) recommended Blackboard Learn to the Provost at the end of the 2010 calendar year. As part of the decision-making process, the PACAC invited various faculty members to pilot both Moodle and Blackboard Learn by teaching course sections in these systems during the Summer and Fall 2010 semesters. PACAC asked the e-Learning Center (ELC) and Information Technology Services (ITS) to manage, provide support, and gather data from the pilot participants. The following recommendations are based on student comments from a student perceptions survey delivered during the aforementioned pilot study using Blackboard Learn 9.1. One thing to consider as you read through the following recommendations is that during the pilot study, the level of faculty support was limited. E-Learning staff were learning the system alongside the pilot instructors; therefore, the knowledge of the support staff was not as extensive as with Blackboard Vista. As a result, effective instructional design practices were still being identified. In many cases, the pilot instructors used instructional design knowledge gained during their experience using Blackboard Vista. Often, those practices did not translate well to Blackboard Learn. The following student comments shed light on some of the 'good' and 'bad' instructional design decisions made during the pilot study. In any case, much can be learned from the following student comments.
The results of this study helped to produce two sets of recommendations. Instructional design recommendations for the instructor, and a set of technical design recommendations for Blackboard Learn. The instructor recommendations are organized on training provided by the Information Technology Services department (ITS) and the e-Learning Center. The first set of recommendations informs the student orientation to Blackboard Learn section of the Technology - Information and Proficiency Skills (TIPS) online course developed by the Information Technology Services department. The middle three set of recommendations address three primary workshops provided by the e-Learning Center including Communicating with Students, Organizing Content, Creating Content. The fourth set provides obvious learning style preferences based on course format options. The Blackboard Learn technical design recommendations were developed when there was no obvious instructor-controlled instructional design solution.
To Do - Keep on top of your course work. Display all items due and past due for your courses. Keep on top of your course work. Display all items due and past due for your courses.
What’s New - Displays notices of what is new in student’s enrolled courses
My Calendar – Displays institution, organization, and course calendar events such as due dates
My Announcements – Displays instructor whole class communications
Alerts – Displays notifications of past due and early warnings
Students enjoy the collaboration that occurs in the discussion area. [Follow link to view student comments]
See comments under Ease of Use [Follow link to view students comments]
When using direct instruction, integrate professor's expert knowledge using a video. [Follow link to view student comment]
Help Menu - Consistently offer context sensitive help menus for all activities – both student and instructor.[Follow link to view student comments]
Notifications - Integrate the messaging system into the notifications system. [Follow the link to view student comments]
Discussions - When using a discussion in a learning module, do not open the discussion in a new window or tab.[Follow the link to view student comments]
Performance - Improve performance across the board for students with slower connection speeds (perhaps isolate processes more).[Follow the link to view student comments]
Messaging System - Design a messaging system that contains more automatic message organization actions such as marking messages as read and unread.[Follow the link to view student comments]
HTML Editor (discussions)- The HTML editor needs a lot of work – perhaps start from scratch for this one. When copying and pasting from one program like MS Word to the HTML editor, unwanted tags are added.[Follow the link to view student comments]
Scrollbar and Mouse Synchronization - Sync mouse and scroll bars in all frames.[Follow the link to view student comments]
Redundant Actions - Streamline some of actions, so they all appear on one page, and you only have to “submit” or “ok” once for each activity. [Follow the link to view student comments]
Test Instructions - Allow instructors to write customized test instructions, and automatically post if a test has a time limit.[Follow the link to view student comments]
External URLs - When you add an external URL and do not have the URL open in a new window, the system locks. [Follow link to view student comment]
Printing Course Materials - Create a printable view for linked files and Bb Learn HTML objects. [Follow link to view student comment]
Lack of notifications
“It is much more complex than Vista and the notifications are hardly noticeable.”
“Another reason why I liked vista better is that we could immediately see if the teacher had posted new grades, if we had a message, etc.”
“I am a very savy computer user, I would consider myseld advanced. There is no alert system to let you know something is waiting for you and you spend several minutes just going through all the importnatn links to verify you haven't missed anything.”
“I found one thing really inconvenient. For example, the messaging system. I got no notifications or pop-ups when I had a new message and had to click "messages" every time I logged on to see if I got a response from a teacher.”
“There was no notification of mail in my inbox, unless I specifically looked for it.”
“Bb learn sux. It gives no info, no updates--there is no interaction or intuitiveness. It's just a shell…I hate it doesnt alert you that there are emails, grades, discussions, and the calendar is either not functioning or does not appear to be all-classes inclusive. Seems dumb to "upgrade" and lose many of the best features that you already bought.”
“One Issue I had was it didn't notify you that you had emails or discussion notices from the instructor or any other students”
“Like I mentioned earlier; notifications of new content is helpful, and would greatly limit the amount of time I spent checking for updates manually when there was nothing new.”
“The announcements do not automatically pop-up as in Vista. Also, it is maddening that the system does not identify areas with "new" information as Vista does.”
“I dislike the fact that there is not a notification system when you enter the course that you have information that is posted on the group site. It does concern me that you have to check several places to see all the possible things going on in the program.”
“Other than that organization I did like the set up and the direct postings of what was due versus having to search for due dates.”
“It has some functionality differences like not having "Mail" in bold when there are new mails in the inbox or having "Grades" in bold when there are new grades posted...”
“I like the Home page view because I can access grades, schedules, etc. easily.”
“I don't like we dont have posts up sayin we have something in the quizzes to do or the assignment files. If when want to see if we have anything do, we have to go exploring to find out. Its not like vista where some stuff on the main page will be highlighted if there is something in it.”
“i must navigate through the site to determine what to do with just one assignment. locating things like where to turn in assignments and find quizzes is nearly impossible. I went to submit an assignment only to learn that somehow it was already submitted? I then e-mailed the teacher my assignment and i have no idea if she got it because there is no inbox or sent box.”
To Do - Keep on top of your course work. Display all items due and past due for your courses. Keep on top of your course work. Display all items due and past due for your courses.
What’s New - Displays notices of what is new in student’s enrolled courses
My Calendar – Displays institution, organization, and course calendar events such as due dates
My Announcements – Displays instructor whole class communications
Alerts – Displays notifications of past due and early warnings
Integrate the messaging system into the notifications system.
Discussions open in new window or tab.
“It would be more helpful if you didn't have to launch separate windows each time for a discussion.”
“Did not like that new windows popped up everytime I clicked on a new link within my class.”
“Even in the same window, you had to scroll to the bottom and could not view a whole thread on one screen. Everything is located at the bottom and the pages are long.”
“Every new section of BB opens a new window. You can't just hit back. YOu have to close the window and then reopen the one you want. For example to access discussions it opens the discussion page when you thread a comment it opens a new page. when you are done it closes the discussion and you have to then go the menu and reopen the discussion.”
When using a discussion in a learning module, do not open the discussion in a new window or tab.
Too many clicks to get to the content
Accessing activities and content is buried in “Tools” link in Course menu and often not turned off when instructor is not using them.
“I don't like that we have to go to "tools" to access the discussions, the e-mails, the grades.”
“Bb Learn felt a bit cluttery at times. It seemed like it was almost over organized and I had to go through many different pages to finally get to where I wanted.”
“It is easy to use, once you figure out where things are. But using a new software management system to find things for your class is hard. You need to learn where everything is, how to upload documents,etc. In Vista, once you logged in you were able to find everything that you needed on the left hand side of the page. But in BB Learn, you have to click through three pages to get to the grade book, messages, etc. As a grad student working full time, while taking a class - it's time consuming to have to go through many pages to get to what I needed.”
“The structure of the system is disorganized and not user friendly. It took me several hours to navigate the system just to find where my emails and grades were located. I am a very savy computer user, I would consider myseld advanced.”
“It was difficult to figure out where things were.”
“It's a fairly user friendly system, however it seems some of the information is a bit buried (many clicks needed to get to the area of interest.)”
“It took me awhile to find many things on BBLearn—dislike”
‘The course's e-material was found fairly easily, though at times it felt like I had to dig for certain information.”
“The actual pages could use more organization. I felt that everything was scattered throughout the page making things (like grades) difficult to find.”
“There were so many applications that were either not use by the professor and I had no clue what they were for, they felt like a waste of space and just more confusion on the screen as to where to go or how to use something (how the application could help me in my learning).”
“Everything was difficult to get to, the names of certain things (email and messages) were very confusing,”
“It is about as easy to use as Vista, but it seems to have more layers you have to go through to get to what you need.”
“I is annoying how it often opens 3 tabs when it does not seem necessary just to get to a course content item, but still it is very easy to use.”
System is slow.
Additionally, the platform is extremely slow.
Improve performance across the board for students with slower connection speeds (perhaps isolate processes more).
Messages system is very basic and lacks many features of a full fledged messaging system.
“I hate having to mark everything as "read."”
Design a messaging system that contains more automatic message organization actions.
Bb Learn has a large learning curve and difficult to navigate for some students.
“Large learning curve, I am very good with computers, but still had to spend the first day of the class learning how to use this as I am used to vista...after about first week, I knew how to navigate proficently.”
“Just like any new application, it takes time to get use to.”
“As said in the following, Bblearn was not intuitive. It took so much time to navigate through and around it, I was wishing that I had Vista back! It's not the change that bothered me, just BbLearn in itself.”
“I am very disappointed with Bb Learn. NOTHING in the system is intuitive.”
“It is not as intutive as Vista.”
“I had to hunt for various links and still was not comfortable with blackboard near the end of the course.”
“Once I got the hang of it it was easier, but I had a hard time navigating the system for the first few weeks of the semester.”
“This learning system was not at all user-friendly. It was very difficult to navigate.”
“The whole time while taking this course, I felt it was very difficult to navigate through. Especially since I was thrown into this learning system the same way that i was thrown into Vista when I first started with NAU. When comparing the two Vista was so much easier to use and navigate through without any kind of direction or instruction on how to use it. With BBL It was very hard to find things and to use the tools within learning system. For example I never really figured out how to reply to other people's post from my class. I feel as though this is a very complex system and not very user friendly at all. When you click on links window after window will open unlike vista where everything can be done with just a single window open. I did not have a good experience using BBL. It is hard to put exactly what I am trying to say in words, but the point is that this was not a good experience for me. It was hard to follow what was going on in class. To communicate with fellow class members. Everything was confusing and I felt lost most of the time when using this system and trying to navigate through this system. If I was given the choice to choose between these two learning systems, I would 100% choose Vista without a doubt in my mind.”
“Not very easy to use. To navigate through pages, you had to open multiple windows.”
“Could have used a tutorial rather than being immersed directly into the course at the beginning of the session.”
“Some aspects of the system are not intuitive.”
“It took about 4 weeks for me to get used to the new platform. Overall I believe it is a better system. Students may dislike it due to having to learn a new system in addition to starting a new course.”
“It was in no way user friendly.”
“Why don't you tie a string to a can in Flagstaff and I can have the other end tied to a can here in Tucson, and maybe, just maybe, Blackboard Learn will come close to that.”
Consistently offer context sensitive help menus for all activities – both student and instructor.
Discussions hard to follow
“It was difficult to follow the discussion threads”
“It's quite accessible for discussions, however, it would be greatly helpful if there were filters on the forums in order to see the replies to one's comments and postings.”
“Did not like the discussion section - it would have been nice to be able to see all of the post laid out separately.”
“I was constantly having to save my work, which worked half the time, to go back and find passages or references from other students in my classroom.”
“…and the discussion threads were extremely difficult to navigate.”
Discussion HTML editor is not student-friendly and it has serious formatting issues.
“Everything was easy to use with the exception of the text editor for discussion posts. I was able to use it, but the formatting of my posts always took a few edits to get right. There were a few occasions where I opted to simply attach a Word Document if the formatting became frustrating for me. Many others in the course also discussed similar frustrations with me.”
The text editor needs a lot of work – perhaps start from scratch for this one.
Scroll bars not synchronized with mouse
“You cant scroll on the page (no matter what mouse you use) once you get into the actual Unit 1 Part 1 Lecture ****, it just doesnt scroll with the mouse so you have to use the scroll bars (irritating especially when you are on a laptop with touchpad).”
Sync mouse and scroll bars in all frames.
Too many steps for students to complete an activity
“So if you look at a submission page for an assignment; prior to submission you have to scroll through multiple options and attatching the paper.”
Streamline some of the actions, so they all appear on one page, and you only have to “submit” or “ok” once for each activity.
Test instructions canned by the system.
“Somethings are more difficult, for example I cannot see how many questions/ what the time limit is on quizzes before I actually start them.”
Allow instructors to write customized test instructions, and automatically post if a test has a time limit.
Bb Learn had less bugs when using a Mac compared to Windows
“It does have its bugs at the time being, but I found much less when working on my Mac than the few times I tried it on a Windows platform.”
Using the table of contents in learning modules makes it easier for student to locate resources and know what order to complete them.
“Other than that, the table of contents was extremely useful and easy to navigate - everything I needed was within reach, and I didn't have to click through a massive amount of pages to get to them.”
Use the table of contents when you are using Learning Modules. Until the learning module is fixed, you will want to use learning modules to organize content that does not include assessments or discussions such as PDF and HTML files and assignments.
Bb Learn is easy to use.
“Blackboard Learn is easy to use. Considering I had ample experience using the program before this online summer course (as a student worker at the E-Learning Center), it didn't take much getting used to at all.”
“It was not too different from previous the Blackboard software and was easy to learn.”
“It is easy to use, once you figure out where things are.”
“Easy to navigate.”
“The navigation process in BB learn was very easy. It was an improvement visually and capability.”
“Overall I haven't had major issues with the system.”
“Pretty easy to use.”
“It seems that this would not take very long for a person to learn.”
“It is quite easy to use.”
“Once I got used to where to look for things, it was as easy as the old Vista.”
“Bb Learn "looks" much different than Blackboard. Once I was able to get past the new look of Bb Learn, the system was easier to navigate.”
“It seemed easy to navigate and more user friendly than Vista.”
“It is very similar to Vista and therefore easy to navigate.”
“Easy to get around, took a very little bit to get use to but otherwise good.”
"Had a challenge to learn but once I figured it out, is easy to use.”
Students like the use of video
“I really like the availablity of video. Great addition.”
System and course design detracted from learning process.
"I would have preferred Vista"
"I spent more time frustrated with the system than I did on the course material itself."
"I felt lost the whole time and using BBL was very confusing and frustrating. I did not feel that this system was user friendly even with some like me who has experience with technology and taking online courses."
"It was not very easy to use. So most of the my learning effort for tghis course was put towards learning the new shell. Also, grades and comments were not readily available. You had to dig to see what you got on a paper."
"It was hard to navigate which made it hard to learn."
"Made it more difficult because I was trying to learn how to use an application that was not user friendly."
"I wasted valuable time trying to find things."
"Being a first time online student, I found all of the optional locations within which instructors could post things to be overcomplicated and often redundant. Perhaps greater functionality in the product is good, but we should take more time to teach instructors on the most efficient ways of using the system."
"No. its a pain in the a**."
"Sometimes links would not work, a new tab would show up saying there was an error in viewing this link."
"The course has improved my knowledge, but BbLearn actually made the class harder to follow and screwed up the flow."
"I spend more time navigating the non-intuitive structure of the system than I would like; it is a distraction from the learning process."
"The technical issues have actually taken away a great deal from my learning experience. I have been less inclined to post."
"I feel that it made my learning experience worse. I preoccupied a lot of my time to just trying to figure out how to access content, submit assignments, and start discussions."
"While I like Blackboard Learn because it has A/V lectures posted by my professor, I do not feel like I learn as much doing online only classes, however I have only used Vista for online only classes."
To make it easier for students to locate the course materials, try to reduce the number of clicks to access course materials.
Student felt neutral about whether Bb Learn improved their learning.
"The discussion board is a great collaborative tool. It was available in Bb, so I did not notice a big difference between Bb and Bb Learn as far as improvement in learning."
"I believe that my learning was neutral in regards to this system versus the others."
"I could take it or leave it. I still prefer Vista, but that is probably because I have used it for 2 years."
"The material available for this course, I don't feel, was made any better then it would have been with any other software. PDF's, lecture links, and exam links could probably be received just as effectively through email. It was nice to have it all in one place, but as long as it is in one place I don't know that type of software used would make much difference."
Students enjoy the collaboration that occurs in the discussion area.
Students like to access all their course materials from one location.
Bb Learn improved student's ability to learn the material.
"Accessing the videos--that freaking rocked. Everythigng formatted into pdfs that i could easily print was nice. Can you guys do that in Vista? The movies were awesome though."
"I feel this program has many potential assets to an individual's learning, but it depends on which elements of the course management system are used. In this course, we used the Wiki tool, blog, and discussion boards frequently. I feel these have improved my learning from my experience in Vista because the students interacted in much more ways. This could be accounted for by my lack of a fully online course in Vista, but our class was able to hold up conversations that really expanded my learning of the course subject. I feel Learn's easy to use program accounted for this as well."
"As I have familiarized myself with the system, it has improved my learning of the contents of the course."
"Slight learning improvement in terms of ease of organization."
"Being easy to navigate enable me to correctly view course content without difficulty. My classes in Vista constantly have people commenting on how they can't find content, but I didn't see that problem with BbLearn."
"The software management system didn't help me learn. It just provided the keys that I needed to improve my learning."
"Nice interface, I like how it allows for better graphics than vista."
"The table of contents makes everything readily available, therefore, I don't overlook important postings or readings, etc. made by the professor."
"Able to view videos through courses easily."
"with the video and additional items I was able to elevate my learning. It allowed me to use multiple processes to increase my knowledge. It was the closest to a virtual classroom."
"This was a great self-serve method of education and I was able to view and download some invaluable knowledge here and read it at my own speed. Plus, this type of system allows instructors to post hard-to-find journal articles from hard-to-navigate online archives all in ONE PLACE."
"Once I learned how to use the system, I felt more organized than I usually do with other online courses."
"Everything is on this one website: the homework, the lectures, powerpoints, study guides....it's easy. It's quick. And I don't have to use 20 different websites to do my homework, read some quick notes, and email my professor. I love it!"
Students felt that watching online videos improved their learning.
Students liked to access and print pdf files.
Students enjoyed interacting with other students using the wiki, blog, and discussion board and felt that these tools improved their learning.
Students felt the table of contents in the learning modules helped them to stay organized and improved their learning.
Students enjoyed having all of their course materials on one website.
Student felt Bb Learn did not affect their learning.
"It did not affect my learning."
"Im not sure how an online class layout can improve someones "learning.""
"I do not feel that Blackboard has made a significant difference because both Vista and Blackboard are new to me."
"It has not improved my learning, as it does not teach me anything. It is the same as vista as far as I am concerned, so it helps a bit with class management. However, I am more familiar with Vista so it is easier for me to understand fully."
"It did not really affect my learning."
Students felt that Bb Learn fit their learning style.
"My learning style is anything that can help me interact with course material in a unique way. My favorite part about this class was that there was more to it than reading assignments and paper writing. Having class discussions on this program was really easy to accomplish, and it made me more fully interact with the course material. I like using any online program, and BB Learn fit this need well."
"It's online, I don't have to take time out of my schedule to go to class. I'm able to complete the assignments at my own pace instead of sitting in class for 3+ hours."
"Convenient and allows flexiblity"
"I really liked being able to access the information on my own time and teach myself."
"I enjoyed the virtual lectures. the only improvement that I might recommend is a way to download the actual lectures for use in a media playback form. Most people who take online courses are working. To be able to listen to certain lectures through headphones on a device like an MP3 or Blackberry, would prove instrumentally valuable"
"My learning style has always been in a classroom setting. This experience was different and enjoyed taking the class."
"The material was presented top to bottom and left to right. Material was presented "one thisg at a time" - helped avoid overloading me with material, and made it easy to follow the progression through the course and each unit."
"I need multiple tools to learn. It allows me to choose what is best for my learning skills."
"I love reading interesting articles at my own pace."
"I liked the contents page. It was easy to navigate and find assignments."
"I learn easily in the online environment and Bb Learn's Home Page made it easier to find the information I needed to find."
Students enjoy the collaboration that occurs in the discussion area.
Students felt the top-to-bottom and left-to-right organization (table of contents in learning modules) helped them to stay on track.
Post course materials on course content area in an organized fashion.
Create online lectures that students can download and listen to or watch on their mobile devices.
Use a variety of formats to present content to students.
Post course readings online, so students can read at their own pace.
Use the Bb Learn Home Page, so students can easily find information.
Students felt neutral about whether Bb Learn fit their learning style.
"I'm not sure whose learning style it would fit."
"Once again a neutral learning environment."
Students did not feel that Bb Learn fit their learning style.
"Because the "discussions" do not appear on the side of the main screen, I kind of forget about them. Putting them in a sub-category makes the class less interactive."
"I have found that I cannot take an online only class. The best I could do would be to take a hybrid class as I still need some face to face interaction with the professor."
"I prefer to learn visually. It's hard for me to stay motivated and focused when I have to click through a bunch of pages and obstacles to get to what I need."
"Insofar as online learning fits my lifestyle... I graduate in December and hope that NAU sticks with Vista through the end of my tenure as a student."
"It did not fit my learning style at all. Bb Learn gave me much anxiety."
"I would not suggest this learning system to anyone. I feel it would hinder their learning or be set up for failure because this system is confusing and too complex. Even for someone with intermediate experience with technology."
"No"
"I dont like the set up because I have to go searching for things."
"I have chosen online because of necessity; therefore, my learning style is not of consequence. The style of Bb Learn is pathetic though."
"I would prefer to be in a classroom...so non of the online platforms are my desired first choice for learning environment."
Link to the discussion tool in the course menu.
To make it easier for students to locate the course materials, try to reduce the number of clicks to access course materials.
Students did not address whether or not Bb Learn first their learning style.
"I would have liked more edit buttons for discussions."
"The actual componets of BBL are incrediable, however, again, the layout leaves me wanting Vista back. If the two were to marry they would have good looking kids. :)"
"It's a lot nicer than Vista, but I thought Vista was just fine the way it was. Plus, i can access Vista through NAU's drop-down menu on the homepage."
"Glad it's nearly over and I wont have to use this."
"I like simple and straight to the point."
"no comment"
"N/A"
Allow students to edit their discussion postings.
Student thought it was possible Bb Learn could fit their learning style.
"Possible. If the technology was taught to the user and it was turned on for the course. The video feeds and such were not used. The complicated system was just used for basic paper submission with a discussion thread.'
Turn off unused tools.
Use multiple tools to engage the learner.
Students had a positive overall experience using Bb Learn.
"I enjoyed the format for discussions!"
"I liked that you could have indents for paragraphs!"
"I have had an extremely positive experience in this program. My fellow classmates repeatedly started discussions about error messages they were experiencing, or other sorts of problems, but I did not come up with any, The program always worked well, and I experienced no difficulties thus far."
"It is easy to navigate and I can access it whenever I feel the need to study."
"The software was easy to learn, after I "played" clicked through it enough to find things. But overall everything was nice."
"On a positive note, really liked the new html of the discussions."
"No major glitches to report and that is all I ask for. For a first-timer it was awesome. Thank you for your efforts to make that possible."
"See above." -- Previous posts were all positive.
"It has not caused any issues, I am satisfied with it in that it did what it was supposed to."
No recommendations.
Students did not have a positive overall experience using Bb Learn.
"There were not notifications of when new discussions had been posted, and it was extremely difficult to use the mail and did not know when there was new mail. Also, the discussion threads were very difficult to follow."
"sucked."
"More difficult to navigate. Repeated "loss" of posts and journal articles was frustrating."
"It was hardly a positive experience."
"Refer to my previous statements." -- Previous comments were all negative.
"Too much. Maybe if I had Bb Learn since I started at NAU, since I have been taking distance learning courses it wouldn't be so difficult for me, but it just wasn't a good learning experience."
"There is still room for improvement on the lastest version of the Bb Learn."
"I was frustrated most of the time."
"even though the professor specified that there should be no duplicate questions, my quiz gave me multiple duplicates (even when I tried retaking it!)."
"No."
"I will avoid Bb Learn like the plague. If NAU adopts this platform I will seriously consider transfering to U of A just so I don't have to use a system like Bb Learn."
"It was very difficult at first. The instructor was learning too so there was many gaps in communication with the email system."
See recommendations listed under the Ease of Use section at top of document.
Students had mixed feelings about their experience using Bb Learn.
"The course and course content was great, the professor even better but the layout of BBL lacked style and ease."
"Overall, I found Bb Learn to be much more accessible and effective than the system I last used, Vista. However, there were some glitches, such as it crashing my web browser frequently, and also "error" messages popping up."
"I enjoyed it and had no problems until the final day.. Which maybe due to restart issues I had a very hard time accessing anything."
"One problem I had was, for some odd reason, Bb Learn would not operate correctly with Internet Explorer, but would function smoothly with Firefox."
"Aside from the lack of notifications, which I feel would have helped to streamline the process."
"Overall, I had a decent experience with Blackboard. Most of my difficulty came from just learning how to navigate the system. I think it would be just as good as Vista to use for future Nursing online classes."
"The only thing I had real problem with was submitting my work. I was using internet explorer rather than using firefox and it wouldn't allow me to submit my assignment. I had to call the helpdesk to find out a solution which wasn't a problem since I have to call them at least 2 times during the school year about Vista."
"I had to take alot of time to get somewhat used to it so I could participate in class. After a few weeks of using it I can find my way around. Now that I can find my way around I have now learned. Other systems are so much easier to use."
"I didnt have a bad experience, but it could have been better."
See recommendations listed under the Introducing Bb Learn to Students section at top of document.
Students like Bb Vista better.
"I think Vista is better."
"Strongly prefer Vista"
Students would like to take another Bb Learn course.
"BB Learn was a good experience for me, but Vista has always been as well. I feel as if I am fairly technologically inclined, so any program that is offered at NAU I will be able to adjust to quite well. That being said, BB Learn was a positive experience for me, and I enjoyed the course use of discussions and blogs. This was a great learning tool for me, but I feel it is more up to a professor's decision to use such tools that would really separate this learning program from any other."
"Now that I know the system, another course would be easy to take on this."
"After using BB Learn, I would take another class using the software now that I know where to find things."
"This is a much more studen-friendly platform, and I would love to use it for courses to come."
"Only because I have one more course to graduate. If this platform of learning is being offered at Law Schools, which I plan to attend then I wouldn't mind it.. I don't see that happening but at the undergraduate level its perfect"
"While I like being able to pick the professor's brain at a whim and hold them accountable for their cryptic assignments, I do like the idea of saving gas money and trees through e-learning. Plus, having my entire semester's assignments right before me with grading as I go is AWESOME. But once again, that depends very much on the instructor."
" However, if I had to take more classes using Blackboard I do not think it would pose any problems to my future learning."
"I have no problem taking another Bb Learn course."
"We currently use Vista at NAU, and Bb Learn was much easier to use. I would definitely prefer Bb Learn over Vista in any future online courses. Bb Learn makes Vista look archaic! Bb Learn is simply more intuitive, and it just functions better for these courses than Vista ever has."
"Bb Learn fits me better than Vista does as far as its organizational structure."
"I would be okay taking another course now that I have learned the system."
"Wasn't really much of a different. It didn't affect me greatly in any way."
With a few changes, students would take another Bb Learn course.
"If there were a few tweeks to BBL, for instance take the home page of Vista and add the components of BBL the system would be world class."
Students would not like to take another Bb Learn course.
"uhm, pretty much--no."
"I am glad I will be graduating before the transition from Vista."
"No THanks"
"I would have to strongly disagree. This learning system would take too much wasted time and effort to figure out how to navigate during a busy semester."
"At this point I am very used to the Vista format and would not want to switch over since I only have a few more classes to take."
"Never again in my academic life do I ever want to take another course through BBL. It was an awful experience."
"I hope to never have to. I prefer Vista, a whole lot more."
"I'd prefer moodle, vista, or webct"
"No"
"Not if I can help it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Student did not comment on whether they would like to take another course in Bb Learn.
"I would like to see more of the features available using Bb Learn."
"Enjoyed online courses."
"N/A"
"None"
"I want to be able to see we have something on the main page vs. having to go search for answers to what is due or needs to be done."
Student did not like using a wiki.
"The one feature of BB Learn I did not like very much was the wiki tool. Although a good idea, I did not like the thought that students could just edit my post whenever they wanted, and add their own thoughts to my points. Maybe it is a lack of trust, but I just like my submissions to be more set in stone than this feature offered."
When using a wiki, be explicit with your students about the goals of a wiki assignment. Explain that a wiki involves students in the process of sharing information collaboratively, which promotes a high level of collaboration and interaction among students.
Student like video lectures
"I really liked the video instruction ability..."
When using direct instruction, integrate professor's expert knowledge using a video.
Student disliked lack of notifications.
"Disliked the lack of alerts."
"There were not notifications of when new discussions had been posted, and it was extremely difficult to use the mail and did not know when there was new mail. Also, the discussion threads were very difficult to follow."
"Uhm, these are features of Vista (except the movies)--half this crap was either hard to find in bblearn or wasnt operational. If I didnt have a syllabus and kept checking email and grade links, I would have never known anything had come in."
"I did not like the fact that I was not able to see if I had any messages/ emails. I would like to have visually seen that rather than going directly into the email or message icon."
"It would be helpful to have a means of notification when emails are in the Blackboard inbox similar to the posting of Assignments, Discussion Responses, etc."
"All though these features may have been available, ... and gave no updates. It would be nice to have a calender that updated itself when you submitted things."
"and I dont like that it doesnt have things highlighted letting me know I have something to do in that folder."
"I don't like how it doesn't alert me of new grades."
See notifications recommendations listed above.
Once oriented to the system, the student was comfortable using Bb Learn.
"It did take me a little time (probably about 1/2 hour) to explore Bb Learn and become familiar with it. After using it a few times I felt very comfortable with it."
Student experienced system crashes.
"Seemed to crash or timeout alot, could be server issues...."
Gather more data and explore system crash scenarios from end-user perspective.
Student liked being able to format their content in the discussion area.
"On a positive note, really liked the new html of the discussions."
Student would like more filtering options in the discussion area.
"I liked the forum set-up, but a few things could be improved, such as more advanced search filters of forum threads. Being able to just see the replies to my postings would be greatly helpful than having to dig through everything."
"I didn't like how you could not open a window in the discussion board that just displayed unread messages. You had to manually go through each unit to select unread messages. I also disliked how you had to manually mark each message "read," instead of the computer automatically recognizing you had read it by simply opening the computer."
See recommendation on more discussion filters posted above.
Student did not like participating in online discussion.
"I gave up on the discussion board. That thing was just too time consuming to read or reply to the posts in bblearn. I'm an adult that works in the legal field using cutting edge technology everyday and fixing computers or doing web pages on the side--this thing is just no bueno."
Use small group discussions to help reduce the amount of discussion posts to be read by a student as well as to encourage more meaningful and deeper conversations.
Student like the learning module table of contents.
"I like that you were able to open the table of contents window in another screen setting that was placed on the bottom screen in the open windows toolbar."
See learning module recommendations listed above.
Students likes consistency in communication methods.
"Communication is fudamentally important, but I don't know that it matters how we communicate as long as the channel is consistent."
Be consistent when using specific tools when communicating with your students online.
Student did not think Bb Learn was intuitive.
"All of these features are/were useful to me, but they can be found easier in other systems...from my experience. BbLearn made using these feature difficult and not intuitive, essentially more of a headache than a tool."
"It seemed like BBLearn had all the same features of Vista, just harder to find and use."
"All of these items are useful to me and are what I expect from a learning system. I did not however, find these features to be easily accessible from Bb Learn. It was too confusing and not a good experience at all."
"It may have had all of these features, but they were not user friendly. I even had an introduction to the Bb Learn and it did not help at all. I did not even need that for Vista but feel a lot more comfortable on Vista"
"All though these features may have been available, it was not user friendly, "
"Blackboard Learn sucks in every factet compared to plain old Blackboard."
"TOTAL DISLIKE!!!!!"
Student liked viewing professor-selected journal articles through Blackboard Learn.
"Again, my instructor took the time to gather invaluable journal articles and organize them into weekly modules: it was great."
See recommendation on access to print materials online listed above.
Student liked receiving timely and frequent assignment feedback through the online grade book.
"She also graded assignments quite regularly and essentially her grade book for me was my grade book for me; now that is what I call transparency!"
"I received assignments back but I didn't get any responses about it. I'm not sure if the instructor just didn't comment or I missed something."
"liked... being able to see and track grades is very important."
"It's tedious to go through Tools to check for any new grades. It would nice to have an alert on home page of new grades."
Use the My Grades tool in the course menu.
Post assignment feedback in a timely manner.
Explain to your students how to view instructor feedback.
The navigation for the discussion tool was not intuitive.
"The discussion board was much different than any I had used before and was extremely hard to navigate."
"The setup of the discussion forum post is less useful than that of Vista."
See recommendations on discussion navigation above.
Student liked the Task course module.
"I did, however, like the task feature. I like being able to check off assignments as I completed them."
Use the Task course module on the Home Page, so students can track their progress.
When copying and pasting from one program like MS Word to the HTML editor, unwanted tags are added.
"The HTML organizer was a NIGHTMARE! The formatting did not translate when the text was posted and there were a million spaces, breaks, and font inconsistences that were randomly put in the text once it was posted. I could NEVER get text size, breaks, and indentions to translate on the HTML formatter, I had to simply add an attachment to the message."
"Submitting assignments in the discussion section also caused me difficulty, because the entire assignment does not post if you do not paste it correctly and when I preview the assignment it looks prefect and then when I post the assignment the spacing is really off and makes the post look unorganized and hard to read."
See HTML editor recommendations posted above.
Student did not like the tools buried in a "Tools" link on the course menu.
"I also didn't like how the e-mail function was hidden. This is a primary source of communication and it took me weeks to find it. Once you open the class page, it should be displayed on the left hand panel."
"I did not feel the feature to access grades or the group discussion board was user-friendly."
"Also since you could have mail from multiple places it was annoying having to go through and figure out where it was coming from."
"The mail feature is kind of hidden."
"There appear to be two ways to access student/class information. This is unlike Blackboard. When the main page first comes up there are tabs along the left side, or I can click on the name of the course to take me into the course. I have found my grades and sometimes a notice listed in the course link, but not under the links section."
See Course Message recommendations posted above.
Students liked the features in Bb Learn.
"I think all of these features are important to have."
"The organization. And that it's so easy to use!"
The Total column in the Grade Center does not accurately reflect total points earned.
"The grade tracker did not always reflect grades correctly in its total."
Make sure the automatic Total column is set up properly in the Grade Center.
Student did not think this question was relevant.
"These things are the same as Vista, no different and these questions don't really apply well to Bb Learn. They are basic information that I was getting the same out of Vista."
Student did not like the user interface for the message tool.
"It was very frustrating using the email feature...I don't know if my instructor actually received it or not."
"I also couldn't find where to check my email. I could send, but I never found where to look to check for responses."
See messaging recommendation posted above.
Student liked the HTML editor copying and pasting ability.
"For the most part, Bb Learn did a good job of copying from a word document."
"I especially like the discussions feature. It has more font, style options compared to Vista."
See HTML editor recommendations above. This is a known issue.
Student would like the option to sync course message with external email.
"Email was particularly frustrating because not everyone used this email, some used general NAU email. The option of syncing the two would be nice."
"The only thing I dont like about Bb or vista is that some professors send important emails there, where you have a unique inbox for each class. I prefer to just have one inbox or just use the NAU Gmail."
Provide an option to sync course message system with external email system.
Students had trouble opening links to external sources.
"Links to outside sources never worked for me. This seemed to be one of the bugs in the system. Other students mentioned this problem as well."
When you add an external URL and do not have the URL open in a new window, the system locks.
Student had to log into Vista and Blackboard Learn
"I very much dislike that we log into blackboard through our Vista network, there should just be one or the other to access any learning media, emails, exam grades, etc. Too many logins just gets frustrating at times: logging into Vista, then to Blackboard, then some days takes a few minutes to load."
This issue will go away once Bb Vista goes away.
Student did not think taking and submitting a test was intuitive.
"On the screen after an assessment is completed, the submit button is way on the bottom of the screen and while this is a minimal complaint, it is still annoying."
"The things I dislike about the features are there is a delay when transitioning for question to question on the quizzes.."
Be explicit by explaining to students how to save and submit tests.
Provide a low stakes test where students can practice how to save and submit a test.
Student cannot easily print course materials.
"Blackboard was not good at printing any of the material I needed for class. You have to use print preview and change the page to 'fit screen' every time you wanted to print. (That is annoying) because if you just hit print, the words would be cut off the page."
Create a printable view for linked files and Bb Learn HTML objects.