What is our primary use case?
I teach basic and advanced graphic design courses at a technical college that offers two-year associate degrees. We deal with the technical execution of graphic design, aesthetics, and concept building. I use Blackboard as a shell or holding space for all my curriculum and lesson plans.
The latest version of Blackboard is called Ultra Base Navigation. I have experience with it, but I'm not currently using that for my courses. I'm using the original format deployed on a local system at the college.
How has it helped my organization?
Blackboard provides a go-to place for students to find out the essential information about a course. That's the benefit of any learning management system. Students have one place to go to find what they need to know about each course. It has been crucial to our operations in a virtual environment since the pandemic began.
It provides ease of access and continuity across an institution. We use it throughout the college for all courses, from technical programs to liberal arts courses, so students are familiar with the Blackboard interface. That is a plus.
What is most valuable?
Blackboard enables instructors to collectively gather all the grading data into one place. If students upload content or post it to a Google Doc, I can do my grading and calculate the grades. It is an excellent holding place for all of that data
It gathers attendance data, which works well for instructors using Blackboard Collaborate's virtual portal. It can tell you when a student logs into Blackboard and is participating in or viewing the session. The instructor can find out when the student tuned and left the session.
What needs improvement?
Blackboard has limitations in terms of delivering content and assessing student assignments because it can't handle large file sizes. It's also limited in its ability to track student activity. Instructors can see the student's most recent login, but they can't follow the activity.
One suggestion for new features is a modification I've made on my own. When assessing my graphic design students, I launch a separate Google Meet session instead of keying lengthy content into the feedback pane. I record a video of me going through the student file that might be two minutes or 25 minutes long. I can download that as an MP4 or post the link to that recording within Blackboard.
Blackboard can record feedback like that, but it's a convoluted process to get that video embedded into the feedback window. Feedback is essential for graphic design or any of our technical courses. We have face-to-face classes, but 90 percent of our courses are online. It's crucial that the students understand the feedback and incorporate it into improving their assignments. The ability to embed the video content is a clear and concise route.
Blackboard's built-in video capture requires you to go into YuJa media chooser. You click to launch that, wait for it to open up, and record content. You launch the recording, gather your screen, and download that. It's a lengthy multi-step process. That's a taxing process for 20 assignments and five classes every week.
I'd also like improvements to the pane where we view assignments. When students upload smaller files, like a JPEG rendering of a rough composition, we can't highlight everything. We can tag things and embed comments, but we can't highlight specific areas. We can only drop a pin and comment. In Google Docs, you can highlight, crop areas, and provide a specific point of visual contact for a composition. Blackboard would have a better product if they followed Google's lead in that regard.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I've used Blackboard for 15 or 16 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Blackboard is reliable. We don't often have problems with stability, but it's typically a bandwidth issue when we do. When the pandemic hit and most of our courses went online immediately, bandwidth was a problem. That seems to have been fixed, and I wouldn't blame that on Blackboard.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't experienced any limitations with scale. Our courses are capped at around 24 students. I haven't encountered any issues, and I load large volumes of content into the system every week. I typically teach 16 weeks per semester and dump a lot of content into Blackboard. Blackboard is used extensively throughout the college because the school mandates that each course must have an online presence, and it uses Blackboard for course delivery.
How are customer service and support?
We have internal support for Blackboard at the college. Two different areas work in tandem: the Center of Teaching Excellence and the Academic Support Center. A rough estimate is that we have 25 to 35 folks in that area. We also have a strong peer network within our departments, including faculty leads who provide support. Peer support steps in when there are questions about Blackboard functionality.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The college had Blackboard in place when I joined. I have used tools in the Google product line for students to upload their files to the cloud, so we have shared access to those files. However, this is the only structured learning management system I've used.
I often use third-party support components to backfill where Blackboard falls short. For example, I use Google Meet for synchronous virtual meetings and Google Docs to handle those larger files. Google is helpful for interacting interact in a discussion or conversational setting.
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra offers a virtual experience where students and instructors can interact in a synchronous setting. I've used that along with Google Meet, but I prefer using Google Meet because it is closer to my experience as a graphic designer. I think it's valuable for students to learn something they'll use the moment they step into the industry.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Blackboard is pretty straightforward, and it's easy to roll over content from semester to semester. The curriculum and content need to be updated, but it is fairly intuitive.
What about the implementation team?
The school deployed Blackboard in-house, and it was installed when I was hired. We have a peer support structure at the college that works well. When a new instructor is added, they aren't just left to their own devices.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Blackboard Learning Management seven out of 10. There's room for growth, but it's solid. Many students have used it at other institutions, so familiarity is an advantage, and it's reasonably intuitive. Ultra Base Navigation is much more intuitive and has a cleaner delivery. It's a healthy seven.
As a graphic design instructor, I find the interface for content formatting pretty clumsy. After removing all the formatting, there's residual HTML that's still just nagging the ability to format. It would be great if they can clean up their formatting. But overall, the core features work well, like laying out weekly curriculum structure, embedding content, and access to remote links.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.