Unit 4: Blackboard Features

Kristin MurnerIX 564

• Both student and teacher resources are feature-packed and well-developed

• Superior support for online or hybrid learning• Social network support and full mobile

compatibility• Blackboard could use an interface overhaul so

navigation is more natural

Robust Assets: Quick overview

• Many tools for collaboration, content exploration, and assessment.

• View assignments by date or by importance-level

Student Assets: LMS

Student Assets: Mobile “Students can check grades, view announcements, post to blogs and discussions, and access course content. In addition, students can upload media as attachments to blogs, journals, and discussions directly from their mobile device” (Blackboard, Inc, 2015)

• Student preview• In-line grading• Collaborative learning

activities• Safe-assign• Ample training and

tutorials online

Faculty Assets:

Integrating Social Media:

While it may be a multi-step process, it is easy to integrate social media feeds (such as Twitter) into Blackboard. 1) Faculty need to create a widget in

Twitter, which will generate an HTML code.

2) Open Blackboard, create a blank page in a course/content and then paste the HTML code there.

3) Hit “update.” (Western University, n.d)

If I could make a wish: I am a visual learner and really respond to layout and navigation.

Everything about Blackboard seems to be less than obvious to me.

The left-hand navigation (while better than eCollege!) isn’t completely intuitive.

I struggled with their marketing site-it was never clear whether what I was looking at was for Learn or another product. It was easier to Google what I was looking for than navigate the sites.

SCORM Compliance: Blackboard Learn is fully SCORM compliant and the SCORM engine automatically installs when Blackboard is installed or updated. However, the Engine must be enabled by the system administrator to allow access.

(Blackboard, n.d.)

References

Blackboard, Inc. (2015). Bb Student. Retrieved from: http://www.blackboard.com/Images/Bb_Student_Datasheet_FINAL_06%2008%202015_tcm21-19353.pdf

Blackboard, Inc. (2015). SCORM Engine and Open Standards Content Player. Retrieved from: https://help.blackboard.com/en-us/Learn/9.1_SP_10_and_SP_11/Administrator/110_Building_Blocks/010_Featured_Building_Blocks/SCORM_Engine_and_Open_Standards_Content_Player

Western University of Health Sciences (n.d.). Integrating Twitter Feeds into your Blackboard Courses. Retrieved from: http://teachtech.westernu.edu/blackboard-twitter-feeds/