Blackboard

[Dan Beeson]

Some on BTC's campus are using Blackboard.

What are the pros/cons?

What about using it as a course management system for traditional "ground" courses that don't contain on-line components?

Why is this guy having trouble?

[Jen]

Excellent discussion topic and I can't wait to hear what people think. Ken has some interesting and informed opinions on LMS's, so I hope he joins in. Personally, I don't like the idea of "managing" learning. Bb can be useful, and it is a resource for which we have access. In a few weeks, the state committee meets to determine whether or not the state will switch systems.
I've got our IT department exploring Word Press Multi User (WPMU). I would love to see this used in addition to a few other tools to host courses. We will definitely be purchasing Elluminate, but I have to start the negotiations again, because our rep left. There's a del.icio.us tag on the right side of the page for WPMU if you are interested in finding out more. I think there are two critical things that will lead us in the right direction for online learning. The first is that we need to rethink the way we teach and the way students learn and the second is to rethink assessment.

[Greg Rehm]

I mostly use it in regular classes. The classes are hybrid only to the degree that I use Bb as the method to distribute information and communicate with students. Docs, assignments, resources, grades, all on Bb.
I don't think Bb is particularly great as such systems go, but I don't have much experience with other systems. I like that it's provided by the state and relatively inexpensive (only a few $ per students for hybrid classes). Having a system like this makes it easy for me to get stuff to my students without having to deal with paper and who was in class on what day.

Greg

[Carl Oekerman]

I'm now two weeks into my first fully online course using Blackboard. While I'm still finding my way around (as are the students), there are plenty of pros and cons, which I'd be happy to enumerate if I didn't have to get back and load some more content onto Blackboard.

But your question is about using it as a management tool for a traditional face to face class. Last quarter, I dabbled with Blackboard with one of my sections of PSYC 111. Once people get the hang of navigating their way around, it's actually a pretty good place to place all of your course documents and handouts. It's also not a bad way to manage assignments and grades.

Students really like being able to monitor their progress. I've already discovered one potential, though minor, downside: some students think that there should be instantaneous turn around time. I've gotten more than one contact in the first two weeks of class along the lines of, "I'm sure I turned in that assignment last night, but I didn't see my grade posted yet this morning. Are you sure you got it?"

One other drawback: I often add material to Blackboard from home, where I use a wireless connection. On more than one occassion, I've carefully developed something and then lost it when the connection suddenly gets fuzzy/weak/disconnected. Very frustrating and time consuming! Use a hard wired connection as much as you can!