Survey says students use BlackBoard

91 percent say they use the Web service and would again in the future

By Martha Martinez

BlackBoard enhanced classes have increased significantly over the past few years, yet opinions differ on BlackBoard’s ease of use.

Students generally find BlackBoard services to be convenient, while some faculty members have found the services difficult to navigate, a Digital Campus student assistant said.

“ From a student’s point of view, it’s OK,” student assistant Krishna Guttikonda said. “For the staff, features are not user friendly, they can be made much more simple.”

About 1,200 courses were offered through Digital Campus this semester, compared to the spring semester of 2001 when only 50 courses were offered.

In a 2003 BlackBoard Student Survey, 91 percent of students (out of 814 respondents) said they use BlackBoard and would take another BlackBoard-enhanced class.

Students who responded to the survey commented on the convenience of turning in assignments from home. Students also like the idea of checking grades and reading postings from their classes.

Others were not so happy with BlackBoard as an option to take classes. Some responses to the survey said assignments were often difficult to load and would “slip your mind.”

Instructional Designer Michelle Fisher said most of the problems students had when using BlackBoard were due to slow modems and delays logging on.

“ We want to help them prevent these problems,” Fisher said.

When it comes to using technology for Digital Campus, faculty tends to need more help than students, Fisher said.

Spanish instructor Philip Schafer said he had trouble with audio on BlackBoard at the beginning of the semester. “To a point it’s convenient,” Schafer said about using BlackBoard. “From the paper stand point, people lose them. Everyone has access with BlackBoard.”

Instructors pay more visits and make more phone calls to the Digital Campus help desk than students, Fisher said. She works directly with faculty by helping them set up BlackBoard for students.

“ It’s a matter of continued training,” Fisher said, referring to training faculty members.

Attendance can also be a problem with courses that are taught online, Fisher said.

With classes that offer supplemental outlines and information, Fisher said that attendance is not impacted.

“ With the type of class that uses Power Point on BlackBoard, attendance will go down,” she said.

With the BlackBoard contract ending in December of this year, Digital Campus will keep its options open when contracting a server for Web-based courses.

BlackBoard will be kept in mind when it comes time to choose a new provider, Fisher said.