Blackboard: Underused and Abused
What bothers me about Blackboard is that it is perfect in theory but difficult to put into practice. On one hand, Professors, at least all the ones I have had so far, are hesitant to use Blackboard for anything other than posting grades, creating tutorial groups, sending emails and making announcements. I feel these functions compose the bare minimum of Blackboard because Professors seem to only use Blackboard for these functions and ignore the other helpful tools like journal and calendar.
However, when professors do not use Blackboard at all then it is extremely difficult to keep up with the course and communicate with the professor.
On the other hand, Blackboard’s interface and layout is not user-friendly and confuses many students. The fear of everyone getting notified by your mistake in pressing the wrong button or typing the wrong answer prevents many students from exploring the blackboard tools. Discussion boards are dominated by the two overly eager students in class who know way too much about everything and intimidate other students from participating. The mass e-mail function is abused by event promoters and lying last minute note hunters. And the other functions like journal, blogs and conference are not understood or promoted by professor so students rarely forage into this unknown territory.
Also, something about Blackboard makes me want to procrastinate. I think it’s because that it is a physical manifestation of readings piling up and so, naturally I run away to the next tab—Facebook.
Debby Downer comments aside I really think Blackboard has the potential to be great if Professors were trained on how to use it effectively and students were taught how not to use it. Blackboard has all the right tools to facilitate conversation between students. It can do everything social media can do but better because its familiar territory for both professors and students, has all tools in one place and all students have an account.
To make Blackboard work, it is up to the professors to invite the students to try out its tools. Providing an incentive like participation marks or bonus marks for making use of Blackboard tools is a great way to encourage students.
However, when professors do not use Blackboard at all then it is extremely difficult to keep up with the course and communicate with the professor.
On the other hand, Blackboard’s interface and layout is not user-friendly and confuses many students. The fear of everyone getting notified by your mistake in pressing the wrong button or typing the wrong answer prevents many students from exploring the blackboard tools. Discussion boards are dominated by the two overly eager students in class who know way too much about everything and intimidate other students from participating. The mass e-mail function is abused by event promoters and lying last minute note hunters. And the other functions like journal, blogs and conference are not understood or promoted by professor so students rarely forage into this unknown territory.
Also, something about Blackboard makes me want to procrastinate. I think it’s because that it is a physical manifestation of readings piling up and so, naturally I run away to the next tab—Facebook.
Debby Downer comments aside I really think Blackboard has the potential to be great if Professors were trained on how to use it effectively and students were taught how not to use it. Blackboard has all the right tools to facilitate conversation between students. It can do everything social media can do but better because its familiar territory for both professors and students, has all tools in one place and all students have an account.
To make Blackboard work, it is up to the professors to invite the students to try out its tools. Providing an incentive like participation marks or bonus marks for making use of Blackboard tools is a great way to encourage students.