Out with the old, in with Blackboard

The new-to-PSU online course program, Blackboard Campus Edition 6, is almost here and to help PSU get used to the technology, tutorial labs for professors and sneak peaks at the program for students are being offered.

Professors have recently had the chance to visit labs and workshops to learn more about Blackboard Campus Edition 6, commonly referred to as CE6, before it’s school-wide launch spring term. While there are no plans to host similar instructor-led orientations for the student body, the Blackboard project group is working to provide other orientation options. Starting March 7, students will have access to a free online introductory course on CE6.

To access the online course, students can login to Blackboard from psuonline.pdx.edu using their ODIN account information.

Some students are getting a hands-on preview of the new system. Six professors volunteered to test out Blackboard during their winter term courses. Criminal justice, business administration and communications students, among others, are giving CE6 a full test run and reporting any problems they discover to the Blackboard team, which is working to get everything smoothed out before the full launch.

Other students not currently enrolled in a Blackboard course can still use CE6, but they might not see much when they look at their Blackboard front page. Still, students can utilize the calendar tool and get a head start customizing their Blackboard layout, color and font schemes, and profile information.

Blackboard project coordinator Michael Chamberlain said over 500 courses so far will use Blackboard spring term, compared to the few dozen classes that will continue to use WebCT. Spring term will be the last term that instructors can utilize WebCT before the university converts entirely to Blackboard CE6.

Chamberlain said that although switching to the new system will cause some headaches and problems for faculty members, the switch will, in the long run, save time and prevent even bigger headaches further down the line.

“WebCT requires several human interventions to insure that a student get added to the right online course,” he said. “Human error at any one of these steps can result in a student not being added [to the course].”

Conversely, with CE6 all students enrolled in a class that uses Blackboard will automatically be added to the course roster.

PSU will discontinue its use of WebCT after spring term and transition entirely to CE6 beginning summer term. The decision to use CE6 was made by the Advisory Committee on Academic Information Technologies, following a study of alternatives to WebCT. The committee, which reports to the provost and the Faculty Senate, will review Blackboard and other similar products for the next three years to determine if CE6 is the best fit for the university’s needs.

What’s new with Blackboard?

-Students will have the option to post multimedia projects and documents they are working on to share with the rest of the class.-CE6 will have a journal feature where students can make notes only seen by the course professor, and professors can comment back privately.-A blog feature will allow professors to write detailed messages for students to read.-CE6 users can customize menu layout, color scheme and even font preferences.��-Professors can list out weekly goals for students.-Instructors can now specify grading rubrics within CE6 to all assignments, including message board discussions.-The “Who’s Online” status box lets you know which of your classmates are also logged in to Blackboard.-A printable to-do list is available on the user’s front page.