Blackboard upgrade will reduce clicks, coming in fall
Central Michigan University’s Blackboard system is getting a facelift.
Blackboard 8 will be upgraded to Blackboard 9 starting in mid-August, said Greg Dumont, associate director of academic computing.
“It’s going to look very different,” Dumont said. “It might concern people because it looks so different, but students will be able to customize it to how they want to see it.”
Jeremy Bond, administrator of learning management systems, said a benefit of the Blackboard upgrade is an interface with the Web 2.0 look.
“It (reduces) unnecessary ‘clicks’ and auto-hides empty messages,” he said.
A big addition to Blackboard 9, Dumont said, is that it provides a place for faculty to blog and complete journal entries.
Other features include an integrated control panel so students do not have to navigate to separate pages, new HTML markup validation, quick navigation to courses and improvements involving assignments, tools and group creation.
“Students will benefit directly from the Blackboard and also indirectly from what faculty will be able to do on there as well,” Bond said.
While most students and classes at CMU are still using the Blackboard version 8, there is a group who is piloting the upgrade.
“There are eight to nine faculty and 10 to 15 classes (using the new version),” Dumont said. “(They are) engaged in pushing Blackboard to see what they can do with it.”
Bond said although there is no set schedule, a new version of Blackboard comes out about every 12 to 24 months.
“There is no cost because it’s a part of the licensing cost,” Dumont said. “We have an agreement with Blackboard so updates and upgrades are included; the only cost is time.”
The contract with Blackboard costs $90,000 annually, said Roger Rehm, vice president of Information Technology.
