Some professors still don’t use Blackboard despite new version
For some Central Michigan University students, Blackboard is an essential tool they use to keep up with class work through the semester.
But on some occasions, a student might enter a class with a professor who decides against using Blackboard despite that a new version recently hit the Web.
Monroe senior Nick Tsipis said he sees why certain professors choose not to use the website.
“I can understand when a professor doesn’t put the entire class online,” he said. “But it can be frustrating when there isn’t a link on Blackboard for a course you’re taking.”
Blackboard 9.1 was launched in mid-August after a successful trial period over the summer and includes new communication features and a re-designed interface.
Tsipis said when professors don’t open their courses on Blackboard students can’t communicate with their classmates.
“Blackboard users are greeted by a highly customizable welcome page, featuring a new CMU design theme,” said Jeremy Bond, administrator for Learning Management Systems at Prof Ed.
Tibor Marcinek said he dislikes using Blackboard because of its “closed” nature. Instead, the mathematics professor utilizes his own website for posting assignments and course material.
He uses Blackboard strictly for posting grades, but nothing else.
“I’ve had students in the past who were not enrolled in my class ask for the materials of the course,” Marcinek said. “Since Blackboard is only available to my students, they weren’t able to access it.”
Tsipis said the university has been constantly making changes to the student server, but professors still are choosing not to use Blackboard in their courses.
“Blackboard seems to be always getting upgrades,” he said. “But the new version of Blackboard seems less confusing and more organized.”
Ron Marmarelli, an assistant journalism professor, said the new version is a vast improvement over the previous one but still appears to have some of the same limitations as the older version.
Marmarelli said he doesn’t understand why some professors still choose to remain off the system. He said in previous years, some professors declined to use it because the system had technical problems often associated with it.
“Mostly, I find it annoying the need to do various operations one at a time, rather than in groups,” he said. “Of course, I am still learning some of the features of the new version.”
