Blackboard Vista

Draft

Definition

'Blackboard is a commercial learning management system. A first version was available in 1997. This entry describes Blackboard

The designer, teacher, student and my interface

Cours designers, teachers and students can use different tool sets available through different views. A course designer/teacher has access to all three views. In some institutions, teachers may only have access to the "teach view". Here is a short overview:

Course designers (Build view)

• Course tools: contents, communication and evaluation tools
• Designer tools: in particular "mangage course" to configure course tools (e.g. remove/add from the available list), appearance, file mangement, etc.

Teacher (Teach view)

• Course tools (the same as above)
• Instructor tools: course, assessment, grading management, tracking etc. plus the "manage course"

Student (Student view)

• Course tools: same as the course designer and teacher
• My tools (student tools): evaluation and progress tracking

A course is arranged around the course menu (see course tools)

Course tools

Items can be hidden from students

• Contents
• Communication
• Evaluation

Designer tools

Manage course

• add/remove tools
• sequencing (course menu)
• appereance

File manager

• Upload assets to be included in teaching materials

Instructor interface

Also includes "manage course", see above

Assessment manager

• deliver various forms of assessments
• view and mark completed quizzes

Assignment dropbox

• manage assignments, i.e. view, mark and (if needed) return for revision

Gradebook

View, enter and manage grades

Groupmanager

• Organize students in group to organize teamwork

Tracking

• Allows to track various student activities, i.e. it's a report generator

Blackboard legal issues

Blackboard is known for getting US patents (e.g. patent 6,988,138 on "Internet-based education support system and methods") that granted them rights for a combination of things that have been done with prior systems. In the opinion of Daniel K. Schneider, a model case for something that is deeply wrong with American patent law. See the [Blackboard Wikipedia] page for more details.

Links

• Blackboard Inc. (Wikipedia)
• Blackboard Learning System (Wikipedia)