Information Technology

Story posted June 11, 2010

Blackboard is getting a facelift and is being upgraded to version 9.1 on Monday and Tuesday, June 14 and 15.  The new version will offer an updated interface and many features to help you develop your course and organization content more efficiently.   Watch the video below to see the new interface.

On Wednesday, June 16 you will have access to Blackboard 9.1 and all of your prior courses and organizations.  Fall 2010 courses will be available on Thursday, July 1.

Some of the enhancements that you will discover in Blackboard 9.1 include:

Interface

• Blackboard 9.1 uses a Web 2.0 interface that allows users to drag and drop items and select options from drop-down menus.

Course Management

• Course content creation and editing tools are available throughout the course and no longer require faculty to go to a separate page to access the Control Panel.
• All options in the Control Panel are available from the main Course Menu.
• Course Menu items that do not contain content are automatically hidden from student view but are visible to the instructor while in the editing mode.

Success Confirmations

• The “success” page after adding or modifying content is gone.  Confirmations now appear on the same page that the user is working on and eliminate unnecessary clicks.

File Collection and Exchange

• The Digital Drop Box has been replaced by the Assignments Tool. This tool allows instructors to download all of the student files for a particular assignment rather than downloading their students’ work one file at a time.

Tests and Surveys

• Instructors can reorder questions in a test or survey using the new drag and drop feature.

We look forward to introducing you to Blackboard and helping you familiarize yourself with the new features.  To that end, we will offer many training session this summer to give you opportunities to use Blackboard 9.1.  Please visit the IT training page for more information and to register for any of our offerings.

If you would like more information or have questions, please contact Jennifer Snow.