Blackboard Learn Reviews

A feature that I love the most about this software is it allows teachers to upload assignments online to eliminate the use of paper. This software is such an easy to use software and really simple to change any settings for the liking of your choice. What I also love about this is that it is a good platform to take tests and quizzes, which is super amazing because it is not confusing at all. I absolutely love this and it has helped be more organized!

A feature that I would like to see in the future is the mobile app, it could use a little improvement and it is a bit slow, but the desktop version is amazing so it does not really bother me because I usually check and do everything through my desktop. I still absolutely love this software.

I like that it is fairly easy to use. Users don’t require extensive training to be able to use the product, and I like that as a student I can upload assignments and get learning modules from the same place, so it is convenient.

I think the user interface design is a bit outdated. It is less appealing than other LMS such as canvas learn. I also hear a lot of my professors complain about how complicated it is on their side to navigate blackboard due to the repetitiveness and redundancy of blackboard.

What I like most about the software is what is is *supposed* to do: serve as a total course management system.

Everything about Blackboard is clunky — at least as it is set up in our university. Operations that should be drag and drop require multiple clicks. Nearly every function in Blackboard is present in other generic software and works more efficiently. In addition, Blackboard (as set up in our school) forces templates onto teachers, Redoing the templates into usable form takes lots of clicks.

Here are two examples of the most egregious design errors.

1. The Bb gradebook. It vaguely resembles like Excel or Google sheets in how functions. But unlike spreadsheets where one can easily duplicate columns and reassign formulas, the Gradebook requires separate multiple-menu-click operations for every column creation, every grade entry and every grade change. We find little flexibility in creating grading formulas, compared to off-the-shelf spreadsheet programs. And the import-export functions of Bb gradesheets to generic spreadsheets is so clunky that it is unusable.

2. Course duplication. Bb allows the teacher to duplicate a course. Except it doesn't really work. If you try and duplicate the course you taught in the year 2020 for use in 2021, you find that Blackboard will duplicate the general template for all university courses without importing all of the eaacher's innovations.

I found that Blackboard Learn is much easier to use than other online platforms used in higher education. Being able to easily add materials and instructional documents to an online course is critical especially when a department adopts a new edition of a textbook. The quiz/test builder within Blackboard Learn is also quite user friendly and being able to export exams from a previous course and import to a future course is a real time saver!

The discussion board when entering grades can sometimes be a little confusing, trying to determine if the student is replying to a classmate’s post – especially if the student has not included the classmate’s name in their reply, but that’s really more due to a student not following instructions and not the program.

Being still a student, I love the ease with which I can move within the interface and change courses because if you have several subjects, you can easily locate them and see the content very easily. Inside the software, you can see practically everything as if it were a classroom since you can hold virtual meetings, see your content/tasks to do, see your final grades, take your final exams, etc. It is a platform that stands out for its excellence in education since the page rarely crashes or presents some difficulties.

It may be difficult at first to navigate through the different menus/pages/courses because the platform does not give us that simply look the first time we see it, as unlike its competitors in the market, this one has a slightly less friendly view. But it is rescued if for example our school/university gives us within Blackboard a small tutorial on the essentials you should know about this software.
But honestly, I do not see many cons to Blackboard because it is a platform that gives us what we are looking for and that is why it is one of the top e-learning software.

Hosting courses on Blackboard is better than having another software. Helps with managing your class and multiple users can work together to add work to it. Integration with zoom is great and necessary. Eases the maintenance that comes with large classes for teacher assistants and professors.

So many features could be improved. We now use Canvas and prefer that to Blackboard Learn. Need more integration and more improvements on the mobile app.

I like the powerful features and security of the program

BB is the most frustrating program I have ever used. It was one of the 1st LMS programs-I have heard. Its design is clunky and seems to be created by someone with little UXUI experience, I mean UXUI was a field that was known only by the people in the top of their field 20+ years ago so that would make sense! The lack of logical design for buttons and search areas is aggravating. The lack of them going back and changing things for the better and getting a visual designer and UXUI person involved NOW to fix the program-is again aggravating. An example to add a user, you click on a menu item-it goes to a window on the right and there is a search field there which one is supposed to ignore and know somehow to click on a button that does not look like a button called "Find Users To Enroll". WHY, is the search field even showing? Do you know how many times if I get away form using BB for a few weeks or months I end up typing in that filed instead of a button that does not look like a button? Explaining to faculty to NOT type in the field is a constant, because your intuition thinks the design makes sense-it does not.

I like how organized this is, it’s super easy to use

I wish that some of the sub folders are a little more organized

This is a very straight forward software for students during college, I liked that it was easy to access and you were able to communicate with instructors and classmates without compromising your personal information

The only downside of this software is that the app usually doesn't work and the software itself it's kind of difficult to navigate without prior instructions

its easy in writting and downloading movies

no there is nothing that is missing --it all well

The big scale design of the platform is ideal to have all your academic needs in one. Access to a combine calendar allowing for easy visualization of homeworks, projects and tasks. Easy view of currents classes and course materials. With the years of experience this platform is reliable and complete.

Even though the complexity is robust, sometimes it can be overwhelming for students and ease of access across the platform is not the best compared to other market competitors.

I like the advertisements they did in the past, everyone knew how expensive and famous it was.

They did not innovate, they both a lot of little competitors and lately they are selling them because that strategy has lost again more innovative platforms and cheaper.

I love the ability to reach all of my students or any subgroup in multiple ways. For example, personalized announcement, group emails, meeting and grading in realtime, scheduling office hours, and getting notifications are just a few of the native services, and each can be customized l.

The law of unintended consequences applies directly to blackboard. The same convenient and varied options that make the product great also give students more access (and wildly unrealistic expectations) to their professors. This is great for the 5% of students who have helpful and legitimate questions, but obnoxious for those who expect instant responses, midnight submissions, and A grades for D papers because “they clearly are trying. Just look at their blackboard logs and see!”

Everything is in one space - lots of tools - the sky is really the limit.
I also like the Best Practice parts of the help site - it helps you to get ideas of how you can use the tools.

In terms of support from Blackboard, sometimes the person who receives the inquiry do not read properly or English is a second language because we often have to explain again and again before they understand - that is the only frustration I currently have with the support.

It is unfortunately a very expensive product since the institutions are not based in the USA and therefore we are subjected to the exchange rate.

As a instructor blackboard lets me integrate a lot of different types of media through Kaltura, structure time released content ,vary assessments, and deliver individualized learning opportunities. All of these elements are crucial to my instruction. As a student, I get mobile access and notifications about grades, announcements, and course changes that help me manage my learning.

While the features are wonderful, they are somewhat convoluted to properly utilize, requiring more steps than I would like, and can sometimes be "hidden" in such ways that I have to refer back to user guides because it's not a very intuitive integration. Therefore, as a student, I find many of my professors do not fully take advantage of the learning management system because they have limited knowledge.

Blackboard has been AMAZING for organizing my online classes. I take 4 online classes a semester and I would be a mess if I didn't have blackboard reminding me of what needs done and making it super easy. Its very easy to upload my assignments and see whats due when it's due. Everything about it is SUPER easy and organized so I can focus all my energy on my school work.

I still can't figure out how to export my due dates to my calendar. I'm not sure if you even can, but I can't find any support on it. I don't like how I can't change the names of my courses and Ive had 3 courses that I dont take anymore still showing up and can't get them to disappear.

This software has little details on the student side that is missing from other learning platforms, like specialized involvement for presenting or using collaborative videos/meetings. It gives the students more freedoms and ways to ask questions without leaving the teacher unable to see or change needed items.

It was difficult to learn once you open the program, and there is not a tutorial or walkthrough for the overall site. You have to explore on your own, and it can be tough.

I like that I can add content, links, video's that can be played right from Blackboard. Each year this system gets better and more versatile to use. It also does not require much training to lean how to use it which make it user friendly on both sides. I also like that I can pull it up on my my phone even if the fromat is not always right.

It can be hard to find certain things and often tabs are hidden withing other tabs. This an also be frustrating to students when trying to locate content. The mobile app does also have some kinks, it does not format well. It is nice to check things like grades but not alot of work can be done from the mobile app.

What I like most about blackboard is the item analyzer which help us educator to secure that test and assessment given to students are align with intended learning outcome an. I also like the respondus that secure honest and credible exams.

There is also no enough storage. Every upload of documents or videos occupy a huge amount of BB storage, thus we need to procure additional storage.

It's reliable. Rarely needed tech support. It's pretty easy to use most of the time. It meets the complex compliance and integration requirements of higher education.

Lack of customizability. Course templates were generic with little flexibility for how it appears. Also with so many versions and always changing things around, it can be frustrating because you're used to a different version. If you're not in an industry with a lot of compliance regulations (privacy, accreditation etc.) I'd stay away and use something lighter and more flexible.

Blackboard makes organizing course content easy with standard options and the ability to add content with ease. Students enjoyed the standardized ability to track lecture notes, videos and access course readings. For me, it managed the basics of course content delivery really well.

Student management was challenging. I spent many hours working out how to grade material online and how to hide or show results for students. I found the help files not particularly useful for these challenges, and as these were things that I only performed once or twice per year, I tended to forget how to resolve these issues.

Blackboard Learn is a great tool to manage your academic career and it has helped me a great deal especially during the pandemic because I could attend my lessons online. You can literally access everything on your portal with features such as communication and notification features. It is easy to use and provides you with everything you need.

In the beginning the software would kick me out as I was attending classes and it happened a few times. Otherwise I don't have any problems with the software.

Blackboard has all the necessary tools to create a great and effective online learning environment. There are so many LTI tools you can integrate into Blackboard to be successful. Also it is user-friendly and you don't have to be a tech genius to manage the tools.

We have had issues in the past with customer support for Blackboard. There is only so much we have control over and we often have to reach out to support with minimal responses.

Blackboard is one of the pinnacle learning suites out there. I've had the privilege of being a student and a teacher with BB and have to say that I have never been let down by the amount of plugins that teachers can use and the ease of navigation for students. This tool really does check all of the boxes and makes remote learning a little bit easier.

As a teacher, there are almost too many ways that you can configure the course room and it can get fairly overwhelming. As a student, I didn't really have any cons!

Easy to navigate.
Simple to use.
Effective learning platform