Blackboard Learn

4.1 (500)
A marketing-leading LMS for education, biz, gov, and more.

Overall rating

4.1 /5
(500)
Value for Money
4.1/5
Features
4.1/5
Ease of Use
3.9/5
Customer Support
4.0/5

81%
recommended this app
Sort by

500 Reviews

Abhuday
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Easy and flexible learning management system.

Reviewed on 16/4/2023

Students are satisfied with it.

Students are satisfied with it.

Pros

It has very strong and fast customer support service.

Cons

It's bit costly and there are no free version.

Alternatives Considered

Moodle

Reasons for Choosing Blackboard Learn

More features are there in Blackboard.

Switched From

Google Classroom
Tanay
Overall rating
  • Industry: Consumer Electronics
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Wow..an excellent online Learning platform

Reviewed on 30/7/2021

Pandemic-related problems with submitting assignments and accessing information for my online and...

Pandemic-related problems with submitting assignments and accessing information for my online and face-to-face classes. It has become increasingly apparent to me as I progress through graduate school that this site will be useful not only for my coursework, but also for group presentations and collaboration with other students.

Pros

My assignments and materials are organized in one place. As of the most recent update, it is now much easier to use than it used to be. Assigning assignments and adding details to classes has never been simpler. Now, it's much easier to use than it was before. The process of giving students feedback and organizing my responses is simple. It's also how I communicate with them. As a result, it's easy to refer back to them and remember what I said.

I also like that Blackboard integrates well with other apps. When it comes to presentations, I rely heavily on VoiceThread and Panopto. GoReact and Top Hat are also on my to-do list.

Cons

An update to the mobile app is still in order. There is a lot of work to be done on this project. On the web, the user experience was much better.

Alternatives Considered

Moodle

Reasons for Choosing Blackboard Learn

I've used Moodle and Canvas, and I believe Blackboard Learn is more user-friendly and easier to use. The saying "you get what you pay for" applies to Blackboard.

Switched From

CANVAS

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

Student logistical challenges were addressed and resources were provided by Blackboard. It simplifies managing and improving communication with students and teachers. The whiteboard allows you to attach Microsoft Outlook, and anyone in the class can send an e-mail to the class.
Richard
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

Blackboard - Really clunky!

Reviewed on 5/3/2020

At our institution Bb Learn instructions sometimes don't match the local implementation.

At our institution Bb Learn instructions sometimes don't match the local implementation.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Lara
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

A perfect LMS for remote learning

Reviewed on 19/7/2023

We have since moved on to Canvas at my workplace, and I long for the days when all we used was...

We have since moved on to Canvas at my workplace, and I long for the days when all we used was Blackboard. I have had more trouble with Canvas than Blackboard with my distance learners.

Pros

Its adaptability and flexibility for the content writer. Information is so easy to add, edit, or remove at a moment's notice, and the changes are reflected immediately.

Cons

There could be more assessment tools added, but the ones already there are more than adequate.

Kayla
Overall rating
  • Industry: Biotechnology
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

BlackBoard as a student

Reviewed on 15/4/2020

It's super easy to navigate and find all your resources on. It's well organized and I love it.

It's super easy to navigate and find all your resources on. It's well organized and I love it.

Pros

I really like using blackboard. It is a lot better than other programs I've had to learn for school. It is super easy to navigate. You can find all your assignments there. There's a calendar to make when assignments are due. My favorite part I think, is the fact that you can email another student through blackboard. So if you are doing a project and you've never met your partner, or don't have their information, you can email them through blackboard.

Cons

There really isn't anything that I don't like about it.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Management Consulting
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Perfect and always saves time

Reviewed on 7/10/2022

Pros

The softwares capacity to synchronize contacts and users information.

Cons

Near to perfect but it has little hitch when it comes to support.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

Canvas tend to favour learning institutions only.
Arturo
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Your new classroom (digital)

Reviewed on 26/5/2022

The experience that Blackboard gives you is satisfactory since several other platforms, its...

The experience that Blackboard gives you is satisfactory since several other platforms, its management system between courses, and the power to upload files or open documents that teachers upload to their respective courses, are not as easy to do as in blackboard, since the software is very friendly for students like us and makes it not cost us work in performing all its functions that it gives us.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Prateek
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Exceptional Learning Management Systems Provide Integration With Third-Party Applications

Reviewed on 19/12/2022

The platform helps me because I can continue my education from a distance using the various...

The platform helps me because I can continue my education from a distance using the various alternatives offered by Blackboard. It is an entire LMS system, incredibly user-friendly, and connects with a variety of audio and video resources.

Pros

I love that everything for all of my classes is accessible on Blackboard Learn in a single area. I have access to all of the resources, tests, and homework that my instructors have uploaded. the platform's user-friendliness. For instance, it can be effectively used by both the instructor and the students. You can see all of your selections on the bar to the left.

Cons

I can't think of anything about Blackboard Learn that I dislike, to be completely honest. It has been an excellent resource for online learning and classes. I may interact with my professor and fellow students, take part in debates, and access and watch my lectures.

Rachel
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 3.0 /10

A helpful LMS from the student perspective.

Reviewed on 7/4/2023

I think that overall it was functional and did the job. I think there is room for improvement, but...

I think that overall it was functional and did the job. I think there is room for improvement, but it functions in the way you'd expect from an LMS.

Pros

I liked that you could set it to send reminders about when upcoming assignments were due. It was very helpful from that perspective.

Cons

I thought the user interface was clunky and needed work. It was sometimes hard to navigate and there would often be times where students would have to ask how to do something in the platform.

Sam
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

My school uses this program to upload lecture notes and other class material

Reviewed on 15/5/2018

Pros

Everything I need for class can be downloaded in as a PDF or as a Microsoft file. Easy for professors to give you the information you need.

Cons

Way too many folders, way too confusing. Its clearly confusing for the professors to figure out where they should upload and store files, because I have the hardest time finding them. Can be difficult to navigate. Needs to be streamlined, at least for what we are using it for.

Laura
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

BB Learn-the old workhouse

Reviewed on 27/5/2022

I will continue to use BB Learn or soon we will be using Ultra, for as long as I have to for my...

I will continue to use BB Learn or soon we will be using Ultra, for as long as I have to for my job. If my job were to ask me should we keep BB or switch to another LMS - I would say SWITCH!

One of the absolute worst features within BB is the Voice thread area. I used to use it and had to teach others how to use it. They (BB) decided to "improve it" a couple years ago and now it is so difficult to use that I tried to create user guides and could not get it to work and it was so complicated now, I have given up on it entirely and do not recommend that area at all for anyone to use.

Pros

I like the powerful features and security of the program

Cons

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.

Cary
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

True and Tried (but also Tired)

Reviewed on 30/3/2022

Please see above :). I've used BB since I was in college (back in the aughts) and regret that my...

Please see above :). I've used BB since I was in college (back in the aughts) and regret that my future students at CSUSB will not have access to it moving forward. Even still, I likely won't miss the gradebook, though Canvas' leaves much to desire as well...

Pros

I know it extremely well, find it to be easy to operate, think its features are strong and easily accessible, and have had very few incidents with students being totally baffled by it. We switched to Canvas this year, and I rue the day the decision was made.

Cons

The GUI for our version of Blackboard was extremely dated (we did not use Ultra, which frankly seems like a Canvas clone). I would offer the following analogy... Blackboard : Canvas :: PowerPoint : Keynote (... and I'm a PC user). It's boxy, somewhat drab, and looks a bit 'late Geocities // Fark.com'-era.

EVEN STILL: I don't mind it - I'd rather have functionality than aesthetics, which is the tradeoff made with Canvas.

DEADLY SERIOUS NOTE HERE: The BB Gradebook has always been, continues to be, and seemingly will forever remain an enormous hassle. It is slow, tedious to adjust, difficult to manage, and user unfriendly.

Cody
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

Blackboard works well enough, still trying to catch up.

Reviewed on 10/10/2022

Blackboard works well enough for what we need to use it for. There are other LMS that work equally...

Blackboard works well enough for what we need to use it for. There are other LMS that work equally as well, if not better, so there is healthy competition to push Blackboard to improve.

Pros

Blackboard is a relatively stable platform with few major bugs that restrict users from completing tasks. It has a long history and many users are familiar with the LMS.

Cons

Some of the tools don't always work as smoothly as you'd like. They are making major improvements but there are still issues that come up to make it a cohesive experience and tools not feel as disjointed.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS
Gabriela
Overall rating
  • Industry: Food Production
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Blackboard LMS for Business Review

Reviewed on 19/5/2020

My overall experience with Blackboard LMS Business is always amazing! It has helped and improved my...

My overall experience with Blackboard LMS Business is always amazing! It has helped and improved my grade so much because it lets me know ahead of time when assignments are due, which has helped be more organized as well. I love this software so much and I suggest everyone to use this!

Pros

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!

Cons

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.

ZAiN
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Industry Standard LMS

Reviewed on 20/2/2023

Blackboard integrated seamlessly with our current system, Microsoft Teams

Blackboard integrated seamlessly with our current system, Microsoft Teams

Pros

With an established ecosystem and many tools available, Blackboard is my go to LMS for schools and other educational institutions

Cons

Blackboard is a bit pricey, however you get a polished piece of software.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS, Absorb LMS and Schoology

Switched From

Google Classroom, Moodle, Quizlet and Firefly
Stephanie
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Great Platform For My College Courses

Reviewed on 5/5/2022

Overall I would recommend blackboard learn to others it’s an easy way to access your grades your...

Overall I would recommend blackboard learn to others it’s an easy way to access your grades your courses and assignments for your college course that you’re taking. There are some things that can be fixed like the interface to make it easier for people to see certain things but overall I would recommend blackboard.

Pros

What I like the most about Blackboard Learn is the easy navigation of looking up my college courses. I am able to see what is due for each class on the calendar. I also love that I can get notifications that something is graded especially if it is for an assignment or test that I am waiting to see my grade.

Cons

One thing I don’t like about Blackboard is that there are outages and glitches sometimes and there is no notification about when it will be fixed or if it is ever going to be fixed. Another thing is the interface can be confusing to some people and may take some time to get used to.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Great for Online Learning

Reviewed on 8/12/2022

My overall experience with Blackboard has been good overall. Although it has not been very easy to...

My overall experience with Blackboard has been good overall. Although it has not been very easy to use, it still offers great features for instructors and students.

Pros

Blackboard Learn is a great platform both for offline and online learning. It has a lot of nice features and allows instructors to structure their courses in an organized manner. Online tests are also a great feature that allow students to take tests at their own time. Blackboard Learn has also an automatic grading system to evaluate the student's work.

Cons

Although Blackboard Learn has a lot of important features, it is not very user-friendly in the edit mode for instructors, and is very hard to use, especially for beginners. In addition, browsing student submissions is not very streamlined as opening a link in a new tab will not actually open the selected item but take you to the home page.

Prutha
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Great LMS for University

Reviewed on 7/6/2022

It is very customizable to your individual class/course. I would highly recommend it.

It is very customizable to your individual class/course. I would highly recommend it.

Pros

I have used this as a user and as an administrator and it is a great LMS. I allows for easy communication sent to all students/teachers in a course.

Cons

There is limited activity tracking for students and visuals could be improved.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

Overall ease of use.
Kenatu
Overall rating
  • Industry: Primary/Secondary Education
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

Hammer To Swat a Fly

Reviewed on 16/12/2018

Blackboard is a classic case of good product upgrading too much until you lose what made it great....

Blackboard is a classic case of good product upgrading too much until you lose what made it great. It has a lot of value added features, so much so that you can no longer find the simple things. They should also focus on getting the bugs out of what is really needed and not focus so much on adding more. Keep it simple, stupid KISS. over all a pretty decent LMS but there are better for less.

Pros

Feature Rich - lots of value added functionality
Love that there are break out rooms for each session
Clickable rubrics - awesome
Cons 345/100 characters minimum

Cons

Grading system is too granular. if you use this it makes it too easy for a few bad assignments to tank students grades and gives the instructor more work.
What do you have against independent content. I create videos using Camtasia and Movavi, but its often a fight get them placed where I'd like or even to get them to run in the first place.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Blackboard

Reviewed on 6/4/2021

This is our LMS system and we are in general very happy with it.

This is our LMS system and we are in general very happy with it.

Pros

I have found it easy to use and easy to get used to. I like the value that it brings to the educational experience.

Cons

It's not the most modern product. That being said all the tools exist once you get used to it and find them.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS
Krystal
Overall rating
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Gets better every year

Reviewed on 9/9/2019

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Diana Grace
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

The best LMS under new normal education

Reviewed on 5/11/2022

Using Blackboard use our official LMS is really convenient to both faculty and students. We can...

Using Blackboard use our official LMS is really convenient to both faculty and students. We can easily track our students' process and students can track all the modules and learning materials upload in it. Assessment can be access anytime, with proper setting and there's a lot of feature.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Simon
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Hard to use software that is also very expensive!

Reviewed on 19/8/2020

Okay.

Okay.

Pros

Blackboard LMS is great for schools as well as faculty in organizing their class materials although it can be a bit confusing for your average user.

Cons

Price and the fact it was hard to implement.

Alternatives Considered

FACTS

Switched From

FACTS

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

Use in schools.
Deb
Overall rating
  • Industry: Professional Training & Coaching
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

Effective tool for the right industry

Reviewed on 20/1/2022

I've used Blackboard for many, many years in higher ed setting. Even before they acquired WebCT....

I've used Blackboard for many, many years in higher ed setting. Even before they acquired WebCT. Over the years there have been so many versions. Some I loved. Some I found inferior to others (like Moodle). Newer versions weren't always better. However higher ed has unique requirements for compliance, integration and accreditation which makes BlackBoard an ideal tool for that sector. It's fairly easy to use and it's very reliable. If you're in an industry like higher ed, I highly recommend it.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Blackboard Learn is a proven success

Reviewed on 20/9/2022

We see widespread use of Blackboard Learn at our institution for a variety of purposes, not just...

We see widespread use of Blackboard Learn at our institution for a variety of purposes, not just for online classes. Even university administrators have found ways to make use of the LMS for content sharing and assessment far beyond course work.

Pros

Instructors and Trainers can do almost anything they want with content in Learn. Pretty much the only limits are those imposed by your institution (cost, security, resources, effort).

Cons

We find the reporting (especially activity) less useful than it could be. I don't know if that's just a shortfall in design, or if it's a configuration problem in our implementation.