What’s New in Blackboard

Blackboard Migration

In May, we migrated Blackboard from our own servers to cloud-based servers (SaaS). Although the courses themselves are unchanged, you will notice differences in the surrounding navigation. The sections of the left-hand navigation panel should be fairly self-evident, but you can also watch a four-minute video on Base Navigation to get an overview of the functions of each area. And of course, links to the Instructors’ and Users’ manuals are available in every course.

Updates to the Content Editor

The Content or Text Editor has been completely redesigned, with several improvements including easier workflow for inserting multimedia, better handling of text copied and pasted from Word, and an accessibility checker. All features (including the all-important Plus button for adding media) are described in this section of the Instructors’ Manual.

Updates to the Inline Grading Interface for Assignments

Settings for line size and color are now remembered from one paper to the next.  Instructors can edit their posted comments (click the three dots in the comment to see this option).  Please visit this section of the Instructors’ Manual for full details and an informative video.

Cloud Storage Integration

In addition to your local computer and the Content Collection, you can also add items to Blackboard from several cloud storage services (for example, Google Drive and OneDrive). For more information, see this section in the Instructors’ Manual.

Record Audio and Video Feedback

You can record audio/video feedback to students with one click from the “Feedback to Learner” toolbar for any assignment attempt, using your computer’s built-in camera and microphone. For details, see this section in the Instructors’ Manual.

Attendance Tool

Blackboard has a built-in native online attendance tool, which is integrated with the Grade Center. For details, see this section in the Instructors’ Manual.