Blackboard Learn Reviews

Pros

It is easy to use and has all of the feature I need like auto grade, the ability to create quiz and text on the fly and allow the student to get involved in the discussion.

Cons

There is nothing I do not like about the software.

Alternatives Considered

Google Classroom

Reasons for Choosing Blackboard Learn

Google classroom do not have the ability to auto grade and it does not have the ability to organized things in different pages like Blackboard.

Switched From

Google Classroom

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

I chose Blackboard Learn over these alternative because it is a higher quality product with far better features than any other I have ever seen.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

I like the course arrangement and assignment updates

Cons

Those whole platforms needs a style update. Its rather difficult to wield its features.

Pros

I prefer Blackboard Learn over other software that I have used in the past and recent events. The simplicity of the system ensures that it is easy to use for all generations, teacher and student, and all of those in between.

Cons

Right now, I do not think there is anything I would change.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS

Reasons for Choosing Blackboard Learn

Ability for users to understand the program.

Switched From

CANVAS

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

How easy Blackboard learn was to use compared to other softwares.

Pros

The calendar was a great feature, I would always catch myself going there to see what I have due on which days, its a really nice addition to stay organized and check due dates in the case I forgot. Another additional feature would be recordings, having a space to go back and check previous recordings was great as well

Cons

Not being able to import the calendar to google calendars or going through a lengthy process to do it, Linking it with outlook calendar can be confusing as well at some points.

Pros

BlackBoard Learn is a reliable tool for basic communication, content collection, and assessments. There are convenience factors baked into its framework in the sense that instructors can readily copy and reuse materials from earlier semesters, but other capabilities have far surpassed the benefits of this complacency factor. Also, the price point of BlackBoard Learn is extremely compelling, and they have reliable customer support and service.

Cons

Doing anything on BlackBoard Learn requires significantly more clicks and testing than competing products. The design is clunky, and it directly contradicts the instructional delivery of faculty who know what else is out there, as well as the learning-design preferences of Gen-Z students.

Alternatives Considered

Sakai LMS, CANVAS, Moodle and Schoology

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

I was not part of the committee that made the decision to continue with BlackBoard Learn, but I believe the continuation was justified because of its low-cost and the challenge of switching to a competing model. Upgrading the LMS is a bit like updating your operating system. You can kick the can down the road and keep your status quo in place, but when you eventually update, you gain new capabilities, efficiencies, securities, and collaborative synergies.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Blackboard was simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. I believe anyone could use it and get comfortable within the first 2 uses. It's adaptable and user-friendly.

Cons

I did not like how the software had a high tendency to be unreliable. It would shut down, freeze or simply not accept work or media. I think in part, its use on the Safari web browser could be the problem as using it o Chrome did not garner the same results. I do think the platform should be reviewed on different web browsers to fix these issues and optimize the results.

Pros

I like having everything in one location I like being able to click on whatever class you will you are wanting to work on and have everything for that class in that 1 specific location

Cons

Nothing I think it's as good as it can be

Pros

Blackboard is a great tool for communicating with students, distributing course materials, and recording student grades. The "one-stop shopping" approach makes it easy for professors to stay organized in each class, and it also makes it easy for students to stay organized. When used well, Blackboard allows you to do everything from communicating with students to uploading assignment sheets to sending class announcements.

As a writing professor, I especially appreciate the SafeAssign feature that checks student assignments for plagiarism. Once I started requiring my students to use SafeAssign, I found that plagiarism attempts dropped off significantly. (So did attempts to recycle papers from one course to another.) In addition, SafeAssign saves me a lot of leg work when students DO plagiarize -- it flags the suspect text as well as the source, so I don't have to hunt it down myself.

Cons

For me, Blackboard wasn't intuitive to learn. Even after 7 years of using it nearly ever day during the semester, I had some challenges making it do what I wanted it to do. I often spent far more time than I should have trying to customize things for my courses. But, as long as I stuck to the basic features -- which are also the ones I personally found most useful/beneficial -- Blackboard was a great tool for organizing my courses and keeping students on track.

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.

Pros

I used Blackboard for almost 10 years, and it was a decent LMS for my needs. When Blackboard Collaborate came out, it was even better because it added a new layer of possibilities (I could have several webinar/conversations going, merge conversations, and/or present to different groups at one time). However, there were always bugs in the system, even though we updated constantly. The Blackboard app was also very limited.

Cons

Too many bugs and freezes; many of my students had issues with accessing links when they used different internet browsers. Good for a small school or business, but not larger ones.

Pros

What I like the most about Blackboard Learn is the amazing and complete features it offers to its users.
I use this software for higher education (as a student) and it is very complete and reliable. I can track all my courses, appointments, works, grades, files and many more in the same place, which is perfect for me.
I also like the fact I can communicate with my teachers within this platform and the possibility to activate the email notifications for every course is a great add-up for this software.

Cons

What I like the least about this software is the User Interface (UI), as I consider the navigability could be better and the features could yet be more accessible and easier to use.
Other than that, I don't have any other "complaints" about Blackboard Learn.
I may mention that in the beginning of the pandemic, with the introduction of online classes, this software was a life-saver and my institution needed to contact the support team, who was very responsive and agile to solve all the issues at that time.

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.

Pros

I like that if you're a power user and your students get into it, this is probably the only eLearning tool you will ever need. It has everything from homework assignments to actual video-conference; besides of the usual tools like forums and work groups. The online exams are very useful, specially if you don't want to manually grade tons and tons of tests.

Cons

I don't like the user interface. Most of the tools are one more click away than I think they should. Very useful things like the exams are really powerful, but creating them is so awkward that sometimes you prefer to just handle a document.

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS, Moodle and Brightspace

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Learn

We had it for long time because most important universities had it but we had to stop using it, the support was getting bad, no innovation and other platforms were cheaper enough to pay the migration process.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

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!”

Pros

I like that I can create quizzes, embed media, create a gradebook, select the language, etc.

Cons

BlackBoard learn can be limited in many ways. For example, you are very limited with modifying the look of the course sites. Also, with assessments, you can give partial credit is a students gets the answer partially correct on a fill-in-the-blank assessment. I also don't like how it organizes the grades the students can see.

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.

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.

Pros

Probably my favorite thing about this software is how you can link videos, external links, and also professors can create quizzes, assignments, and tests on the platform and select various settings for their individual assignment/assessment. I LOVE taking tests on here because they are straight forward.

Cons

They really need to add a "flag" feature to the tests that are made and administered through the program. There have been many times when I am taking a long multiple-choice test and am not sure of the answer but then remember it 20 questions later, but by that time I can't find the original question that I remembered the answer for. The organization of this information system is, however, trash. Navigating around the site between classes and tabs within each class is annoying and not very intuitive. The way the site is made reminds me of someone trying to make a sign with a lot of diverse information, but everything on the sign is 12pt time new roman font - there's little differentiation between different ideas and concepts.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

it is easy to post all assignments, class materials, notes and grades using blackboard. Especially for larger classes I don't have to print the paper copy, posting the class material on blackboard will help students to print and refer to the material easily. Gradebook is one of the best features of blackboard, I have quizzes almost everyday for my students, posting these quizzes grades were very straightforward using blackboard. I have also used blackboard for online quizzes and exams, and for lab exams.

Cons

Blackboard gets slower when many people are using at the same time and some times it becomes unavailable due to maintenance(but we do get notice prior to it). other than that I had no issue with it.