Sorry to gripe, but I do. This is the first class I have taken in Blackboard, and it's annoying how much time I am spending hunting for things. It's not that I was necessarily in love with EPIC, but Blackboard seems so much harder to navigate.
I miss having everything neatly packaged in one module...readings, assignments, quizzes, etc. I also miss having a handy task lisk to show me what I needed to do, and the fact that items - once completed - would drop off the list. I am able to make Blackboard work; it's just not nearly as streamlined, it seems.
Am I just not using Blackboard correctly, or is anyone else experiencing this?
Your professor sets the parameters which makes it easy or difficult to use. One of my professors this semester put our clinical assignments under a Subfolder in the FAQ folder?? Another professor is really organized and the slides can be printed anyway we want, which I love.
I agree that it's the professors set up that makes it good or bad. My Chem prof was a blackboard rock star. Now my A&P guy?! Ugh took me 20 mins to find the syllabus lol
Yeah, these were just my general observations/musings, and I really only thought that OU students would reply, so it's interesting to hear from other folks whose schools use Blackboard well. It's a little heartening that some of the disorganization may be due to a professor's method of arranging things, and not just inherent in the software.
Maybe I can pass along some of these ideas when we do a survey at the end of the course; thanks for the feedback.
I've never used EPIC but every professor in my program put things in slightly different places in blackboard, so it was always easy to miss assignments or instructions. I think if they standardized it the software would have been fine, but teachers could essentially put stuff wherever.
Yeah Blackboard stinks for sure. Like the first poster said, you can set your stuff up manually in a more accessible way but it is kind of a pain in the ass.
Yeah, these were just my general observations/musings, and I really only thought that OU students would reply, so it's interesting to hear from other folks whose schools use Blackboard well. It's a little heartening that some of the disorganization may be due to a professor's method of arranging things, and not just inherent in the software.
Maybe I can pass along some of these ideas when we do a survey at the end of the course; thanks for the feedback.
I think part of the problem with the BSN professors and Bb is it is new to them. They have been using Epic and got tossed into Bb same as us. Hopefully the bugs will get worked out!
RNinC
144 Posts
Agreed, as much as I didn't love Epic, I guess I got used to it! Blackboard just seems much more cluttered.