Blackboard Town Hall Meeting
College of Agriculture
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Meeting Notes – by Terri Runyon
Attendees included the Associate Dean and faculty and staff from the College of Agriculture,
representatives from Information Technology (UKIT), and representatives from the
Teaching and Academic Support Center (TASC). The informal discussion was led by
Randolph Hollingsworth, Assistant Provost for Integrated Academic Services.
There were approximately 13 faculty and staff present. Randolph asked that the
discussion primarily involve the folks from Agriculture. With that, the faculty began to talk
about their experiences with Blackboard and other technologies they use for teaching.
Negatives
 This has been one of the most frustrating semesters – long response time in
execution and/or access (bugs? network?)
o Resulted in less use by faculty in the classroom
o Did not seek additional assistance with this problem (did not access help
desk or other resources)
o UKIT indicated that a bug slowed up the system—hoping that the upgrade
will fix the problem (8.0 is the current upgrade)
o Need backup when Blackboard is not reliable
 IT Just-in-time support for faculty and students
o Modify text on Blackboard page
 FAQs for UK
 Local, step-by-step support
 List available resources (tutorials, help desk, Blackboard site, etc.)
 Digital dropbox is an issue for students
o Think they’ve put something in and they have not
o Upload vs. download may be confusing to them
o Difficulty submitting large files
o Problem knowing how to use the feature
o Save vs. submit causes them confusion
o They sometimes upload an empty file
 Sometimes they are trying to upload a document while it is open
(can’t be done)
o Students have to hunt for instructions/resources
 TASC indicated that since Blackboard is now used in K-12, statewide,
students may come to UK with more experience using Blackboard
 How can we put Blackboard orientation information where students can find
o Cannot assume technological literacy (experience in office products)
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o Maybe add a page instructing students how to learn in an online/distance
learning environment
o The Hub at the W.T. Young Library is a good resource for student assistance
 UKIT indicated that they are planning on creating a similar
setting/resource at other computer labs
 Help Desk is available on-site
o Add FAQ page with links to resources/answers
 TASC indicated there is a link to a manual available to students for
each course
 The Blackboard resource site is listed at login point
 Training available through HR Training & Development
Printing assessments, answers, etc. should be easier using Blackboard
o UKIT indicated that it is inherently difficult to print from web pages
o Respondus quiz generator makes printing blank tests easer (access
Respondus through Blackboard)
Blackboard features not “grading friendly” (currently a seven-step process to grade
student tests)
o May change with new version of Blackboard
 New upgrade effective midnight, May 1
 Revised grade center
 More flexible
 Hopefully better performance
How can Blackboard be used for non-traditional or accelerated learning
(independent study courses; “standard” catalog vs. learn any time)
o TASC can assist
 Create special course shell
 Create special timing for certain course with specific completion dates
 closes after a certain number of days from the day of
enrollment to allow for specific completion time (ex. one year
for independent study courses)
 Some kind of alert built in to notify students to look for assignments
 Alert tied to accomplishment or lack of use
 Task completion provide release to next assignment
Sharepoint
o Hard to use; can’t figure out how to use
o Server-level applications are not available
o Need support for design and for server protocols
o How can users get access to training
 UKIT indicated they are trying to get the Help Desk trained to answer
questions
 Maybe get some brown-bag sessions scheduled
 Push Doyle to get someone “up to speed” to serve as resource
ePortfolios
o need professional portfolios
 use in Blackboard, students cannot edit after graduation
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 not sure about what the Career Center offers
o cannot be “institutionalized” until faculty wants it (maybe part of general
education reform)
o can be done by department; TASC can help departments develop a ePortfolio
program
Suggestions/Comments
 Horizon Wimba webconferencing is being piloted through TASC
o Accessible through Blackboard
o Interact with students from your desktop
o Virtual homework, office hours
o Simultaneous chat and AV webcam
o Polling
o Shared whiteboard capability
o Can record (archive) sessions and make available to students
o It is tolerant of other systems
o Can do “free hand” work if you have Tablet
(Note: TASC is looking for faculty to participate in this pilot project)
 MS Live Communicator via Exchange
 how can faculty get away from paper tests but also avoid “students sharing”
o need secured, proctored environment for online testing (maybe set up one
site that could be used by any class that scheduled the space)
o access for proctored exams as a department/college strategy
o student ethics about online exams
o problems keeping high-value assessments and shared content protected on
Blackboard
o UKIT indicated that Doyle Friskney (VP, UKIT - doyle@uky.edu; cell # 5764000) has discussed the idea of making some labs available for proctored
testing for classes
o Lock-down browser added to Blackboard may prevent some “sharing”
(Note: TASC can help with design of online classroom and curriculum design and
assessment)
 Senate curriculum approval process
o Cumbersome/paper-heavy process
o Needs to move to electronic process for both undergraduate and graduate
curriculum
 Furniture in classrooms does not accommodate laptop computers which many
incoming students use during class
 Course-based file sharing in wireless rooms (vs. swap drive at the instructor
podium)
 Have all classrooms networked the same way (cross-network access)
 Perhaps have Randolph’s office schedule an event to discuss assessments in
Blackboard and ePorfolios
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