by Helen Keier

Because my students say… or, the dog ate my homework.

I know as a Blackboard Admin, I’m a tad protective about Blackboard.  It’s my baby.  I’ll be upfront about that.  I attended a meeting yesterday in which a faculty member made a comment I feel compelled to address, even the next day…

“Blackboard’s ok, but I don’t use it because my students say it’s always down…”

First, the obvious.  Blackboard isn’t always down.  Since CUNY’s switch to Blackboard Managed Hosting (BMH) in May 2009, the platform has been incredibly stable.  Actual Blackboard downtime is measurable in hours spread across months.  I don’t have numbers in front of me, but a rough guess would be better than 98% uptime.  For any professional server, that’s pretty darn good.  What hasn’t been as stable is the log in, as serviced by the Portal.  I recognize that if you can’t log in, Bb uptime is kind of irrelevant, and people don’t understand the distinction between the two servers.  But we do have an alternate log in now, so even that is not the problem it was a year ago.  CUNY and Blackboard, Inc. have more than addressed the Blackboard uptime issues that were previously so troublesome.

And second, why is a faculty member taking the student’s word for it?  If multiple students told an instructor that the library didn’t have a book placed on reserve, the reasonable reaction would be to call the library and check.  Blackboard, like library reserve, is just another tool.  But since Blackboard has its own history and it is technology, it’s easier to attribute problems to that history and the now mistaken perceptions surrounding it than it is to look into them.  It’s as if  “Blackboard was down” become the new “the dog ate my homework.”

I reminded the instructor that I am a phone call or email away if they had problems, which they didn’t awail themselves of (if you can’t remember my email, it’s pretty simple to reach me or my assistant – blackboard@jjay.cuny.edu).  Also, she went on to protest that there’s no notice when Bb is down… which was when I reminded her that I maintain and make good use of a faculty announcements listserv for just that purpose.   I asked her if she’d read those posts, and she sheepishly admitted that she hadn’t.  I was struck at that point that the tables had turned somewhat.  The instructor was now the student offering excuses for a lack of due diligence.  As a side note, we’re also now posting Bb news on Twitter and Facebook as BbatJJAY.

Lastly, why is it okay to knock technology, and particularly, directly to a techie?  Is it the new acceptable prejudice?  I wouldn’t sit there and say to an instructor that I didn’t take a course because you know, those readings, there’s just so many of them to do… Reading, studying, writing papers – those things are recognized parts of the educational process, and are highly valued and respected academic pursuits.  So is the use of technologies like Blackboard. 

I spend a good deal of time fighting these perceptions of Blackboard.  It’s not the dog that ate your homework.

by Helen Keier

But is this going to make my life easier?

I’m on my way to a presentation given by an educational learning specialist from Apple, and I’m just struck wondering if we’re adding too many layers of complexity to content delivery.  Faculty, staff and students alike have to remember this and that password, that you can do X technique on a Mac, but it’s different on Windows… the list goes on and on, and shows no sign of stopping.  I’m a sys admin and have been for years.  But sometimes even I get befuddled at it all.

So I am asking myself rhetorically, are we adding more technology at the expense of ease of use?  Not a bad thought to have in mind when considering the presentation, I think.

by Helen Keier

Did the teacher put the notes on the board?

Hi All.

First post, I should introduce myself.  My name is Helen Keier, and I’m the Blackboard System Administrator for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  I’ve been employed at John Jay since early Nov. 2008, having formerly held the same position at the CUNY Graduate Center for several years.  I’ve worked at CUNY since Dec. 1995.  I was also a CUNY student (BA in Psychology, Lehman College, June 1994).

The title of this blog “On the board…” is a meant as a gentle poke at the fact we’ve moved so far beyond simply writing class notes on a blackboard, to using technologies like Blackboard.  In a sense, everything is on the board, as we’ve redefined and broadened what that board really is.

I’m not sure what direction or form this blog will take yet, but I’m not sure I want to lock things down quite yet.  It may be a better exercise to see where things take me.