Part 1: Introduction to Blackboard
by Jim Weller
Blackboard, UAA's courseware system, serves as a vehicle 
of communication and creation between groups. Blackboard is particularly useful at UAA where distance and non-traditional students' challenges can be met using technology. You might not be in Anchorage. It can be difficult to get around in the winter. You might have a job. Professor or student, the challenges of keeping up with either end of the academic contract will keep you on your toes. Blackboard is a tool to help.
UAA started using Blackboard in 2000. Courseware was just emerging on the scene. But it was a niche market begging to be filled. During the 2000 school year there were about 40 UAA courses being supported. All input by hand. Blackboard was primarily viewed as a medium for distance educators, a replacement for the brick and mortar classroom. That paradigm quickly eroded as creative professors and strained budgets found niches for blackboard as a supplement to the classic lecture course.
Students get value from Blackboard with ready access to their curriculum, instructor, and peers. The class syllabus is a few clicks away, anytime. Students have almost immediate access to instructors via email. Students can have discussions with peers in the class online. Instruction can be almost exclusively online!
Blackboard is a big savings to busy faculty too. All students enrolled in a course automatically have access to a professor's content. There are no piles of paper to carry and no straggling students to chase. Class discussions don't have to take class time. Discussion board allows for asynchronous communication. Save money and time.
Now Blackboard at UAA is part of an enterprise environment. It's integrated with enrollment databases to keep pace with registration for 1,400 courses. It's also integrated with UAA's single sign-on directory services allowing any of UAA's 70,000 students, staff, faculty, alumni, and constituents to access courses and communities from anywhere the internet reaches.
And we're working to make it better. Blackboard recently released version 6 (v6) of its flagship courseware product. UAA will be migrating to v6 during winter break week (Dec 27th - Jan 2nd).
UAA has customized blackboard so that you can use your standard UAA username and password; the same one you use for email or to sign into a computer. This is made possible by regular synchronization between blackboard and UAA's directory services, LDAP. UAA's blackboard is also regularly synchronized with UA's registration system, banner. Add/Drop a class today and it will be in your blackboard homepage tomorrow.
Blackboard has somebody using it 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Somebody new logs in every couple of seconds. And Blackboard is just going to see more use. The trend is undeniable. From our 40 courses in 2000 to our 1,400 in Fall 2003 one can only see online courseware getting bigger. In the classroom, across Alaska, and around the world, blackboard is a valuable tool in the capable hands of UAA’s community members.
A team of staff, faculty, and students have been testing and developing version 6 during the summer and Fall 2003 semesters. Staff members are excited about the many performance improvements. Teachers like many of the new features. And students find it familiar to use. There is a lot to be excited about.
Jim Weller is a System Engineer with UAA’s IT Services Department. Jim works with application/database servers and streaming media.
More information about Blackboard and Blackboard 6 is available at the UAAOnline website http://uaaonline.alaska.edu.
