tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post6339044744038133347..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Irritated Isis Sends a Note to Blackboard.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-52074053621695009032010-10-13T16:32:33.674-04:002010-10-13T16:32:33.674-04:00The intimate involvement of lawyers from the begin...The intimate involvement of lawyers from the beginning makes so much sense.Irritated Isishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15415532947857584043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-4848344911029285622010-10-12T20:11:37.887-04:002010-10-12T20:11:37.887-04:00Oh, gods, do NOT GET ME STARTED about Black Fuckin...Oh, gods, do NOT GET ME STARTED about Black Fucking Board. 'nuff said.PickyHistorianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13500487513256575244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-55331866252771637522010-10-09T01:52:50.894-04:002010-10-09T01:52:50.894-04:00I used to work for Blackboard. Or, more accurately...I used to work for Blackboard. Or, more accurately, the company I worked for was bought by them and it took me a while to escape. (Incidentally, thank you for the semi-compliment on the file server side of things, since that was the part my company was responsible for. The 'can't move a group of files at once' thing was a design issue of ours that Blackboard ... uh... put their own Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-52164876262782944632010-10-08T21:02:14.757-04:002010-10-08T21:02:14.757-04:00How apropos, since I also spent this week in Black...How apropos, since I also spent this week in Blackboard hell. The design flaws go beyond incompetent to malicious. Trying to adjust a setting to release a set of grades to the students, BB "reset" the assignment so all the grades (representing a couple dozen hours of work) were wiped. Thinking myself clever, I had saved them on my clipboard, and re-posted them (and then ditched my Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11253446632735274125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-44159616700857222152010-10-08T00:02:20.177-04:002010-10-08T00:02:20.177-04:00When I teach my Web Programming Special Topics cla...When I teach my Web Programming Special Topics class, we spend the first week on design. I ask each student to provide an example of good web design and an example of bad web design. Inevitably a student submits iCollege (our state's Very Special Branded version of Bb) as their BAD example. We then vote on which of the sites submitted is best, and worst. Bb inevitably is either first or Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14196542627289228298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-30293685840671230582010-10-06T23:56:11.119-04:002010-10-06T23:56:11.119-04:00"Blackboard is accepted by the IT folks becau..."Blackboard is accepted by the IT folks because they're too incompetent to support open source alternatives."<br /><br />The IT flunkies at my school are not competent for that task. We have out sourced BB support to a third-party vendor. I wish I could make up this shit.<br /><br />BTW, we have not had raises for two years. Where did the money go?<br /><br />For the rest of you, I Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19444935197587522392010-10-06T23:29:54.014-04:002010-10-06T23:29:54.014-04:00Can I put in a plug for Sakai? I was very fond of...Can I put in a plug for Sakai? I was very fond of our proprietary course management system, but have learned to love this open source one. How is it that I got so lucky as never to work at a university that used Blackboard?Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2764470457348740342010-10-06T19:30:03.337-04:002010-10-06T19:30:03.337-04:00Moodle is a royal pain too, but I have used both a...Moodle is a royal pain too, but I have used both and Moodle is a whole lot better than Blackboard. Though it has some irritating glitches. I no longer use its gradebook either; I just put everything in Excel. And don't waste your time with the quiz function - if you have to change the key for one question, it does not regrade the questions automatically, AND you can't sort the Merely Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00452389428113097744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-88491299350134255362010-10-06T18:50:38.563-04:002010-10-06T18:50:38.563-04:00Blackboard.... I insisted it was a piece of crap 1...Blackboard.... I insisted it was a piece of crap 10 years ago, but no, it got itself purchased. Luckily, I moved to a new school. <br /><br />I loved attending the public session with the new sales rep. I asked pointed question after pointed question that she could not answer. She finally shushed me by requesting that I write her my points in an email. I spent the rest of the session composing a Suzy from Square Statehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03085856052108645578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-47133503088355259532010-10-06T17:24:20.485-04:002010-10-06T17:24:20.485-04:00Here's a thought: Blackboard is accepted by th...Here's a thought: Blackboard is accepted by the IT folks because they're too incompetent to support open source alternatives.<br /><br />Given that BB (no matter how bad it is) is a "mission critical system" (in terms of support for fair use documents, assignments, discussion boards, tests, and rest of the kitchen sink), University IT staff would be hard-pressed to support a Dr Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10444414777736734711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-83770902133747706992010-10-06T15:04:51.223-04:002010-10-06T15:04:51.223-04:00I think they keep gaining market share merely beca...I think they keep gaining market share merely because of name recognition. Here's how I'm guessing it goes in most offices:<br /><br />Assistant to the Person Determining Programs to Use (APDPU): "Well, Person Determining Programs to Use (PDPU), our choices seem to be Blackboard and [insert competitive software title here]."<br />PDPU ponders for a moment and then says, "Mathsquatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214283890697119803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-6821041046707481212010-10-06T13:35:10.402-04:002010-10-06T13:35:10.402-04:00Glad to be of service Prissy!
Blackboard's i...Glad to be of service Prissy! <br /><br />Blackboard's increasing market share is one of the great mysteries of the universe. Perhaps they have discovered the Jedi mind trick that makes deans do what they wish.Irritated Isishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15415532947857584043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-60116234803937462802010-10-06T12:34:40.231-04:002010-10-06T12:34:40.231-04:00Where on Earth did they find the incompetent progr...Where on Earth did they find the incompetent programmers who created and maintain Blackboard? It's been around quite a while now, hasn't it? You'd have thought somebody semi-talented would have joined the company by now, even if purely by chance.Stewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08152778218277191283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-66339854529283855972010-10-06T11:49:50.213-04:002010-10-06T11:49:50.213-04:00Ah, Blackboard...the cream of Web technology. From...Ah, Blackboard...the cream of Web technology. From fifteen years ago. I loathe, despise, and detest Blackboard, and after experiencing a disaster several years ago, I simply refuse to use its godawful gradesheet. Because I was teaching a purely online course, I was assigning lots of small graded assignments -- for example, a weekly one-point attendance quiz -- just to keep the students involved. Dr. Mindbenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16916271564719224677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-70106261775684072722010-10-06T10:57:13.673-04:002010-10-06T10:57:13.673-04:00Blaaaarrrgggghhh, Blackboard. I humbly suggest th...Blaaaarrrgggghhh, Blackboard. I humbly suggest that the person who selected their program for many of our state institutions (a) had never taught college and (b) was getting a handsome "consideration fee." My lovely university makes it impossible to transmit final grades from my BB gradebook to the registrar's system. That means I do them. By hand.<br /><br />For 220 students.<brcmthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03814447289455034068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-31804465090290146022010-10-06T09:29:05.980-04:002010-10-06T09:29:05.980-04:00Blackboard, the scourge of academia. A great examp...Blackboard, the scourge of academia. A great example of a product that gets worse with each release and still manages to increase its market share.<br /><br />I stopped using it a year ago when the new release took away some of the only useful features of the product.<br /><br />My personal favorite "blackboard fuck you" is how they take a one-step process--send this file to that Archiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14197015065747868297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71218312610060844932010-10-06T09:06:35.778-04:002010-10-06T09:06:35.778-04:00Thank you, Isis, for telling me how to do what I s...Thank you, Isis, for telling me how to do what I spent a long time on Monday trying to figure out -- unsuccessfully. Maybe I'll try again since you explained what the BB site couldn't.Prissy Profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581053595119915513noreply@blogger.com