Alec Sabatino
Alexis Ortiz
April 03, 2013
Hybrid ENG 101: Fridays 9-10:15
Professor Denise Burgess
Evaluation Essay: Final Draft
Blackboard:
A Student’s Ideal Organizer
What is
challenging about being a college student? Being a college student is a difficult
process for many reasons. The main difficulty in school however is keeping up
with deadlines and putting in the extra effort to succeed. Given recent
technological advances and systems, education is moving more towards relying on
web based computer resources. Computer resources are valuable because they
allow universities to have an efficient way to spread information, organize
class schedules, and connect to all students. Arizona State University (ASU) indeed
features a low cost and efficient website that meets all these requirements and
much more for their students known as Blackboard. Blackboard is a website
linked with ASU student accounts that sets reminders and helps keep college
students on track. Blackboard is easy to gain access to, simple to navigate and
extremely convenient to personalize towards your learning style.
The
way to get in touch with the Blackboard website is a very simple process by
first going to www.Asu.edu and signing on to
your MyAsu student account. Once the page has uploaded students see a list of
courses they are currently taking in the middle of the screen. Underneath these
courses there is a link that says Blackboard in clear black letters. You double
click the blackboard link and within seconds the page should upload and take
you to a home page with different categories listed. Once you go into the
Blackboard homepage you will see that the page is spread out into different
categories such as courses you are taking and have taken, class announcements,
tools that could be useful for research and additional assistance, and a box
that informs you which assignment deadlines are coming up and what assignments
have been graded by the professor. The student is able to get more information
about each course by clicking on the class title located on the top right side
of the page under courses and further get in touch with syllabi’s, calendars,
study guides, assignment drop boxes, and easy access to contacting professors
with any questions. The editing option is another feature on the website
because you edit at your personal choice what you want to see or do not want to
see while using Blackboard. It is easy to navigate due to how quick it uploads
and the way the page is set up for students. Key components to staying
educationally organized are all included within the blackboard website.
Students
don’t have to get the hang of the program; it’s pretty much a straight forward
website that titles everything they need. Spreading out the page into different
boxes on a white background provides much assistance because it’s legible, and
doesn’t include confusing vocabulary. The original appearance to Blackboard is
not permanent however so even if the viewers don’t like the way its set up or
the colors within the page design, they can straightforwardly adjust it by
double clicking at the top or the page where it says “Personalize Page”. From
this option, students can feel in control of their web based learning
environment, and adjust the system preferences to their individual needs. Blackboard
is a great website not only because it is a digital planner for students but also
because it allows its viewers to feel in control of the site they are using.
This feature is rewarding to not only to the students but anyone navigating the
learning resources of Arizona State University for the first time.
A
key part of succeeding in any educational program is keeping course work and
dates organized in an easily accessible way. A digital
planner can be saved and transferred into an “iCalandar” through any mac
product. This means that students with MacBook computers, iPhones and iPads can
easily import their class schedules on to their electronic devices. Thus, this
allows students to always have an organized class block schedule within their
possession. Times and locations of each course are imported into the calendar
on any electronic device. This planner allows students to see their school
schedule according to the date and time, and any new registered class
automatically comes into the calendar.
Blackboard
allows students to gain instant feedback from their classes. Grades are
accessible to students through the individual classroom portals. By simply
clicking on the “My Grades” link within blackboard, a student has immediate
access to their current class standing. This is a very important and special
feature associated with blackboard. Students can easily see how they are doing
in each class, giving them more opportunity to succeed. In a large university
setting such as Arizona State University, this simple grade access is valuable
to teachers, teaching assistants and students alike. Class grades are easily imputed into
blackboard by the teaching assistant or professor and immediately given to
students to see. After large exams or projects, this is very convenient because
students do not need to travel far to know how they are doing within their
courses. Thus, this remains a cost and time effective feature present within
the blackboard system.
Another
very beneficial feature associated with blackboard is the list of “to do” items
that comes up on the side of the screen. This list shows any current or pending
charges to the individual’s student account. This also shows when students are
due to see their academic advisor. Students are required to see their advisor
after their first semester of freshman year, and they advised to see their
academic counselor during their third or junior year of college. These
appointments must be scheduled far in advance due to the lack of ability in the
counselor’s schedules and the large number of students that need to be
accommodated at Arizona State University. To schedule an academic advising
appointment, students simply click on the link and schedule an appointment with
their individual advisor for the chosen major on their transcript. These
instant scheduling reminders are very beneficial for keeping students on track
for a timely graduation.
An occasional
error encountered when wanting to use Blackboard is that the blackboard system
is temporarily down and when it is not working, students have to wait for
unknown amounts of time until maybe hours later to possibly the next day. In
the past, the blackboard site has been over flowed with students trying to
register for classes, or check the final grades in each course resulting in a
system overflow. Another instance of blackboard complications occurred when
someone was able to “hack” the site and access everyone’s information. This was
easily resolved by having each student change the individual password they
possess for access. Blackboard reliability depends on the network in which it
is running. Due to the large number of students that use black board
simultaneously at a large division one university, Arizona State University,
the system can freeze up easily. This is very unfortunate in that many key school
programs and resources, including class readings, syllabus schedules, online tutoring
and drop box folders for submission of assignments, can be hindered by an
unexpected shut down or freeze in the blackboard system.
Although very
unfortunate, the benefits of the Blackboard program far out weigh the costs and
risks associated with using it. Students are able to have interactive control
over their course work through the computer. They can easily access class
grades, syllabi, and current and future class schedules. Blackboard not only
works as a student organization tool via class planning and assignment access,
but it allows students, professors, and teaching assistants to communicate in a
convenient and easy to use system. The blackboard program syncs with the
university network, which sometimes has disadvantages due to network failure,
but clearly the program provides the most efficient and cost effective way to
keep students on track and organized. The ultimate goal of any university,
especially one as large as Arizona State University, is to have a high success
rate in their students and to keep them satisfied with the education they are
investing their time and money in. What better way to provide a system of mass
communication between the entire university’s systems and provide an intimate
and customized learning environment for the students? Blackboard defiantly is a
resource worth using and investing in. Students, teaching assistants, and
professors alike all benefit from the blackboard program.
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