Blackboard Inc. today unveiled a major new release for its flagship LMS Blackboard Learn™. The release brings a fresh approach to the user interface, an emphasis on social learning and improved value for institutions and educators working to improve student retention.
One of the biggest changes, “My Blackboard,” offers users a simpler way to access information that’s most important to them with a centralized view of updates from all of the courses and organizations they participate in. Using the same feature, instructors can check activity across their courses and quickly engage students as needed.
At the institutional level, the release includes enterprise surveys that allow clients to collect feedback on courses, departments, institutions and external audiences, and gain greater visibility into performance by disaggregating data and analyzing outcomes by term or by year.
For instructors, the release brings enhanced communication through two-way text messaging and text-to-voice notifications from Blackboard Connect for Learn™. The release also includes a completely redesigned content editor.
More than 640 institutions participated in the development of the release. More than 1,800 individuals participated in user research, including roughly 600 students and 600 educators, by providing feedback on how they behave and interact with learning technology.
