|
Comparing Blackboard to myCOD Student Portal |
The academic module allows posting of course materials and display of course rosters. However, Campus Cruiser has not previously been considered a course management system. Blackboard is a full-featured web-based course management
system which enables faculty to build and manage online, hybrid, and web-enhanced
courses. The system includes online syllabus, course materials, gradebook,
assessments, assignment collection, real-time chat, discussion board,
virtual classroom, and more. Instructors can easily integrate content
(test banks, multimedia, etc.) from their textbook publisher. Blackboard
also provides controls to release content to users based on a set of rules
provided by the instructor. The rules may be related to availability,
date and time, groups, scores, or attempts on any Gradebook item in the
course. |
Blackboard
Academic Suite |
Campus
Cruiser |
|
|---|---|---|
| Features: | ||
| Assessments/Exams | Yes - The system has features that allow instructors to create exams from question banks that can contain questions of up to seventeen different question types. Exam security features such as timed exams, control of the period of availability and presentation style (randomized questions and/or presentation of questions one at a time) are available. Questions can contain various objects including images, audio and Flash. Questions can also be created using a Math editor. Different levels of feedback messages can be created. Automated recording of exam scores into the gradebook is available. Many publishers have an option to export test questions in a format that can be imported into Blackboard. | No |
| Assessments/Surveys | Yes - The Blackboard system has features that allow instructors to create surveys from question banks that can contain questions of up to seventeen different question types. Survey features such as timed surveys, control of the period of availability and presentation style (randomized questions and/or presentation of questions one at a time) are available. Questions can contain various objects including images, audio and Flash. Questions can also be created using a Math editor. Survey result reports are available. | Yes - The Campus Cruiser system has features that allow instructors to create surveys from content banks that can contain questions of up to seven different question types. Survey features such as control of the period of availability and presentation style (presentation of questions one at a time or all together) are available. Questions can contain images. Survey result reports are available. |
| Book Publisher Content Integration/ Course Content | Yes - Most of the major textbook publishers provide online materials to supplement their textbooks formatted specifically for Blackboard. Depending upon the textbook, these materials may include quiz banks, multimedia, simulations, glossaries, and textbook updates. Instructors may pick and choose the features they want to use. | No |
| Student Tracking | Yes - Instructors can get reports showing the number of times and date on which each student accessed course content, discussion forums and assignments. Instructors can set a flag on individual course components to track the frequency with which students access those components. | No |
| Assignments | Yes - Blackboard's Assignment tool allows instructors to create an assignment for students to complete. It automatically creates an item in the Gradebook. When students finish and upload their assignment, the Gradebook will update the students’ completion status and will have a link to their uploaded file. Instructors can then download, view, and grade the assignment directly from the Gradebook and give students detailed feedback about their assignment. Files can also be returned with graded comments (like word track changes). | Yes - The Assignment feature allows instructors to upload an assignment and have students submit the assignments online. At the time the assignment is created, you can specify that the assignment also be added to the gradebook. When it is time to grade the assignments, they can all be downloaded at once. The grade must be entered in the gradebook manually and any comments are sent back through email. |
| White Board/Virtual Classroom | Yes
- The software supports a whiteboard that can have multiple instances
in the same course. The whiteboard supports mathematical symbols, and image
and PowerPoint uploading. The software supports group web browsing. The
software can archive a recording of whiteboard sessions for future viewing.
|
No |
| Accessibility | Yes - Blackboard adheres to Section 508 of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Blackboard is compliant with Priority 1 of the W3C guidelines and has implemented many Priority 2 and 3 guidelines. | Not known |
| Chat | Yes - Chat allows the users to interact with each other using a text-based messaging screen. Students cannot initiate a chat session in a Blackboard course. However, the session moderator can decide to record a session, creating an archive that can be released to others. Chat archives are fully searchable and can contain bookmarks for easy navigation during review. Chat is also part of the Virtual Classroom. | Yes - Campus Cruiser's Chat Rooms are available for courses, clubs and committees. Instructors have the ability to archive a course chat and post it as a file in the shared files area. |
| Discussion Boards | Yes
- In Blackboard, the Discussion Board forums or threads can be made gradable,
so that instructors can assess student achievement and understanding or
simply give a grade for participation. When grading is enabled for a forum
or thread, a Gradebook item is automatically created. Students can be allowed
to rate one another’s Discussion Board items providing another platform
for stimulating participation and further discourse. By allowing postings
to be rated, higher quality contributions result, encouraging forum threads
to stay on topic. Students can subscribe to threads within the Discussion Board and will be notified of new postings via email when subscribed to a thread. Adaptive Release rules are available in Discussion Boards. |
Yes - Campus Cruiser provides a Message Center feature. However discussions cannot be made gradable. |
| Instructor controlled Interface | Yes - Developers have full control on display of navigation items. Tools that are not used in a course can be turned off. | No |
| Archiving Courses | Yes - A best practice for any development project is to back up work at regular intervals and save it to an external medium such as a local drive, CD, or flash drive. The "Export Course" tool located on the "Control Panel" is available to periodically save an exact copy of a course while it is being developed. Exported courses can act as a backup and as a way to revert to an older version of the course to undo any undesirable changes. The "Export Course" function can be used to select parts of a course to package into a zip file that can be saved to a local drive or moved to another Blackboard server. Export does not include user data such as when a user reviewed an item, or their gradebook records. The "Archive Course" tool located on the "Control Panel" creates a permanent record of a course including all the content and user interactions. An "archived" course can be kept for historical record, then restored if data needs to be retrieved. Both the exported and the archived courses are compressed in a zip format that can be saved to an external source. |
No |
| Early Warning System | Yes - This tool used to communicate warnings to students when there is a performance problem in a course. Warnings are generated when an instructor refreshes the Early Warning System and chooses to send out the warnings. There are three options for rules in the Early Warning System: Grade Rule, Date, Last Access date. This tool will enable faculty, and other advisors to carefully observe and improve student performance. | No |
| Roster Display | Yes - Rosters can be displayed through the instructor Control Panel. In addition, the student's phone number and address are accessible by the instructor. Rosters are updated daily and can not be manually adjusted. | Yes - Rosters can be displayed. Student phone number and address are not available. Rosters are updated daily. Students can be manually added to the course as long as they are in the Campus Cruiser system. |
| Posting/Distribution of Files to Students | Yes - Files can be inserted into content pages in Blackboard. The student can view the files online or download them. Students can only upload files to the Message Center as part of a posting. | Yes - Campus Cruiser utilizes the Shared Files area for posting and distribution of files. Instructors and students can place files in this Shared Files area. |
Simultaneously Working on Multiple Classes |
No - Each class must be updated and accessed individually. | No |
| Building Blocks | Yes - Blackboard system features can be extended with Building Blocks which are available as commercially-developed applications (fee based), or open source solutions (free). This allows the college to expand Blackboard with added features. | No - Campus Cruiser does not have anything similar to Blackboard Building Blocks that are created by third party developers for free and for fee. |
| Send
comments to: rathke@cod.edu |