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| Product Name | Blackboard 6.2 Enterprise | LON-CAPA 2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer Name | Blackboard | LITE Lab, College of Natural Science, Michigan State University |
| URL | BlackBoard 5.5 | LON-CAPA 1.0 |
| Review Date | February 03, 2005 | April 15, 2005 |
| Forums | Blackboard 6.2 Enterprise Discussions | LON-CAPA 2.1 Discussions |
| Reviewer | Email Review Staff | Email Review Staff |
| Communication Tools | ||
| Discussion Forums |
Discussions can be viewed by date and by thread. Instructors can associate a discussion with any course content. Instructors can enable or disable anonymous posting, and determine whether student posts are re-editable. Posts can contain URLs, file attachments and may contain HTML. The threaded discussion software includes a formatting text editor which can create mathematic equations. Instructors may create separate discussion environments for small groups of students and teaching assistants. Discussion threads are expandable and collapsible to view an entire conversation on one screen. Discuss |
Discussions can be viewed by thread. Students can associate a discussion with any course content. Instructors can enable or disable anonymous posting. Only the instructor may delete posts. Posts can be either formatted text, or html. Posts can include attachments, an image or URL. The threaded discussion software includes a formatting text editor. The entire discussion can be saved or printed for off-line reading. Instructors can limit discussions to specific time periods. Discuss |
| File Exchange |
Students have a private folder into which they can upload and download files. Students can upload files to a shared group folder. Students can submit assignments using drop boxes. Instructors can upload files to the personal folder of a student. Discuss |
Students have a private folder into which they can upload and download files. Students can share the contents of their personal folders with their instructors. Students can submit assignments using drop boxes. Discuss |
| Internal Email |
Students can use the Internal email feature to email individuals. Students can attach files to emails. Discuss |
Students can use the internal email feature to email individuals. Students can forward message notifications to an external email account. Students can spell check outgoing messages. Discuss |
| Online Journal/Notes |
Students can make private notes about their course. Discuss |
Students can attach personal notes to any page Discuss |
| Real-time Chat |
The Java-based chat tool supports unlimited simultaneous group discussions and private messages. Instructors may moderate chats and suspend students from the chat rooms. The system creates archive logs for all chat rooms. Instructors can view chat logs and share these with students. The virtual classroom tool supports a structured way for students to ask questions and instructors to provide answers. Discuss |
There is a basic chat tool which supports anonymous posting. Discuss |
| Video Services | ||
| Whiteboard |
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. Discuss | |
| Productivity Tools | ||
| Bookmarks |
Students can bookmark any content material in a course, and categorize their bookmarks in a private folder. Discuss | |
| Orientation/Help |
The system includes a product overview. Students can access a student manual, the product knowledge base, and the product reference center. Discuss |
The system includes an online user manual. Students can access context sensitive help. The system includes an FAQ page. Discuss |
| Searching Within Course |
Students can search all course content and chat or virtual classroom session recordings by name or dates. Discuss |
Students can search all documents and threaded discussions. Discuss |
| Calendar/Progress Review |
Instructors can post course-related events and announcements in the course calendar or to the course homepage. The instructor can assign tasks by using the calendar and the instructor can enable an option so that the student can check their status at any point in a course. Students can check their grades on submitted assignments as well as compare their grades against the overall class performance. Students have a personal home page that lists all courses in which the student is enrolled, all their grades and all course and system-wide events and tasks. Discuss |
Students can view all their assignments, deadlines, and due dates in an online course calendar. Instructors can post events and announcements in the online course calendar or course homepage. All students have a personal home page that lists new email, all courses in which the student is enrolled and all course and system-wide events. Students can view their completed and pending course activities. Students can view their grades on completed assignments or attempts. Discuss |
| Work Offline/Synchronize |
Instructors can publish course content on a CD-ROM that can be linked to dynamically from within the online course or viewed offline. Students can download course content into a format that can be accessed on a mobile device and synchronize calendar events with a PDA. Discuss |
Students can compile course content into a format that can be printed and browsed offline. Students can download the content for an entire course to a version usable on a PDA. Discuss |
| Student Involvement Tools | ||
| Groupwork |
The software supports assigning students into groups by the instructor. Each group can have its own shared file exchange, private group discussion forum, synchronous tools, and group email list. Discuss | |
| Self-assessment |
Instructors can create anonymous timed or un-timed self-assessments that students can take multiple times. The system automatically scores multiple choice, multiple answer, ordering, matching, fill-in-the-blank, and true-false questions, and can display instructor-created feedback and links to relevant course material. Instructors can create a database of questions that the system will randomize to create a unique self-assessment for each student. Discuss |
Instructors can create self-assessments that students can take multiple times. The system automatically scores multiple choice, true/false, and multiple answer type questions, and can display instructor-created feedback, hints, explanations, and links to relevant course material. Instructors can create a database of questions that the system will randomize to create a unique self-assessment for each student. Instructors can embed program code into assignments to create unique variables and answers for every question. Instructor may create assessments that route the student to additional assessment, modules, or learning path based on the results of the assessment. Discuss |
| Student Community Building | ||
| Student Portfolios |
Students can create a personal home page. Personal home pages may include their photo, personal information, and links to important websites. Discuss |
Students can create a personal home page. Personal home pages may include their photo, personal information, and links to important websites. Students have a private folder to upload their work. Discuss |
| Administration Tools | ||
| Authentication |
Administrators can set courses to be publicly accessible or protect access to individual courses with a username and password. The system can also authenticate against an external LDAP server, Active Directory, Microsoft's .NET Passport Web Service, or using other protocols (Kerberos and Shibboleth have been implemented). User sessions can be encrypted with SSL. Administrators can set up fail-through authentication against multiple sources in the event that the primary source fails. Passwords stored in the system database are encoded. Discuss |
Administrators can protect access to individual courses with a username and password. The system can also authenticate against an external LDAP server or using the Kerberos protocol. Users can maintain their own passwords. Discuss |
| Course Authorization |
Administrators can create an unlimited number of custom organizational units and roles with specific access privileges to course content and tools. Instructors or students may be assigned different roles in different courses. Administrators and Instructors can assign different levels of access to the system or to specific courses based on pre-defined roles. Administrators can delegate administration of the system to different organizational entities within an institution or consortia. The system can access authorization information stored in an LDAP directory. Discuss |
Instructors can assign different levels of access to their course based on the following pre-defined roles: instructors, students, teaching assistants, guests and staff. Instructors can customize specific access permissions for each student. Administrators can distribute the roles across multiple institutions to facilitate school board-wide or consortia-style approaches. Discuss |
| Registration Integration |
Administrators and Instructors can batch add students to a course using a delimited text file or students can self-register. Administrators can batch create courses, users, and enrollments in the system. The software (version 5 Level 2 and higher) supports integration with student information systems through an event-driven API or through their tool which is based on scheduled system extracts. Administrators can transfer student information bi-directionally between the system and an SIS in batch or in real time. The system supports the use of SOAP-based data integration. Integration with Banner and Datatel SIS is available through existing plug-ins (note this is only available in the Enterprise-level license). The service provider will assist, as a services engagement, in transferring student registration information between the CMS and the institutional SIS. The software is compliant with the IMS Enterprise specification for student data. Discuss |
Administrators and instructors can batch add students to a course using a delimited text file. The software supports integration with student information systems through a tool that is based on scheduled system exports. Discuss |
| Hosted Services |
The product provider offers a hosted system that includes 99.75% Service Level Agreements with guaranteed system availability and performance on a network of high-performance, fault-tolerant servers with fail-over capability including load balancing and clustering, managed software installation, redundant Internet connections, redundant and conditioned power, redundant hosting platforms, 24x7x365 monitoring, 10GB – 20GB storage space to start, managed bandwidth usage, redundant T3 connections, daily data backups and weekly tape backups, and a secure facility with environmental control and a modern alarm/security system. Discuss |
Hosted services are offered by EduCog, LLC. Discuss |
| Course Delivery Tools | ||
| Course Management |
Instructors can selectively release assessments, announcements and other materials based on previous course activity or specific start and end dates. Instructors can specify start and stop dates for the entire course. Discuss |
Instructors can selectively release materials based on previous course activity or specific start and end dates. Instructors can personalize access to specific course materials based on specific start and end dates. Instructors can set up specific course content that is released on a specific date and that students must complete before they continue with course. Instructors can link discussions to specific dates. Discuss |
| Instructor Helpdesk |
Instructors can access an online instructor manual, product knowledge base, and reference center, and numerous instructor support communities to share information in a number of discipline-specific or general interest forums. Instructors can contact the 24/7 technical support helpdesk if their organization purchased that level of support. Discuss |
Instructors can access an online help manual and context sensitive help. Discuss |
| Online Grading Tools |
Instructors, and teaching assistants can mark paragraph questions, and mark and return assignments turned in through the assignment dropbox. Instructors can provide feedback on all assignments through annotations. Instructors can publish student submissions as examples for other students to see. Instructors can add the grades for offline assignments to the online gradebook. Instructors can sort and view grades in the gradebook by assignment, by student, by category and for all students on all assignments. Instructors can import and export a comma-delimited version of the gradebook from/to an external spreadsheet program. Instructors can search the gradebook to find all students who meet a specific performance criteria, mark, or status such as exam completion. Instructors can create a course grading scale that can employ raw scores, percentages, letter grades or pass/fail metrics. When an instructor adds an assessment or assignment to the course, the software automatically adds it to the gradebook. The gradebook supports the creation of custom columns which can contain either grade information or other instructor-determined details. Instructors can delegate the responsibility for grading assignments. Instructors can manually edit all grades. The software automatically calculates the average grade on each assignment. Instructors can download the results of a test across sections of a course and across semesters. Instructors can aggregate data and perform item-level analysis of individual survey items across the entire system. Discuss |
Instructors can add the grades for offline assignments to the online gradebook. Instructors can view grades in the gradebook by assignment, by student, and for all students on all assignments. Instructors can create a comma-delimited version of the gradebook for export to an external spreadsheet program. Discuss |
| Student Tracking |
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. Discuss |
Instructors can get reports showing the number of times or all students in a course as an aggregated group accessed course content. Instructors can get a report that shows number of attempts and time per attempt on each assessment for individual students. Instructors can get a report that summarizes individual student performance on assignments. Instructors can maintain private notes about each student in a secure area. Discuss |
| Automated Testing and Scoring |
Instructors can create true/false, multiple choice, multiple answer, ordering, fill-in-the-blank, matching, and short answer/essay questions. Questions can contain images, audio, video, or Flash. Instructors can create different levels of feedback messages. Instructors can import questions from existing test banks. Instructors can also create survey questions. The system can randomize the questions in a test or can use selective release criteria. Instructors can set dates and times for when students must access tests. Instructors can set a time limit on a test. Instructors can use passwords to restrict access to tests. Instructors can use the MathML and WebEQ equation editors to enable students to enter and edit mathematical notations. Instructors can create unit-specific tests or course-level tests. Instructors can override the automated scoring and determine how to communicate test results to students. Instructors can differentially weight tests and create grading rules. The system provides analysis data for surveys and test item results can be exported for analysis. Discuss |
Instructors can create automatically scored true/false, multiple choice, multiple answer, ordering, fill-in-the-blank, image map (click on the correct part of the image), matching, short answer/essay, and calculated answer questions. Questions can contain images, video, other media files. Instructors can create answer-specific feedback messages. Instructors can import questions from existing test banks. Instructors can create personal, course specific, and system-wide test banks and use these test banks to create tests for students. The system can randomize the questions in a test and the alternatives for multiple choice questions as well as the numbers in numerical or symbolic questions. Instructors can also create survey questions. Instructors can set times for when students can access tests. Instructors can set a time limit on a test. Instructors can permit multiple attempts, and whether correct results are shown. Instructors can use IP addresses to restrict access to tests. Instructors can create unit-specific tests or course-level tests. Instructors can associate a test with competency level demonstrated and can release additional materials and test based on level. The system supports proctored exams and the proctor can turn off browser controls during the exam. The system provides test analysis data for individual test items. Instructors can override the automated scoring. Instructors can differentially weight tests and create grading rules. Discuss |
| Curriculum Design | ||
| Accessibility Compliance |
To comply with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act, the software implements the following features: a tool for instructors to add alt tags to uploaded images, alt tags on all system images, data tables that are optimized for use with screen readers, documentation to assist students and instructors in the use of the assistive technologies the software supports, appropriately titled framesets that describe the functionality of the frames layout, and support for most screen reader technology including JAWS. Developers and designers on the staff of the product provider are trained in the use of Section 508 standards and development techniques. Discuss |
To enable accessibility, the software implements the following features: content available without color, text-only content versions, the ability to suppress Java applets and to increase font size. Discuss |
| Course Templates |
Instructors can use templates to create course content. The templates include a rich text content editor. Instructors can categorize course content as announcements, calendar entries, course units, discussion forums, handouts, instructor biography, lecture notes, links, syllabus and course descriptions, tips, FAQs and resources. Instructors can create new content templates. Course Creation Wizard enables instructors to easily set up a course using templates. Discuss |
Instructors can use templates to create course content, course units, syllabus and course descriptions. Course content may be uploaded through a form or chosen from a system-wide content library. Instructors can use templates to create discussion forums, links, course content, and resources, and these templates include a WYSIWYG content editor with spell-checking. Discuss |
| Curriculum Management |
Instructors can specify multiple paths through courses for different skill levels or job functions. Discuss | |
| Customized Look and Feel |
Institutions can apply their own institutional images, headers and footers across all courses. Instructors can change the navigation icons and color schemes and the order and name of menu items for a course. Discuss |
Institutions can create their own look and feel templates. Institutions can apply their own institutional images, headers and footers across all courses. Instructors can alter the appearance of their course. The system can support multiple institutions, departments, schools or other organizational units on a single installation. Each unit can apply its own look and feel templates as well as institutional images, headers and footers. The system also supports role-based branding within one installation, changing the interface based on the users current role Discuss |
| Instructional Standards Compliance |
The software has been issued a certificate of compliance with SCORM 1.2 level LMS-RTE3. The system supports the following standards: IMS Metadata vocabulary, IMS Content Packaging 1.1.2, IMS Question & Test Interoperability Specifications 1.2, IMS Enterprise Specification 1.01. The system includes tools to facilitate the migration of course content between different versions of the software. Discuss |
The software can import and export course content that is IMS compliant. The product provider will work with the institution to migrate existing courses into the system. The system is backward compatible with course content from different versions of the software. Discuss |
| Instructional Design Tools |
Instructors can create both linear and nonlinear learning sequences using a content library. The product provider offers instructional design services for a fee to help instructors create their courses. Instructors can access information and tips and tutorials on instructional design and on creating a collaborative learning environment. Instructors can create relationships between assignments and required resources which can then serve as templates for future lessons. Discuss |
Instructors can create both linear and nonlinear learning sequences using a content library. Learning sequences are reusable and become part of the content library. Discuss |
| Content Sharing/Reuse |
The system supports sharing content across course and institution boundaries. The system provides a central content repository where course content files can be stored and accessed by other instructors. Instructors can designate their files to be private or publicly accessible. Instructors can create links to content files in the central content repository so that changes made to the linked content are automatically displayed in their courses. The repository supports custom tagging standards. Discuss | |
| Hardware/Software | ||
| Client Browser Required |
The software supports Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.1+, and Firefox 1.0 on Windows PCs. The software supports Internet Explorer 5.2, Netscape 7.1, Firefox 1.0, and Safari 1.1 and 1.2 for Mac OS. Discuss |
The software works with most versions of Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firebird, Camino, Galeon, Opera, Konqueror, and Mozilla on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Javascript and cookies must be enabled. A limited text-based interface is available on some PDAs, namely Opera on Sharp Zaurus and Thunderhawk on Windows CE. Discuss |
| Database Requirements |
The system requires either SQL Server 2000 on Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server, or Oracle 8 or 9 on Sun Solaris 8 or 9 or RedHat Linux. Discuss |
The separate database software required for the system is MySQL. Discuss |
| Server Software |
The software requires the Apache web server software or Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) software, and the Java 2 SDK. The following server software tools are available: log rotation and log consolidation, a secondary database to provide customizable reports, and course archive and restore. The log tools can be accessed over the Web. The server software also includes administrative reporting tools, an installation setup wizard, full backup and archiving utilities for course content and student data, remote administration tools, a log file display of the last sessions in a system that can be filtered by IP address or date, server and database migration, and system clustering including load balancing and database clustering. The server software provides usage information regarding disk usage per course and number of student accounts per course. Discuss |
The software requires that ports 5663, 8080 and 80 be available. The system can load-balance within server clusters. Typically, local administrators install the software. The product provider offers for-fee installation consultation. Discuss |
| UNIX Server |
The software is available for Solaris 8 or 9 and Red Hat Linux 7.2 or Advanced Server 2.1. Suggested hardware recommendations depend on factors including the size of the institution, expected growth, adoption rates, and performance and availability expectations. Company provides a comprehensive guide to hardware recommendations. Discuss |
The software installation is optimized for Fedora Linux, RedHat Enterprise Edition, and SUSE. The software should work with any Intel and AMD-based hardware. Suggested minimum hardware recommendations are: a multiprocessor machine, 2Ghz CPU, 4 GB RAM and at least 60 to 120 GB disk space. Discuss |
| Windows Server |
The software is available for Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server and for Windows 2003 Server. Suggested hardware recommendations depend on factors including the size of the institution, expected growth, adoption rates, and performance and availability expectations. Company provides a comprehensive guide to hardware recommendations. Discuss | |
| Pricing/Licensing | ||
| Company Profile |
Founded in 1997, Blackboard is a public company (NasdaqNM:BBBB) that has over the years acquired CourseInfo, Web-Course-in-a-Box, and Prometheus course management systems. The Company's product line consists of the Blackboard Academic Suite (including the Blackboard Learning System, Blackboard Community System , and Blackboard Content System) and the Blackboard Commerce Suite. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Discuss |
The software was developed by the Laboratory for Instructional Technology in Education at Michigan State University. Funding is provided by Michigan State University, the National Science Foundation, as well as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Andrew. W. Mellon Foundation. The software has origins in two earlier projects, CAPA (a Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach), that provided students with personalized problem sets, quizzes, and exams, and LectureOnline, a project to serve physics course material over the web. The project provides gateways to NSF's National Science Digital Library. In 2005, the LON-CAPA project started an Academic Consortium with Michigan State University and the University of Illinois as founding members. EduCog, LLC, was founded in 2005 as a commercial hosting and support company for LON-CAPA, as well as to provide coding and content creation services for commercial textbook companies. Discuss |
| Costs |
The annual license fee is based on FTE students in an institution (or school within an institution) or consortium. In some markets, the annual license fee is determined on a per-user basis. Discuss |
The software is free and distributed under the GNU Public License. Discuss |
| Open Source |
The software is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Discuss | |
| Optional Extras |
The Blackboard CMS product is licensed as either an Enterprise or Basic version. The main differences are that the Enterprise version offers SIS Integration, access to the Building Blocks APIs, advanced systems reporting using Crystal Reports, and vastly improved scalability. The Building Blocks initiative is an attempt to create a community of developers who can provide API-integrateable applications to enhance the functionality of the system. The system is currently available in English, Spanish, Italian and French language versions. The company offers a range of professional service offerings including consulting (strategic planning, implementation, and customization services), training, ASP services, and 24 x 7 support (Enterprise version). Discuss |
The system provides support for multiple languages within one document. The interface is internationalized and provides partial localization for German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish. Students can submit feedback on any piece of course content. Instructors can generate randomized bubblesheet exams from any assessment content, which can be graded by the system. The systems rich text editor allows the creation of mathematical equations in LaTEX format. Discuss |
| Software Version |
The current software version number is 6.2 (a.k.a. Application Pack 2). Discuss |
The current software version number is 2.1. Discuss |
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