Brunel Blackboard Learn

You may have noticed a difference in Blackboard Learn this Valentines day as we have launched a new theme!

To find out more about the exciting new changes that this offers, take a look at our guide

You’ll be using a more modern interface, with controls appearing when you need them rather than taking up valuable screen space. The new design is also more in keeping with other Brunel sites and resources…

We’re pleased to say we’ve resolved the issue with Blackboard that some students were experiencing. Access should now work as normal – thanks for bearing with us and apologies for the inconvenience!

Some students are currently experiencing issues with their modules not appearing in Blackboard.

We’re working hard on resolving this as I type this, so please bear with us and we apologise for any inconvenience! I will update this blog when the problems are resolved…

Today, we launched a new tool for staff to help themselves develop their own skills using Blackboard Learn. Members of staff at Brunel logging in to the VLE will see a new tab at the top of the screen – the ‘Help Me LTT’ tab.

Here you can find training session times, one page guides and other resources, and learn more about how the LTT can help you develop your skills in enhancing your teaching with technology. Take a look!

I hope that 2013 is already living up to even your wildest expectations.

I wanted to share some survey results with you, and then give you a couple of links you can use to help some of our own research students here at Brunel, as well as have your voice and thoughts on technology at Brunel, and Blackboard in particular, heard.

We recently asked what our users  – staff and students – thought of the Blackboard Mobile app. Up to now, we’ve had 1832 responses, which is a decent sample! 1448 of those users have downloaded the Mobile app.

Of those 1448, 76% think the app is either very useful or useful.

Only 9% deem the app ‘disappointing’. I think this says a lot about the choice we made to invest in the Mobile app to enhance the VLE we had just put in place.

Two research students here at Brunel, who have worked closely with us to understand how the project has progressed, are offering staff and students the opportunity to provide their views and inform the research.

If you are a member of staff, click here to take a staff survey, set up by Latefa Bin Fryan.

The student equivalent is here.

Alison Bulbeck is running some focus groups and would love to get students involved: if you’re interested in finding out more, email alison.bulbeck@brunel.ac.uk

We are currently planning how best to take forward the new features available to us in Service Pack 10 so watch this space for some exciting developments!

Yet another guest post from me (Anu, Learning Technology Team)… (I could get used to this!!)

So, now that we have Service Pack 10 in place, here is a reminder about some of the new features and tools that are available…

- better access to notifications, updates and tasks across your set of modules; you’ll find all of these in one place, rather than having to go to each module individually

- better reporting on how a cohort has performed in tests and quizzes over time

- more opportunities to run University-wide surveys and evaluation; we can also set up surveys and share them

- an updated text and equation editor

- some improvements to test questions and other minor changes

There are some additional social networking options available in Service Pack 10 which should be released soon. Watch this space for further information!

Anu from the LTT here, writing a guest post to let you know that the new and improved Blackboard Learn is back up again. We have spent the last few days working hard to upgrade to Service Pack 10… that too 72 hours ahead of schedule!

It is worth noting that the service remains ’at risk’ until 6^th January, but it is back to normal service from Monday 7^th January onwards.

The Computer Centre and the LTT have been working hard to get the upgrade completed as soon as possible, with minimal disruption to our users, so thanks to all for their hard work