Blackboard – Expanding the

Limits of a Course

Management System

Chris Caprioglio

Director of Application Services, CIS

Carlos Cruz

Instructional Design Specialist, Brooklyn College

Helen Keier

Manager of Support Services, John Jay Online; Adjunct Professor

Stephen Powers

Professor, Education & Reading, Bronx Community College

Sylvie Richards

Media and Instructional Technologist, SPS

CUNY IT Conference, December 4, 2015

Expanding Limits in Bb

Top Down Theory

Bb

CIS CUNY

Campus

Faculty

Students

Bb

CIS CUNY

Campus

Faculty/Students

Expanding Limits in Bb

CIS

Blackboard

Management

Council

Bb CAT

CUNY CAT

Committee on

Academic

Technology

STEERING

COMMITTEE Chris Caprioglio-CIS

Carlos Cruz-BC

Helen Keier-JJC

Wei Liu-CIS

Steve Powers-BCC

Sylvie Richards-SPS

Krafins Valcin-CIS

Shen-Wei Wu-CIS

Steering

Committee

Expansion of Bb Use

Expanding Limits in Bb

Building Blocks – What are they?

Blackboard Building Blocks are small

applications added to the Blackboard Learning

System that extend the usability and

functionality of Blackboard, provide

customization, or help with administration.

Expanding Limits in Bb

TESTING COMMITTEE

Steve Castellano, Lehman

Wenying Huang-Stolte, York

Michael Castelli, CSI

Sylvie Richards, SPS

Expanding Limits in Bb

Where

do I

find

them?

Expanding Limits in Bb Current list of installed Building Blocks:

Section Merge Tool

Barnes and Noble Nook Study

Browser Settings – Test Browser

Collaborate Voice Authoring

EAC Outcomes

iTunes U

Link Checker

Pearson MyLab and Mastering (Under Review)

Softchalk Publish with Score Center (Under Review)

Starfish (Under Review)

Tegrity AAIRS

Wiley Plus

Expanding Limits in Bb

Current list of installed Building Blocks (AMENDED):

NOT ALL BB2s ARE FOR USE BY ALL CAMPUSES

Section Merge Tool (Not Permitted for use by SPS)

Barnes and Noble Nook Study

Browser Settings – Test Browser

Collaborate Voice Authoring

EAC Outcomes (for use by limited # of campuses)

iTunes U (No longer functional as per i-Tunes)

Link Checker

Pearson MyLab and Mastering (Under Review) Approved

Softchalk Publish with Score Center (Under Review)

(Approved)

Starfish (Under Review) Approved

Tegrity AAIRS (LICENSED BY HOSTOS)

Wiley Plus

VOICETHREAD licensed by individual campuses

Expanding Limits in Bb

Building Blocks: How we support them…

On the preceding slide is a list of the Blackboard Building

Blocks currently in use or under review at CUNY. Links to

manuals or instructions for their use are provided where

available.

Please note: some Building Blocks are installed for particular

campuses only and not all Building Blocks currently being

tested will be accepted for later use

Expanding Limits in Bb

All Building Blocks are reviewed in an exhaustive testing

process and must receive approval before being installed in

the live Blackboard environment.

In order to suggest that a new Building Block be considered for

use at CUNY, please contact your local campus

Blackboard Administrator.

Bluepulse Implementation: Some

Lessons Learned

Bluepulse Implementation: Some Lessons

Learned

o Request

Complete the security questionnaire and license agreement

Negotiate a free trial period that does not include the installation time

o Proposal Submission

Follow all steps required in the proposal template

Schedule the users view presentation with vendors

Request technical or multidisciplinary team from vendor presentations

o Configuration and Testing on Staging Environment

Schedule configuration meetings with CIS representatives, local

Blackboard System Administrator and vendors

Create a document with itemized configuration and testing information

o Final Approval and Installation on Production Environment

Coordinate training details with vendors

Arrange flexible schedules for upgrades

Put together a support plan that includes: instructors and students

guidelines as well as vendor resources

Expanding Limits in Bb

Bb Steering Committee -- Planning for the Future….

Governance Facilitate Community Decision Making

Encourages Stakeholder Engagement

Project Management Techniques

Application Lifecycle Management

Release Planning

Analytics

Expanding Limits in Bb

Suggestions for possible BB2’s?

Alternatives to Bb?

Suggestions for possible alternatives?

Course Sites (owned by Bb)

Instructure Canvas

MYEDU

Moodle

Google Classroom

Word Press

Digication

Sakai

Alternatives to Bb

Support Issues

Central

Local

Student

Faculty

Student Training

Faculty Training

Help Desk Training

Alternatives to Bb

PILOTS

CIS ‘approved’

CIS ‘supported’

Cross Campus

Discipline Specific

What do we need to do to

enable faculty to go off the

reservation without really

leaving the reservation?