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Executive Summary
This is the executive summary of a 9 page report of the Blackboard
Instructor Survey published by the Center for Teaching & Learning and the Blackboard Faculty Advisory Board.
Click here for the complete survey report.
Background
The University of Denver Blackboard Faculty Advisory Board (Bb_FAB)
designed a Blackboard Instructor Survey in Fall 2004 to find out
how Blackboard was being used to support teaching and learning at
DU. Blackboard (Bb) is the online course management system used
at the University of Denver. Blackboard is primarily used as a web-based
supplement to face-to-face courses and Bb usage has steadily increased
since its adoption in the Fall of 2000.
Methodology
Two different surveys were developed to specifically
target instructors who use Blackboard, as well as those that do
not. DU Instructors, with the exception of University College and
DCB, have the choice of whether or not to teach with Blackboard.
University Technology Services (UTS) provided a list of instructors
based on whether or not they had used Bb in the past twelve months.
An email announcement was sent to a total of 1,493 instructors.
The numbers were almost equally divided between those instructors
that used Blackboard, and those that did not.
Instructors Using Blackboard:
Total Sent: 730
Total Responses: 212
Instructors Not Using Blackboard:
Total Sent: 763
Total Responses: 68
Findings – Instructors
Who Use Blackboard
There was a much higher response rate from instructors
who use Blackboard compared to instructors who do not use Blackboard.
Overall, instructors are generally satisfied with Blackboard and
report that Bb is easy to use. Ninety-two percent find Blackboard
extremely easy or very easy to use. The top three reasons instructors
use Blackboard is because they believe Blackboard:
- improves communication - 67%
- eliminates photocopying - 58%
- facilitates student learning - 51%
However, instructors also reported some dissatisfaction
with Blackboard. Common drawbacks include quiz and gradebook features,
problems with email, speed of Blackboard, and students who claim
they don’t know how to use it. Features instructors would
like to change in Bb include:
• Changes in Gradebook/Quiz function
• Fewer steps/clicks for each task
• Speed of Blackboard
• Altering the Email Feature
• Changes within the Discussion Board
• Issues with the Digital Drop Box
• Make it easier to reuse/archive courses
• Change the list of courses on opening screen
Since the adoption of Bb four years ago, additional online
course tools are available at DU including webCentral course tools
and the DU portfolio course tools. More mature "open source"
course management alternatives are also available today compared
to when we first adopted Blackboard at DU. Therefore,
instructors were asked how willing they would be to switch from Bb to another
course management system. Only four instructors indicated that they
are “fed up” and would love to switch. The majority
of instructors (90) reported that they wanted to stay with Blackboard
although a fair number replied that they did not care either
way (77).
Below are selected comments from instructors about how they
feel about switching to a different course management system:
- "I have invested a tremendous amount
of time in creating courses on Blackboard and do not relish the
idea of having to
re-invent the wheel with a new software package. Unless existing
Blackboard courses are 100% exportable to a new program, I am
not interested.”
- “I am open to using another tool so long as it
provides me with more and better functionality than what I have
today with Blackboard.”
- “If there are blackboard problems, I don’t
know about them. It’s really worked flawlessly for me.”
The majority of respondents reported that they were unsure
(83) or did not think that (70) Bb training workshops should be
offered more often than one time per year. Instructors indicated
that they were interested in attending Best Practices presentations
by other DU instructors on how they are teaching with Blackboard.
Findings - Instructors who did not
use Blackboard
The survey for instructors who did not use Blackboard consisted
of 5 questions. The number one reason instructors said that they
chose not to use Blackboard was because they did not know how
to use Blackboard (28). The breakdown is as follows:
- I don't know how to use Blackboard (28)
- It takes too much time (7)
- I use the webCentral course tools (5)
- I create a course community using the Portfolio Community (5)
- I don't know what Blackboard is (5)
- Bb is too difficult to use (5)
- Bb is too unreliable (1)
We also asked non-Blackboard users what type of support or incentive
might encourage them to use Blackboard in the future. The majority
of survey respondents (55) indicated Blackboard training might encourage
them to use Blackboard. Below are the detailed results to this question:
- Attend one-on-one Blackboard training session (30)
- Attend group Blackboard training workshop (25)
- Encouragement from my department (17)
- I don't plan to use Blackboard in the future (11)
Additional selected comments to this question include:
- "Another instructor showing me how to use it."
- "I'm open to whatever tools are available - provided someone
makes me aware of them."
- "I have been experimenting with blogging in my courses.
I might utilize Bb for online discussions. I don't think it will
be hard to learn how to do this."
The results of the Blackboard instructor survey are being shared
with the DU administration and are available on the Blackboard support
website. We appreciate all the instructors who took
the time to complete this survey. We are implementing some of the
suggestions to customize Bb training and support and will continue
to work to improve the overall functionality of Blackboard at DU.
Survey Report |
