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Final Recommendation Report Learning Management System Review, 2015

College of the Canyons

September 11, 2015

Prepared by Distance & Accelerated Learning

Abstract: College of the Canyons students, faculty, staff and administrators reviewed the choice of learning

management system (LMS) in spring and summer 2015. The review team evaluated Canvas and Blackboard. The

team voted unanimously to recommend Canvas as the LMS for College of the Canyons. Through two voting

periods, zero votes were cast in favor of remaining with Blackboard. This report details the review process and

provides evaluation feedback on the two systems.

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Introduction College of the Canyons conducted a learning management system (LMS) review to evaluate our LMS system. We

undertook this review at this time for two reasons:

1. We had the opportunity to evaluate a new LMS that was vetted by a statewide group and that might provide costs savings to the district. The statewide Online Education Initiative (OEI) selected the LMS Canvas (by Instructure) to use as its

platform for colleges that choose to use it. The OEI intends to subsidize some portion of the licensing

and hosting fees.

2. The College chose Blackboard Learn more than 14 years ago. We reviewed LMS choices in 2009-11 and elected to remain with Blackboard. At that time, Canvas was not yet on the market. As technology evolves, it is important that we periodically review and select technology solutions in order to provide the most benefits to our students and faculty.

Review Process The recommendation for LMS was made after a comprehensive review process with cross-campus involvement.

The information below details the spring and summer 2015 review processes.

Spring 2015 The information below was distributed to all full-time and adjunct faculty in a call for participation (sent March

3. 2015 by James Glapa-Grossklag, Dean of Learning Resources):

When

Our timeline for this review is compressed due to the recent announcement by OEI and the fact that we need to renew our Blackboard contract this year.

We propose to compare Blackboard with the OEI-supported instance of Canvas.

If we were to move to the OEI-supported instance of Canvas, we would likely continue with both systems during 2015-16, while we engage in training, migration, and testing.

If we were to move, a full launch of the new system would likely be summer 2016.

How

The task force will review the rubric of LMS elements that we used in 2009-11 and make revisions where appropriate.

The task force will review documentation and sample courses submitted by LMS vendors.

Blackboard and Canvas will be invited to campus to demonstrate their products and answer questions. By May 2015, the task force should recommend to the Technology Committee whether to stay with Blackboard or to move to Canvas.

What will you do?

Participate in on-campus meetings.

Review LMS documentation and explore sample courses for both Blackboard and Canvas, which may take 5 hours each.

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Attend on-campus demonstrations by Blackboard and Canvas (times/dates to be determined).

Build your own course in sandbox accounts provided by Blackboard and Canvas.

In short, this is a working committee, and we need active participants. Numerous faculty, staff, students, and administrators responded to the call for participation and the group was formed, consisting of the following members:

Adam Kaminsky, Communications

Adam Kempler, English

Allan Trautman, Theater

Andrew Jones-Cathcart, Philosophy

Andy McCutcheon, English

Anne Marenco, Sociology

Chad Estrella, Information Technology

David Michaels, Physics & Astronomy

Derek Alkonis, LA County Fire

Diane Solomon, Counseling

James Glapa-Grossklag, Learning Resources

Jennifer Brezina, Humanities

Katie Coleman, Sociology

Kelly Burke, Biology

Kerry Osborne, Communications

Lin Betancourt, Learning Resources

Mike Gunther, Information Technology

Mindy Albee, Distance Learning

Patricia McKee, Mathematics

Paul Wickline, Theater

Renee Hall, Computer Applications & Web Technology

Rick Howe, Psychology

Ron Karlin, Library

Steve Erwin, Admissions & Records

Thea Alvarado, Sociology

Trent Aronson, LA County Fire

Victoria Leonard, Communications

Wendy Ruiz, Early Childhood Education

Jennifer Brezina, Humanities Division

Students working on Blackboard help desk in TLC

The timeline below was established and distributed to team members and vendors.

March 3 Call for participants March 10 Distribute draft timeline and draft rubric to participants March 11 LMS discussion shell created and participants uploaded March 13 First face to face meeting of review team March 19 Vendor Demo 1: Canvas

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March 24 Vendor Demo 2: Blackboard March 25 Report on progress to Ed Tech Committee March 26 Report on progress to Academic Senate March 27 Second face to face meeting of review team April 17 Third face to face meeting of review team April 17 Voting opens April 22 Report on progress to Ed Tech Committee April 26 Voting closes May 4 Recommendation to Technology Committee

The Spring LMS review team evaluated a wide range of factors within the two systems. The rubric consisted of:

User-Friendly Interface

Communication/Collaboration (synchronous)

Communication/Collaboration (asynchronous)

Content/Assignments

Resources for Students to Learn to Use the System

Mobile Friendly

Assessment Tools

Gradebook

Statistics on Student Activity

Math & Science Friendly

Variety & Quality of Instructor/Student Tools

The “Wow” Factor (overall impression)

Both Canvas and Blackboard presented on-campus vendor demonstrations to the review committee. Canvas

presented twice on March 19 and Blackboard presented twice on March 24. Both vendors shared highlights of

their systems and provided time for questions.

Canvas shared sandbox accounts with the group on March 25, so the members could explore and test the

various features.

Blackboard asked that we postpone the committee vote so that we could view their "new release of Blackboard

Learn" scheduled for June. In return, for our current contract that expired 6/30/15, Blackboard would "extend

the term [of the contract] through the end of 2015 at no additional cost." Some of the savings accrued from the

no-cost extension of the contract could be used to pay faculty LMS review team members to look at Blackboard

while off-contract during the summer. This proposal was presented to the review committee. The committee

decided that before the team could agree to deviate from the initial timeline, they would like to see a live

demonstration of the new release. Also, the team needed a firm timeline as to when they would have access to

a live sandbox environment. Based on this presentation and timeline, the committee will decide whether it is

best to extend the timeline.

Blackboard responded to the committee’s request by holding another on-campus demonstration from the

Blackboard Senior VP of Product Management to provide additional information. Blackboard indicated that,

"Not only will Mark be running through a live version of Learn 2015 which contains the next gen, Ultra

environment, but he will also be discussing the timeline and specifics around the various updates taking place

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over the summer. The committee will be able to see the Learn 2015 version that they will be getting access to

this June with our plan to provide access to a full featured Learn 2015 environment come September." The

demonstration was held on April 30.

The review committee voted May 1 – May 3 and cast votes for the following choices:

Stay with Blackboard: 0 votes

Move to Canvas: 10 votes

Delay decision for further review: 13 votes

The recommendation to delay the decision for further review (until September) was presented to and accepted

by the campus Technology Committee on May 4. This extension provided the review team more time to explore

Blackboard’s new Learn Ultra platform. In addition, the team hoped to receive more information about the

terms of the contract with Canvas that the state (OEI) has negotiated for colleges that wish to participate.

Summer 2015 This delay necessitated the need for continued evaluation through the summer. An invitation to continue the

review was extended to all members of the LMS Review Team, with stipends for faculty working out of contract.

The summer 2015 review team was a smaller team, made up of the following participants:

Andrew Jones-Cathcart, Philosophy

Anne Marenco, Sociology

Chad Estrella, Information Technology

David Michaels, Physics & Astronomy

Diane Solomon, Counseling

James Glapa-Grossklag, Learning Resources

Jennifer Brezina, Humanities

Mike Gunther, Information Technology

Mindy Albee, Distance Learning

Patricia McKee, Mathematics

Thea Alvarado, Sociology

Victoria Leonard, Communications

The summer team evaluated the two systems by completing the following tasks:

1. Create new content in Canvas

2. Create new content in the new version of Blackboard

3. Migrate an existing Blackboard class into Canvas

4. Migrate an existing Blackboard class into the new version of Blackboard

5. Test at least one new feature/function of Canvas as both a student and instructor

6. Test at least one new feature/function of Blackboard as both a student and instructor

7. Post a description of your experience with each of the above in our Blackboard LMS review shell

A new timeline was established, consisting of the following:

(Continue exploring Canvas sandbox shells)

June Delivery of Blackboard Ultra sandbox shells

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August 8 First conference call with all review team members

August 13 Second conference call with all review team members

September 1 Voting opens

September 4 Voting closes

September 15 Present recommendation to Tech Committee

The review team continued exploring both systems. Blackboard Ultra sandboxes were made available on August

14. The team attempted to perform the same tasks on both systems to compare their features and user

experience.

Evaluation Results The results of the final vote for LMS review were unanimous in favor of Canvas. The final vote was Canvas 11,

Blackboard 0. The LMS Review committee recommends to the campus Technology Committee that College of

the Canyons adopt Canvas as its campus-wide LMS.

Our LMS Review team evaluated both Canvas and Blackboard on the same criteria. Below are summarized

trends and highlights from the experiences of the team members. For detailed feedback on Canvas, see

Appendix A. For detailed feedback on Blackboard Ultra, see Appendix B.

Highlights: Creating New Content in Canvas Creating/uploading content is quick and easy

Files that would have been links are now embedded items

Very user friendly; easy to navigate

STEM friendly (formula type questions, numerical answer questions, allows for a range for a correct

responses)

Intuitive

Clean looking workspace and results

Highlights: Migrating an existing Blackboard Class into Canvas Canvas organizes content into modules (Blackboard doesn’t)

Once you stop trying to make your Canvas course look exactly like your Blackboard course, it’s easy to

arrange and upload content into Canvas

Canvas reports potential issues of content that might not carry over properly

Most courses copied over error-free

(Courses that migrated with errors) Simple enough to build from the ground up

Canvas migrates objects into a long list and then instructors must sort the content into modules

Overall, having an LMS platform that works well and fits the needs of the students and instructors is

more important than having an easy migration

Building the course from scratch is so simple that it might be easier to do than migrating a course from

Blackboard

Highlights: Test at least one new feature/function of CANVAS as both a student and instructor STEM-content friendly (new types of quiz questions using the formula and numerical range questions;

writing mathematical symbols and equations is also much easier to do)

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Nice conferencing features

Students can save a draft of a post for further editing and submission at a later date

Collaboration (Canvas takes a "snapshot" of the file, so even though the students can continue to edit it,

the instructor gets to see what it looks like at the moment of submission)

Easy to pick group members and form groups

Implementation Recommendations The current Blackboard contract expired on June 30, 2016. Therefore, we recommend that College of the

Canyons provide training during fall 2015 and winter 2016, migrate and test classes during spring 2016, and

execute a full launch to Canvas in summer 2016.

Conclusion After much exploration and evaluation of the features and functionality of Canvas and Blackboard Learn Ultra,

the 2015 LMS Review team recommends to the campus Technology Committee that College of the Canyons

adopt Canvas as its campus-wide LMS.

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Appendix A: LMS Review Team (Faculty) Feedback on Canvas

Creating New Content in Canvas

New Content in CANVAS as Instructor “For my test course, I had 10 discussion forums, two exams, two assignments that needed to be submitted (an

essay and a worksheet), and video and PowerPoint content delivery. I found creating content to be very

intuitive. I appreciate that many of the files that would have been links in Blackboard are now embedded items.

CANVAS doesn't have as many options for discussion boards, but the options that I need are present there, and

very simple, clear, and easy to understand. I do still wish that I had the ability to set multiple due dates in a

discussion forum (like Tu/Th deadlines within the same discussion forum), but this isn't a capability that

Blackboard has, either. I have more faith in CANVAS than in Blackboard that this will be a feature added later on-

CANVAS seems to be much more responsive to the requests of its instructors/users. I do like that there is an icon

for whether the item is "published" or "unpublished" (the green cloud). This is a quick visual cue, and it doesn't

require for me to click into the content to change the setting.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral

Sciences

Creating New Content in Canvas “Once I divorced the two systems in my mind, I was able to create new content in Canvas very easily. There are

so many great drag and drop features. Uploading is easier, and there are fewer steps involved. It is a very user

friendly platform, and I struggled at first because I was used to some of the complexities of Blackboard.

However, there are fewer steps than Blackboard, and with training, I think what I create will be so much easier

for students to use.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Creating New TYPES of Content in Canvas

“Creating content in Canvas is quick and easy. There are not many steps, or menus involved when trying to do

really anything.

The only real difficulty I had was trying to insert an image into a new test question. It took me a good ten

minutes before I noticed the insert content menu on the right which was needed to upload images from my

computer, then it was quite easy to do so. A familiarity with the new platform was all that was required.

What I like was the new types of questions that can be created. Importantly for a STEM instructor there are

formula type questions that are very easy to create and use. This feature is huge for a STEM instructor. I can also

create a Numerical Answer question which is specifying a number and an allowed range for a correct

response. This is also a great feature for a STEM instructor. There are many other types of question which can

give a nice needed variety of question types for a science instructor when creating questions to test student

understanding, and they are all quick and easy to create. Also, it was quick and easy to edit any question (say

that didn't get imported correctly), and I was easily able to change an existing question essay or multiple choice

question into any other type of question.

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Overall, I found it quick, easy, and intuitive to create and edit new content of a variety of types in Canvas. After

a little bit of familiarity it was easy to organize content all on a clean looking canvas.” –Instructor, School of

Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Creating New Content in Canvas “Works fine, I’ll be creating all new for my courses.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

New Content in Canvas

“Pasted an existing syllabus and lecture into Canvas. Worked fine. Created a conference chat. Worked great,

except it would not record.” –Instructor, School of Humanities

Creating New Content in Canvas “Creating new content was easy. At first it felt a little awkward because it looks different. After a short while, I

was able to navigate the site. I added an announcement, a short quiz, discussion board, lecture, YouTube video

and an assignment. Moving content around is easy. I was happy with the easiness and options that were

available.” – Instructor, Student Services

Migrating An Existing Blackboard Class into Canvas

Mostly Worked Well “For the most part it worked fine. The process was slow, but to be fair, my Blackboard class is an enormous file.

There were some errors with improper and failed links, but those were easy to fix. The most frustrating error

was in transferring a quiz from Blackboard to Canvas. The multiple choice answers transferred as part of an

image in the question text. This again was quite easy to edit, but it will be a lot of tedious work to do so for

every question in every quiz. For most content I expect it would be faster and more successful to upload and re-

create the content in Canvas.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Broken Links “I imported a course from BLACKBOARD into CANVAS. It reported 8 issues, and they turned out to be broken

links. For my discussions, I do a lot of article reflections. The articles (that I have posted as Word doc

attachments) did show up as links, but when you click on them, it gives you a broken link error message. I'm

going to have to find the files on my computer and fix the links, which isn't a big deal, but it's nice to be aware of

it. I like that the student can send a message directly to the instructor when they find a broken link. Images

attached.

CANVAS Broken Links.docx (I like that CANVAS made it easy for me to put alt text here- it asks for it

automatically)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- to me, the migration process isn't the most important factor in deciding

to switch from one LMS to another, because once you do it for your course, it's done, and then you can copy

content from shell to shell within that LMS. It was a relief, though, that the vast majority of my course copied

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over error-free, and the issues were easy to fix. It was much more akin to copying a course over from semester-

to-semester than from one LMS to another.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Migration Issues “It seemed so easy, until I did it! I had several issues with migration. Primarily, it dumped my entire Blackboard

class into one big section that was not divided into sections as it was in Blackboard. It was more work to try and

move things around than it was to start from scratch. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but based on

others' comments, I think migration is harder than starting over.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral

Sciences

Migration Issues “I had the same experience. It made me feel like I would have to just create a brand new class rather

than take all the time I might need in order to move all of the stuff; and, I wasn't sure I'd be able to

move it easily and to the right place!” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Migrating an Existing Blackboard Class into Canvas “Everything migrates over but it puts it in its own organization which doesn’t match my organization, so I’ll be

creating my courses from scratch. ” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Migrating Blackboard to Canvas

“Done with errors on one occasion; failed roughly 10 times on other occasions (complete fatal errors). No really

usable course resulted. Work from scratch is the only workaround.” –Instructor, School of Humanities

Migrating an Existing Blackboard Class into Canvas “I was unsuccessful migrating my existing course into Canvas. I tried on two different computers and it did not

work. It was no big deal because, it was easy to create new content in Canvas. I was able to copy and paste my

content with no problems. It was easy to add clip art and photos to my lecture.” – Instructor, Student Services

Test New Features/Functions as Both a Student and Instructor

Blackboard “I really like the conferencing feature. Still can't get it to record, but I'm sure there's a fix for that. Importing

test questions and creating new ones was very easy. It will be nice when Blackboard Ultra has such features.

Until then, Blackboard has lost real ground here, I think. Mike Gunther mentioned he thought they would not

be truly ready for perhaps a year. In the interim, we'd need to still use Blackboard 9. Not a huge deal, as we

always wait to adopt things anyway. But I know many of us just aren't comfortable voting for Blackboard

knowing they're just not ready. I mean, what exactly am I reviewing? A Hollywood set, as one person said?

I think David's comment about how Canvas is more flexible for STEM instructors is a very important

consideration. Even those of us outside those fields, such as myself, have long recognized there is a need to

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improve and expand on features like equations and symbols. I imagine that's been a huge selling point for other

reviewers at other schools.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Canvas vs Blackboard “I would be so happy to stay with BLACKBOARD because I like the look and when I migrated a course it

maintained my structure while Canvas did not. However, BLACKBOARD did not copy over pdf files, this seems

like a very basic thing to me, why is it not working yet? Canvas copied over all elements perfectly, but changed

the structure. I feel like whichever platform we use, I will have to build my courses from scratch. I use

BLACKBOARD for all sections, online and face to face so that will take a few minutes to complete. There are

some things I don't like about each system, such as students seeing all the stuff I have posted before I want

them to see it. This seems like a step backward. My major concern with BLACKBOARD is that basic elements

that should be ready are not and they have put us off all summer so I'm just not sure how long it will take to

really get it done right.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

New Features “I really had a great time with uploading videos and images (I am not a 100% online instructor yet, but mostly do

hybrids and a ton of stuff as I have used BLACKBOARD for web enhancement). That said, I found the process of

uploading so much easier with Canvas. I also embedded images, which was fairly new territory. I found Canvas

much more user friendly, and there were fewer steps than Blackboard. When I viewed the class as a student, I

was easily able to navigate within Canvas (which was the same feedback I've heard from students who have

used it). I think learning how to use Canvas will be a snap. I don't mind if I have to create my classes again

because it will go faster and easier than the first Blackboard class I created.” –Instructor, School of Social &

Behavioral Sciences

New Types of Test Questions “I mentioned this in my other Canvas post: I created new types of quiz questions using the Formula question and

Numerical range questions, among others. These types of questions are new features to me that were easy and

quick to figure out how to create, and these types of questions are of great use to a STEM instructor. Writing

mathematical symbols and equations is also much easier to do. That is huge. There is much more a science

instructor can now do and ask using Canvas.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health

Professions

Save Draft of Discussion Forum Posts “This is new! I was excited to see that I can save a draft of this post for further editing, and submit it at a later

date. This would give my students more time for thoughtful reflection on discussion board topics, and they can

save their thoughts without losing their work. Way to go, CANVAS!” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral

Sciences

Collaboration “I tested the "collaboration" feature. I created a test document. I was glad that it linked to Google Docs

automatically. I do wonder, though, if students will need a Google account for access (I have one already and

signed in automatically, so perhaps that's why it was so easy?) I know from teaching with this feature that

students will sometimes make the document "private", and I have to request access through my Gmail account

to view their work. I appreciate that CANVAS takes a "snapshot" of the file, so even though the students can

continue to edit it, I get to see what it looks like at the moment of submission. It is much easier to keep track of

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participants using this feature than with Blackboard's Wikis, which you have to navigate through the Grade

Center, and it is still somewhat messy to decipher who did what.

I had no problem contributing to the collaboration document as a student, and enjoyed that I could use color

text (but might this be an accessibility issue if our students are using color themselves?).

It was SO easy to pick group members and form a group in the test Geology course. Google docs was the only

option that it gave me for collaboration as a student. I liked that I could pick from a list of all of the participants. I

wonder if CANVAS sends a notification to my group members to let them know that I picked them and formed a

group, or if they have the power to leave my group and join another if they desire? ” –Instructor, School of

Social & Behavioral Sciences

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Appendix B: LMS Review Team (Faculty) Feedback on Blackboard Ultra

Creating New Content in the New Version of Blackboard

Faith in Blackboard “I felt like I waited until the last minute and beyond for Blackboard to unveil their new shiny car that I would be

able to give a lengthy test drive. Unless we were given the wrong access codes and sent to the wrong demo site,

their new car is not just a lemon, it's so incomplete and far from the real thing that it's more like a picture on the

box of a matchbox car allowing you to only imagine all that it is not.

There was simply nothing of value or substance worthy yet to review or test. The classes created for us were

like looking at a Hollywood set of a city street where there is only the superficial appearance of something

vibrant there, but in reality it was empty - not a place we can stay.

Everything I tried to do; import, upload, create new items, either failed or had major flaws. In short, the new

Blackboard does not yet exist in any real form and looks to be far away from being ready. We don't really know

what it will yet be, let alone whether it will be best for our students. After seeing all the modern and superior

features that Canvas offers I can't see why we would risk staying with Blackboard and risking finding out that

there is still is no there there.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Too New? “I'm concerned that COC students will be the guinea pigs for this new version of Blackboard. The BLACKBOARD

folks have had a long time to fix BLACKBOARD9.1, and I still get random and senseless error messages. Any time

that I try doing something a little more advanced with Blackboard, I have to cross my fingers and hope that it

works. How bad will it be with Ultra?” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Not Impressed “I may have had a different opinion if Blackboard had features… Although I spent more time in Canvas, it was

because I was actually using the features and developing content and modules. In the Blackboard Demo, the

courses we were enrolled in had no content; literally. They tried to make it look like a class, but they posted an

assignment you really couldn’t play with, and added something to a calendar. As an instructor, I tried to import

a class, and it imported my Blackboard folders, but none of the content (75 files). The first time the import had a

fatal error. When trying to build new content, the uploading of documents was easy, but I didn't see a way to

program the availability within the document like you can now. It was either visible, or not visible; period. The

calendar seems like an Outlook calendar, and the hours are of no value to me. Did I miss something? It

appeared to me that they really were not ready for us, or for any type of evaluation. Our current Blackboard is

fabulous compared to this new demo. Okay this is WEIRD. My content was not in the folders that imported

over, but I went back to TOOLS and found content there. I am either feeling pretty stupid, or something is way

off with this system. Shouldn't the content have been inside the folders in the class view?” –Instructor, School

of Social & Behavioral Sciences

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Faith “Blackboard looks like a Hollywood set with not a lot of functionality. The 'innards' remind me of the old WebCT

format, where content was housed across courses and could be accessed, and where zip files might be uploaded

and unpacked. I'm sure much of my content is there, but at this stage it seems so late in the game, and the

responsiveness fairly clunky, that it does not seem ready for a true competitive assessment vis-a-vis Canvas,

etc.” –Instructor, School of Humanities

Migrating an Existing Blackboard Class into the New Version of Blackboard

Didn't Work “As I reported in another discussion, this didn't work. I migrated a course twice. The first time I had a fatal

error, and the second time about 71 documents did not import (some were Word docs, and some were PDF's).

The issues were reversed with Canvas where the documents came in, but they were not in content folders. BUT,

I had more ease of use with Canvas than I did the new Blackboard. I think that it would have been helpful if the

new Blackboard had a great student demo set up to see what "might have been" but we were not given that

chance.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Migrating an Existing Blackboard Class into the New Version of Blackboard “They just seem out of touch with our students and what instructors really need to feel supported with the new

system.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

“I logged into Ultra, and tried to migrate my course. It didn't work, and gave me an error message.” –Instructor,

School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

Couldn’t “Wasn’t able to.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions

Test New Features/Functions of Blackboard as Both a Student and Instructor

New Look “I like the new look of Ultra- it seems more intuitive and visually appealing that BLACKBOARD9. I tried to play

around with their Math and English shells, but couldn't find any content. I made a discussion board in my

instructor shell, and then tested it out as a student. As an instructor, the ppt file that I uploaded was there

quickly, although this might just be because there are currently very few users in the server. A large data file (my

previous course shell) took longer, but still just a few minutes. I was excited by the new look, but I still think

Ultra is a long way off from being usable. Ah, one more thing- I like that the blank shells tell you as a student

that there is no content yet, but direct you to the roster to connect with your instructor and classmates. I'm

thinking of how many students try accessing blank course shells before the semester starts, and hope that this

message would be useful to them.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

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Hard to Say “As a student, I couldn't test anything because there was nothing there to test; really. I tried to do everything

and there was nothing to do. Nothing was really available to test. As an instructor, well, I ran into a bit of a

pickle because I also couldn't find much to try that was a new feature (based on what I am aware of as features).

Admittedly, I have not tried every feature of Blackboard, so I don't want to compare unless I tried them in both

platforms). The look was different in the new BLACKBOARD, so if that counts, it was easy to upload

documents.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

“I pretty much second this.” –Instructor, School of Humanities

Blackboard Collaborate “Based on the video conferencing meeting that we had, I find this feature to be much-improved in the new Ultra

system from Blackboard 9. Capacity is capped at 50 participants, which might be an issue for larger conferences

(student clubs?), but would work for my classes of 35 students. I did not like that you could not send private

messages to individual participants. I find the new Ultra version of Blackboard to be an improvement in general,

but not in the areas where it really matters- student contact (messaging, email) and grading. These are the day-

to-day activities that I spend most of my time on in teaching an online class, and I haven't seen an improvement

here in Ultra.” –Instructor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences

N/A “Tried to, but there was not really any new features that could be tested. Mostly just far less there than what

we have in Blackboard9.” –Instructor, School of Mathematics, Sciences and Health Professions