Has Blackboard earned a failing grade? Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Andrew T. Guzman recently announced in a statement on Aug. 3 that USC will be switching its primary learning system from Blackboard to a new learning management system, Brightspace.
Students and teachers alike have complaints about Blackboard’s functions, ranging from its design to the potential of inhibiting teachers’ creative process.
Provost Guzman stated that the decision came after intensive review of other applications and platforms that offer online classroom services. However, the final decision of switching to Brightspace was due to the “user-friendly design, robust accessibility standards and customer support offerings.”
The transition from Blackboard to the Brightside will be conducted in two phases by the Learning Management Assessment Committee: Phase 1 that will begin in Summer 2024, and Phase 2 that will transition in Fall 2024.
USC Journalism Professor Alan Mittelstaedt has experienced steady issues with Blackboard throughout his teaching career.
“[Blackboard] puts me in the wrong frame of mind when I open it up. OK. I feel like I’m walking into a corporate meeting run by doll people…Rather than engaging with the most creative minds of a journalism school,” Professor Mittelstaedt said.
One of Professor Mittelstaedt’s concerns with Blackboard is the predetermined grading system that is based on each class’s individual percentage formula.
“Maybe it would be more beneficial for something less subjective than journalism, like the mathematics department or something like that…for some really by the book, by the rules and by formula,” he noted. “But for me, it just sends the wrong tone to students.”
Mittelstaedt and other faculty are not alone in their complaints about Blackboard’s issues. USC students have also raised concerns about Blackboard’s system, having posted a petition calling on USC to switch to a different online classroom service. The petition garnered 109 student signatures out of the original 200 goal.
Carrie Zhu, a sophomore studying public relations and business, says she especially struggled with Blackboard during her first year at USC and that it led to some effect on her grades.
“I was really having trouble figuring Blackboard out,” Zhu said. “And then also like because nobody actually teaches you or, like tells you, where to figure [Blackboard] out, it’s more just like you go explore yourself. So yeah, for the first couple of weeks it was kind of struggling a bit.”
Zhu has hope that the switch to Brightspace will not be as difficult to navigate, in comparison to her experience learning to use Blackboard.
“...cause Blackboard is kind of the worst homework system for me. So yeah, I would hope, I would say, that as long as not as bad as [Blackboard], [Brightside] should be easier to figure it out and all.”
Past USC students have also turned to popular social media sites, such as Reddit, to post their concerns with the current Blackboard service.
Reddit user “laracatalina” shared a post three years ago stating “I can’t believe USC still uses blackboard.” The post accumulated 125 likes and 24 comments as other students agreed and shared their own grievances with the website.
One person under the username “rosh7887″ even wrote “Can we start a petition ... BlackBoard looks ARCHAIC and barely works.”
Some students are less excited to transition to Brightspace and leave Blackboard behind. Rami Kabbani, a junior studying mechanical engineering, has no issues with Blackboard, but is not necessarily looking forward to relearning a new system.
“I’ve never had a problem using [Blackboard] in the past,” Kabbani said. “It’s a bit annoying to relearn a new system, but I don’t think it will be too bad as long as it does not have too many flaws and as long as the change is worth it.”
Students are awaiting for the 2024 transition to what will hopefully be a smoother online management space, that allows both faculty and students to have an easier online learning experience.