Blackboard upgrades underway, online services to be expanded
Ashley Feibish / Asst. News Editor
Elon’s department of campus technology has brought a
new Blackboard system and improvements to other Internet
resources. For students, Blackboard 6 is only slightly
different from the previous version, Blackboard 5. One new
feature is the portal component of Blackboard 6.
The portal will allow students to customize Blackboard to
best suit their needs. The tabs at the top of the page after
login are the first steps in developing full use of the
portal feature.
Over the next several months, modules will be added to
Blackboard, representing the integration of the portal
system.
The preliminary audience of the portal system will be
faculty, students and staff. Some secondary audiences will
have limited access to the portal’s features. The use
of a portal will consolidate many of the operations performed
through Blackboard and Datatel.
Faculty will enjoy several new and improved features,
including a customizable course menu and the observer role,
which allows faculty to monitor the work and activities of
particular students. Faculty members are now able to create
assignments and post them for students to complete. A
lightweight chat feature allows for online sessions, as well
as a virtual classroom that allows a class to communicate
online.
“This is an entirely new generation of
Blackboard,” said Patty Brown, associate director of
instructional design and development. She said she expects
students and faculty will have full use of the portal
feature, which is similar to my Yahoo, by summer or fall of
2004.
Brian Baute, assistant director of information systems and
technology for web technology, said the new portal will be
integrated with Blackboard, so eventually, all online
services should be accessible through the same interface.
“There will be no solid line between them,”
Baute said. “Blackboard and Datatel [Elon OnTrack] will
eventually start to blur and those systems will start to talk
to each other.”
New content will include a bookmarking feature, a
dictionary, a thesaurus and a calculator. These features will
be introduced over the next several months.
Technology specialists said they hope all students will
eventually be able to register for parking and housing online
using the new system.
Ron Driscoll, director of information systems and
technology, said a committee will decide what the portal will
look like and how it will relate to the institution. Driscoll
also wants students to know that their network attached
storage is now 500 MB, which is similar to another hard drive
on the network- but it can be accessed anywhere. Brown said
another difference is, “Organizations are now separate
from courses.” Brown also said policies will be set up
to make sure organizations are kept up-to-date. Although
organizations are still using Blackboard 5 Driscoll said,
they will be transferred to Blackboard 6 by mid-February.
Brown, Baute and Driscoll all stressed users must use their
e-mail password to access Blackboard 6. If students have any
problems or have forgotten their password, they are advised
to contact the help desk at extension 5200.
Recent changes to E-net include subcategories in the student
center and want ads. The additional categories make it easier
to find items. New subcategories in the student center
section include: general announcements, event announcements,
organizational meetings, volunteer opportunities and
residence life. New categories in the want ads are divided
into apartments, books, electronics, furniture, lost and
found, roommates and travel. Look for future updates on the
progress of Blackboard 6 and the portal system and additions
to Internet resources.
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