Blackboard9, webCT 41, Volvos and Ford Escorts.

School started on Monday. I'm using BB9 exclusively, having weaned myself entirely from webCT. Not that the desire to continue with WebCT isn't still strong, but to use analogy, that relationship is over and it time to move on. BB9 is flashier, has more bells and whistles, better interface, more options. I have traded in my beloved Ford Escort of a Course Management System for a late model Volvo.

My old escort was really a strippy. Most of the functionality was minimal and a bit clunky. I knew where all the controls were on the tape deck and how to make the seat go to the exact position I like, I knew all the idiosyncrasies, and how to keep the windshield from fogging up in the rain.

The Volvo is different. It is svelte and has every option known to man. I know there is a way to adjust the seat, and I also know that some of these buttons on the dashboard control the sound system.

It is just the process of figuring out what I need to do that is the issue. I have three formal classes through Blackboard and I still don't know how turn on the windshield wipers, though I was taught to change the blades. :-) Also, it isn't like the old Volvo (BB6) I drove briefly a few years ago. The controls are in different places.

I very much like Blackboard 9. Almost as much as I like Moodle. But I really do miss WebCT 4.1 right now in the first days of class.

Casualty of the CA cuts - Blackboard Nine

Well, the other shoe dropped. I am no longer faculty at CSUB. My position was eliminated. I have some pretty strong feelings about this right now, but I won't get into it other than to say that I still will be teaching a class or two as an adjunct through Extended University, at least this quarter. If anyone is looking for an innovator in distance education, I am now very available.

I have been re-developing courses through Blackboard Nine. I have to say I am fairly impressed. They have gone to great lengths to improve the interface and make the system more user freindly. There is still a lot of baggage from previous versions, but what can one expect from a system that is ten plus years old. It is approaching the functionality of Moodle in a lot of respects.