Blackboard Mobile Learn App – examples?
Here’s the question … has anyone designed a Blackboard course purely from the perspective of working from the Mobile Learn App? Is it a mobile-friendly Bb course, or is it in fact a mobile-first approach to course design?
In my very unscientific approach I have seen differences between content I have loaded to a Blackboard (Bb) course and how it is displayed in the browser and in the App, but I’ve not seen what a Bb course looks like if it’s been designed purely for access and interactions through the App. Here’s why i’m asking:
- I suspect that no one has built one yet.
- I suspect that the course, designed for mobile, would not work well for a desktop learner.
- I suspect that some elements, like tables and other “customization” approaches (as Bb refers to them), will not work pedagogically when we follow the Bb guide and the “suggest adding these content types as a PDF file” advice.
- Can you create a good ‘design’ that allows for good pedagogy in the restrictions imposed by the App (images, files, layout, screen real-estate, etc.)?
I see plenty of resources that mimic the Bb help pages and resources, but none that actually explain and/or showcase good ‘design’. If you have examples, or links, or screenshots, or reports, or journal articles you can share with the rest of us then please leave them in comments below.
- Blackboard Mobile Learn – Google Play and iTunes downloads.
- Blackboard Mobile Learn – Resource centre
In what circumstances would you want to do this? Why force learners down one path. Responsive design is the key!
HI Alan. I don’t want to force anyone down any one path, but I want to see what a pure mobile offering would look like, if indeed it can be done.
I know the layout and rich content we can include in Bb makes for a more interesting and possibly more engaging layout for the browser-based users, and this looks horrible when viewed in the App. But what does the designed-for-App course look like in the browser, and indeed can you actually design for the mobile App first (not mobile friendly) without uploading PDFs??
You might be interested to know that Bb is indeed investing in responsive design – http://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/telsocsci/blackboard/blackboard-education-on-tour/
All the best, David
BTW David, your Disqus commenting system is horrible – I usually don’t bother commenting here because it causes so many problems.
I know, but I have 100% less spam than without it.
You could have 0% spam if you turned comments off altogether.
Yes, but where’s the fun in that (incl. the conversation)?
David