Back-up for Blackboard

When Blackboard goes down, it's almost like granting an in-service day to students. Actually, this is more like a free-for-all happy hour. There hasn't been an entire day affected by this system being unavailable. However, instructors and students are impacted when working against strict deadlines during the very few hours it is down. These are deadlines for students to turn in assignments and deadlines for instructors to share pertinent information to the class.

Chris Martinez who works for Information Technology Services, better known as IT Services, assures that the department is on it once the system goes down. The phone calls and inquiries are endless.

Because of Blackboard's sporadic and unexpected times of shutting down, instructors have had to turn to different forms of web mediums such as social networking sites to use as alternatives. Students rely on Blackboard to get information about their classes and to turn assignments in. That's not to say that Blackboard has or will become obsolete, but that instructors and students should have options to turn to alternative resources. This is helpful when the source of class information delivered via web goes down, especially for distance education online courses.

Janson Jones, a professor from the English department, currently teaches two sections of his Advanced Technical Writing class online. In years past, he has turned to using Typepad to deliver class announcements and assignment information to students. Typepad is one of several blog services available that Jones links directly to Blackboard. When clicking on the course title from a student's Blackboard account, they are directed right to Jones's blog. He also sends the blog address to his student's e-mail just in case they need to access the information this way.

Jones doesn’t want to take a chance at being unavailable to his students. He uses Blackboard to record grades and make use of the discussion board. Even with using the discussion board, he warns students that Blackboard may act up while making their posts. Jones chooses to perform all other class functions outside of this system. He delivers assignments as attachments in his blog.

Crystal Shaw, a senior majoring in natural sciences, is annoyed when Blackboard goes down. She knows instructors who will not feel sympathetic toward students that don’t end up meeting the deadlines for assignments. Blackboard becoming unavailable in not an excuse. Granted, these instructors do not feel sympathetic because of the time allotted to complete these assignments. A student should not wait until the last minute to turn assignments in. Nonetheless, Shaw thinks students should not be punished for an entire system going down, especially when it is out of their hands.

Technology will continue to play an important and integrated role for teaching a class. Instructors and students should consider what options are available to communicate class work over the web. For more information, questions, or concerns contact UAA IT Services at 786-4646.