blackboard mobile learn™ - university of pittsburgh · blackboard mobile learn™ the university...

February 2013 www.cidde.pitt.edu/bb9 | [email protected] 1

Blackboard Mobile Learn™

The University of Pittsburgh has licensed Blackboard Mobile Learn™ on an institution‐wide basis,

available at no additional cost to all CourseWeb users at the University of Pittsburgh, system‐wide.

The Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application enables students and educators to access teaching and

learning resources through two‐way wireless interactions on mobile devices. The Blackboard Mobile

Learn™ application extends the course experience of the Blackboard Learn™ platform in native mobile

applications for the most popular mobile platforms, including Android™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad®,

BlackBerry® and Palm® webOS™. The Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application gives students and faculty

access to their courses, content, and organizations allowing them to:

• Read announcements

• Check their grades (students)

• Comment on blogs and journals

• Attach files from Dropbox™

• Post threads and replies to discussion board forums

• View media (students can access music, videos and images uploaded by their instructors and

experience directly from their mobile devices using the appropriate media‐specific software.)

• Take mobile‐friendly tests

• View assignments

• Receive course activity notifications

Adding materials to a course in CourseWeb based upon assumptions about traditional (non‐mobile)

browser interfaces may lead to miscommunications or unexpected limitations when students access and

interact with course content through the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application. This application is

designed as a tool for accessing content, not adding content. Basic knowledge of the Blackboard Mobile

Learn™ application’s capabilities is important for instructors who anticipate that their students will

access their CourseWeb courses through this application. They will be better equipped, for example, to

decide whether to use the “mobile quiz” function, as well as to provide guidelines such as “Avoid taking

a mobile quiz on the bus ten minutes before class.” Additionally, instructors may wish to promote the

Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application, given its potential to increase student interaction, since student

performance often corresponds with how often students interact with a course, including through its

CourseWeb site.

University staff that supports the use and delivery of instructional technologies (particularly CourseWeb)

must also understand the benefits and limitations of the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application as its

use is encouraged and becomes more widespread.

The features available, and their operation, vary significantly between mobile devices. As with all mobile

applications, there are areas of concern, limitations and drawbacks that their users need to be aware of.

The user experience differs between mobile devices in ways that may be subtle or not: a smartphone

version of the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application will have different look and feel, and possess

different capabilities, than a student using the same application on a tablet.



Here are some specific concerns to be aware of:

Much instructor‐generated content (e.g., flash‐based videos, including Kaltura‐uploaded videos) is

not viewable inside the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application, which often bumps student users out

to a mobile browser to view content: informal student feedback suggests that this may prompt

students to disregard the utility of the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application and cease usage

altogether. As the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application does not permit horizontal reorientation

to expand the amount of content visible on the device screen—a functionality which does exist in

the browser— students may prefer using their mobile browser to access CourseWeb. On some

devices, the content simply appears to be inaccessible in the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application

(i.e., there is no bump to a browser).

Submitting files to complete an assignment requires a third‐party application, like Dropbox; this

requires the student to have a separate application and corresponding login credentials to complete

the task.

Instructors using the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application cannot reorder the course display, and

any reordering in the browser does not affect ordering in the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application.

A final issue is that, in the past, the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application has been inaccessible at

various times. These users received a message indicating that the University of Pittsburgh did not

yet permit usage of the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application. While this issue has been fixed with

the most recent upgrade, there is a population of students who may have received this message in

the past and decided not to try to access the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application again.

To get the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ application, visit

http://www.blackboard.com/sites/mobileschoolfinder/index.html using your mobile device and then

key in “University of Pittsburgh” in the search box. Click on the Search button to find the University of

Pittsburgh. Click on the download button that corresponds to your mobile device to download the

application.

Here’s a brief, 39 second video to walk you through the process:

https://kmc.kaltura.com/index.php/kmc/preview/partner_id/496321/uiconf_id/6517721/entry_id/1_1s

xvyug4/delivery/http/embed/legacy

Blackboard provides a features page on their website:

http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Mobile/Products/Mobile‐Learn/Features.aspx.

Screen shots from this page were taken from this document.



“The Blackboard Mobile™ Learn platform takes interactive teaching and learning mobile, giving students

and educators access to their courses, content and organizations on a variety of devices including iOS®,

Android™, BlackBerry®, and webOS® smartphones.”1

Help for the Blackboard Mobile Learn application may be found at http://help.blackboardmobile.com/.

Note that the Mobile Learn applications for iPad and iPod are different and behave differently.

Blackboard Mobile Learn Features (taken from Blackboard’s web site)

To get the Dropbox application for your iOS or Android device, visit the App Store or Google Play and download it. When you place a document in your Dropbox, it will be synchronized with your mobile device’s Dropbox. The Dropbox integration is an integral part of the document handling features for students who need to attach documents other than photographs to their discussion board, journal and blog postings. Students may not submit postings to online assignments through the Mobile Learn application.

1 http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Mobile/Products/Mobile‐Learn/Features.aspx



A guide for creating Mobile Learn compatible tests is available at http://www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=b62fd455‐69fb‐4b3c‐86ef‐42a61b20be25. The Mobile Test feature uses a “blue test book” metaphor, complete with a “red string” that seals it until the test is opened. Note that not all test question types are compatible with the Mobile Learn application. When creating a test that you intend to deliver via Mobile Learn:

For the Multiple Choice question type, the "Show Answers in Random Order" checkbox must be left empty. This option can be found within the *question* settings, by clicking "edit" on a specific question.

Within "Edit Test Options": Under Test Presentation, Choosing "Randomize Questions" (for any question set or type) or "One at a time" will cause the test to be incompatible with Mobile devices.

Within "Edit Test Options": Under Test Availability, checking "Force Completion" or "Set Timer" will make a test incompatible with mobile devices.

Tests created from a Random Block or Question Set are not supported on the Mobile Learn app.

Tests using questions from a Question Pool are not supported on the Mobile Learn app. CourseWeb includes a Content Area tool for creating Mobile Compatible Tests directly in your course. This tool, when enabled in your course, shows up as a menu option under the Assessments button in your Content Areas when Edit Mode is turned on. If it does not appear, go to your course Control Panel and select Customization > Tool Availability and check the boxes next to Mobile Compatible Test and Mobile Compatible Test List. The first selection makes the tool available in your course Content Areas, and the second selection makes a tool for updating your Mobile Compatible tests in your Control Panel > Course Tools area. The only way that you can be sure that an online test will work with a mobile device is to try it. As a fallback, always have a computer available with a web browser that is compatible with the version of Blackboard that is installed at Pitt. The Mozilla Firefox stable channel release is always a good choice.



Two conditions must be met for you to receive notifications from CourseWeb on your mobile device. 1. CourseWeb itself must be configured at the system level to send notifications for course events.

Presently, notifications are turned off at the system level in CourseWeb. 2. You must configure your device to accept notifications for the application



Announcements are visible in Courses, Organizations and the Dashboard within Mobile Learn. Embedded hyperlinks in announcements do not appear on iOS devices.

The only way that Pitt students can see their grades using the Mobile Learn application is if the instructors provide a link to My Grades.



You can retrieve attachments to forum posts with your mobile device. Attempting to create a post with an attachment from Mobile Learn causes the device to enter a persistent “Loading” state.

Retrieving an image file embedded in a content area item causes the application to fail on iOS.



Students using Mobile Learn may access the class roster through a Tool Link that you provide in your course.

Students using Mobile Learn may access their assigned tasks through the Dashboard or through a Tool Link that you provide in your course.

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