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big_giant_head
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« on: June 28, 2010, 02:10:49 PM » |
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then could you please tell me why you had to ruin ANGEL? Please? You took a nice little CMS that worked perfectly well, and you effed it up. You have created a fallen ANGEL--no, a BlackAngel.
ANGEL never ate student papers, but several of my students have lost files in just the two weeks we've been running BlackAngel.
ANGEL never--NEVER--crashed. Ever. BlackAngel has crashed twice now, and exactly when student assignments were due. I deeply enjoy getting all those panicked emails, Blackboard. Thanks so much for whatever "improvement" is causing this.
ANGEL could handle different browsers, and especially liked Firefox. BlackAngel will punish us all for not using Explorer.
In ANGEL, I could pull up one page and enter all student grades for an assignment there. Now I have to click about 7 or 8 times to get each individual grade entered. How handy. Thanks so much, BlackAngel.
In ANGEL, I could pull up my gradebook any time I wanted and would see at a glance how each student was doing, not only on each assignment but overall in the course. If I want that information from BlackAngel, I have to set up a specific report, name it, define its parameters, back out of the report wizard, go back into the gradebook, look for the gradebook menu, click on that, find the name of the report I just set up, and run it.
Again, how much easier this is than simply looking at the gradebook!
You're on my Christmas list, Blackboard. Yes, you are.
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carthago can haz delenda
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rdnttkn
Junior member
Posts: 80
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« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2010, 02:19:44 PM » |
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Speaking as an individual who uses both Angel and Blackboard 9 concurrently at different schools, I am especially loathing the day my Angel school is forced to "upgrade" or otherwise switch to a Blackboardized version. I feel your pain!
If Blackboard would just realize that it is its own version of courseware that completely SUCKS in every imaginable way, and just replace it entirely with the vastly superior Angel, they'd be so much better off, as would we. They'd actually have customers knocking down their door to get their product rather than have to rely on buying out their competitors to get customers.
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Do we realize that these snowflakes are a small fraction of the student population? Absolutely. But that 10% cause 90% of our stress. We come here to vent, unload, and get advice from each other. |
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cc_alan
is a wossname
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,242
Caution! Nekkid zamboni driver ahead.
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« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2010, 11:58:06 AM » |
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My college is switching to Moodle. It's unfortunate that the online instructors went through training in the past year+ to learn Angel and now they well have to go through training. Again.
I'm not an online instructor, but I would like to do a hybrid class. I'll just wait until everyone gets settled in Moodle before making my plans.
Alan
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Excuse me... which aisle would I find the unicorns and rainbows? No, Alan is a man among men, striding the Earth like a Colossus with a really big bladder, wearing a tool belt.
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bradrkoch
New member
Posts: 1
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« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2010, 08:53:53 AM » |
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Dear "big_giant_head", I'd like to help. My name is Brad Koch and the Director of Product Management at ANGEL / Blackboard. Please feel free to contact me at bkoch@angellearning.com. Sincerely, Brad |
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big_giant_head
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« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2010, 11:16:29 AM » |
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Thanks, Brad. I'm working with the Instructional Tech folks on my campus, and apparently at least SOME of the problems I was whining about were caused by one of our servers and not by anything to do with Blackboard/Angel.
But honestly, if there's some rationale for the insanely-complex grade book, I bet lots of people here would like to know what it is.
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carthago can haz delenda
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melba_frilkins
Doing laundry.
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 8,136
Doing laundry (still)
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« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2010, 02:31:38 AM » |
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Ugh. First they ruined WebCT, and now ANGEL. No surprise. We are getting out from ANGEL as soon as possible rather than "upgrading".
Moodle here we come!
But, yes, we're in the same boat as Alan. Seems like we just trained on ANGEL, and now we're moving along to Moodle. It is rather inconvenient to switch so soon, but it would be worse to be stuck with the Russian-roulette-who-knows-when-it-will-implode BB version of ANGEL.
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luvstowrite
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« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2010, 09:31:27 PM » |
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If our college switches from Blackboard to Moodle, the faculty will revolt and refuse to use it. They say (in their evaluations) that they have invested too much time in preparing for Blackboard and resent having to learn a new system. Interesting.
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"If you want to make enemies, try to change something." -- Woodrow Wilson
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2010, 10:04:16 PM » |
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I've had problems from Blackboard, but once you get used to it, it works. I've never used Moodle or Angel.
At my institution, we have no choice; we are part of the state-mandated system, and all the schools that are part of the state system use Blackboard.
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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wellfleet
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« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2010, 10:09:14 PM » |
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I switched from Blackboard to Moodle about six months ago (the campus-wide switch is on the way, but not yet mandated). Moodle isn't perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than Bb, and my mouse finger thanks me daily. The students seem to like it, too.
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spork
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« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2010, 07:37:03 AM » |
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If our college switches from Blackboard to Moodle, the faculty will revolt and refuse to use it. They say (in their evaluations) that they have invested too much time in preparing for Blackboard and resent having to learn a new system. Interesting.
The network effect creates a sub-optimal standard. Blackboard, if you can read this: create a drag and drop user interface so that I don't have to click 12 times to do anything. |
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a.k.a. gum-chewing monkey in a Tufts University jacket
"Please do not force people who are exhausted to take medication for hallucinations." -- Memo from the Chair, Department of White Privilege Studies, Fiork University
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onion
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« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2010, 08:22:35 AM » |
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But honestly, if there's some rationale for the insanely-complex grade book, I bet lots of people here would like to know what it is.
Someone needs to answer for that grade book. It's brought me to tears at least 4 times in the last year. |
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samspade
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« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2010, 12:56:24 PM » |
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There is a special place in hell reserved for those who work for Blackboard. Teaching online classes this summer has convinced me that I need to add as a signature on my email, "I'm sorry Blackboard screwed up again, it just sucks."
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2010, 01:01:37 PM » |
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The only CMS I hate more than Blackboard is its earlier incarnation, WebCT. MySmallUni switched to Moodle this past year, and I love it, the students love it, and even CMS-wary faculty are dipping their toes now.
MyLargerUni is still using WebCT in Blackboard clothing, and looking for a change. So far, though, they're resisting all my attempts to suggest Moodle. This will not end well.
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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polly_mer
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« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2010, 05:09:18 PM » |
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Blackboard, if you can read this: create a drag and drop user interface so that I don't have to click 12 times to do anything.
This, this, a thousand times this. I know exactly what I want to do. I know the commands. Why on earth can I not use some sort of short cut key to jump to the right screen or better yet allow me a text window so that I could just type the freakin' commands (GUI's are not necessarily the best interface)? C'mon. Oh, and that stupid gradebook. But I can live with the gradebook (I know how to use Excel and students can jolly well keep track of their own grades if they need to) if I could just stop doing a billion clicks through worthless "Task completed" screens. |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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