Blackboard: A blessing or a curse?

By Katharine Baxter, MA, English

In light of Blackboard's recent system failure, Epigram considers whether the Uni is too reliant on the platform.

With students divided over the University College Union strike action, it is pertinent to remember another important member of University staff who failed to turn up to work earlier this month: Blackboard.

Unlike staff, who gave the UoB notice and justified their absence, Blackboard’s day off from work appeared both untimely and raised important questions about how reliant the University is on the virtual learning platform.

Students told Epigram of their frustration and anger when Blackboard, along with a number of other essential IT services, went down between 11 am and 4 pm on February 5th.

Complaints centred on the inability to access reading materials, assignment feedback and according to News Editor Maddy Russell, students were 'unable to work' during the system failure.

As an M.A. student who is new to the University of Bristol, I was unaffected by the failure, for when I began my undergraduate degree in 2013 most of us were carrying folders of paper around. So, when I started my masters I found the use of a system like Blackboard at University unfamiliar and despite my many other attempts to live sustainably, I haven’t yet succeeded in giving up my printing habit.

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My last University didn’t have a centralised learning portal. Instead, much of our reading was sent to us via email or given out week by week on handouts. More often than not, we had no access to photocopies of texts.

On reflection, the process was old fashioned and quite frustrating. However, I do think learning how to locate journal articles; obscure book chapters and reference only texts online and in libraries was an incredibly important way of developing research skills.

Blackboard gives us round the clock access to reading materials, assessment feedback, and numerous other resources including lecture lists and study skills advice. There are obvious benefits to being able to access all of this material on any device, as well as at any library computer.

We spoke with final year English and Philosophy student, Tilly who told Epigram, that Blackboard ‘is integral to my University experience. I rarely hold on to class handouts and am always keen to save paper. I’m completely in favour of it.

For me, Blackboard is especially important as my mental health often prevents me from attending in-person teaching. If I have to miss out on a lecture, I can catch up by using Replay.’

There are surely a number of other students for whom Blackboard serves as a valuable form of alternative access to education.

However, our reliance on Blackboard evidently poses some risks. In the blink of an eye, a failure can prevent students from working. Reading lists, materials, and the ability to submit assessed work all disappear. There is no obvious backup system in place.

Furthermore, there are risks for a system which tutors use to directly upload material. For example, in both 2016 and 2017, exam papers were accidentally uploaded onto the system instead of past papers, causing exams to be cancelled at the last minute.

The Whip satirised the unfortunate uploads which lead to the cancellation of History and Landlaw exams.

There is no doubt that Blackboard is a valuable resource for students at the University of Bristol. However, perhaps the University need to put measures in place to ensure that students have a backup in case of system failures.

With textbook giant Pearson threatening to replace printed books with online access the importance of moving University study into the digital world is obvious, but as the academic world adapts to the ever-increasing role of technology in resource management, we must learn from issues such as the recent outage.

For me, Blackboard is especially important as my mental health often prevents me from attending in-person teaching. If I have to miss out on a lecture, I can catch up by using Replay.’
Tilly, English and Philosophy student

On the one hand, it is essential that we find ways to prevent students from being solely reliant on the system. For the majority of courses, in person research using resources in libraries should be equally as important as online access if we are to develop into a new generation of researchers.

Could all this be solved by encouraging students to download documents on a regular basis? Or is there a more effective way that the system could be accessed via an app that would enable constant access to materials. The answer is not yet clear, however, the importance of the system for our degrees could not be clearer.

Featured Image: Epigram / Georgiana Scott

Do you think UoB relies too much on Blackboard? Let us know in the comments!