Blackboard 4+

When I first downloaded the new and ‘improved’ app in September I was not a fan and ended up deleting it as it was too dark, barely worked on the iPhone and was just a mess.

However, I have now had to re-download it due to the old app no longer updating and the updates that have occured have improved the app tremendously!!!! Everything flows quickly, it fits the iPad and phone easily, offering the ability to hide courses so it’s not as cluttered and it looks more aesthetically pleasing than the previous app. Some areas could still be tweaked or made to be personalised, but right now I’d say it’s just as good as the old app.

The app is good, easy to use and very reliable but there needs to be page for your timetable, a big problem with this uni app is that you rely solely on announcements and going through a million pages to find timetable information in handbooks, I know many other universities have a continuously live timetable section to inform you of when your next lecture or seminar is, where is it, who it’s with and any details or information about it so you can easily click one button to know when you’re next in and what your timetable is. Also, a personal planner element could be added to make the app personal to an individual so they can have their own planner and calendar with important meetings or planned study times for certain modules or essays in order to plan their whole university life so that they can be organised and feel more sorted with what they’re doing.

Really needs to be able to make use of the iPad’s feature to split the screen. Blackboard doesn’t allow this so if we’re going back through some recorded lectures on Panopto, i can’t write my notes on a split screen to the side as Blackboard just doesn’t support it like so many other applications. It’s a small adjustment that I would imagine could easily be done, but not having this feature just makes students lives more difficult for no reason at all. Other than that Blackboard is fine, it’s not great but does a job. We do have to sign in far too often instead of it just remembering who we are and staying logged in! This has been a complaint for a long time whoich just hasn’t been addressed at all