The Mobile Learn app has been discontinued in favour of two “persona-based” apps:
- A student app simply called Blackboard
- Blackboard Instructor for those with a staff role (e.g. Instructor or Teaching Assistant) on their Blackboard courses
Initially the Instructor app provides limited functionality, but the range of features will increase over the coming months. In this first version you can
- preview course content, including tests and assignments – this could be really useful to check how well students are able to view your course content on a mobile device
- post announcements
- post and reply to discussion forums
- launch Collaborate Ultra sessions
Future releases will allow tablet users to view, mark and provide feedback on assignment submissions.
Guide to the Blackboard Instructor app
Blackboard support site: https://help.blackboard.com/Blackboard_App/Instructor
Accessing Blackboard Collaborate on a mobile device
The guides below were written for Mobile Learn, but the general principles still apply.
Recommended practice for Blackboard mobile
How to engage students with Blackboard mobile
Known issues
See https://help.blackboard.com/Blackboard_App/Administrator/Known_Issues_for_Blackboard_App
Note in particular
- Some question types in Tests are not currently supported on mobile devices.
- Mobile users may experience Time zone differences – users in other time zones will see different times displayed on their device, and when accessing Blackboard via a web browser. This could cause confusion with assessment deadlines. Please note that the date and time shown in the web browser is always the correct, official time.
- Assessments may incorrectly display as ‘Hidden from Students’ in the Instructor app, when in fact they are visible to students,
Student guides
See the Student Help site: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/tel-help-for-students/?kbe_knowledgebase=blackboard-mobile-app
