Blackboard. A program that is important to all student’s studies at American University. What would appear to be a simple website to gather grades and any necessary homework information has posed a few problems. Not only are students finding the web service to be difficult, but professors are as well. It is clear that Blackboard’s functionality is not what it should be.
Blackboard is used for a multitude of reasons. It is where a student can see all of their classes and by clicking on that class, can get access to all the information needed to be successful. Assignments, syllabus, even discussion boards are available under each individual class. Professors are able to send out announcements to the class, alerting their students of assignments coming up, internships they have, or letting students know that they will not have class that day. With all these tools, professors and students a like should be able to use Blackboard to enhance their academic lives, but with these problems that has not been the case.…show more content… One of the main issues is that there is not unilateral settings. Each individual student and individual professor can make Blackboard how they want. In theory this would be a great idea. However, students are finding that it is difficult to navigate the website because of the clutter and lack of consistency in not only assignment acknowledgment., but other areas as well. Amanda Nannarone, a student at American University, has been using the service for 2 years and one of her main complaints was that Blackboard was “very confusing and hard to navigate to figure out where professors put everything.” One of the main functions of Blackboard is to help students complete their homework. With the confusion, Amanda goes on to say that “I worry about dues dates and whether or not my assignments get turned in because there is no