Blackboard 9.1 Beta Testing with Faculty

The Blackboard Upgrade Project team recently visited the West, Downtown and Truax Campuses. With the assistance of 36 faculty members, we tested key functionality of the new Blackboard 9.1 system that will be released to Madison College students on January 9.

The following information was collected and reported from the beta testing:

Functionality satisfaction level:
-Met or Exceeded Expectations (83 percent) vs. Did not meet expectations (17 percent)

Ease of Use:
-Met or Exceeded Expectations (67 percent) vs. Did not meet expectations (33 percent)

Availability of the system (100 percent of courses transferred including Master, Other and Term courses):
-Yes (81.5 percent) vs. No (18.5 percent)

Some comments from faculty who participated in the testing include:
“Helpful insights, I love the instruction and look forward to learning”
“Fun, Fun”
“Easier to use when trained on the new functionality”
“Looks great”
“I need training”
“Please talk to my department”
“This is a big change for me”
"I have a lot of work to do”
“The changes are overdue, but they are exactly what we need"
“Great job by the committee to get this completed...a daunting task”.

Our Beta testing confirmed we are in a good place with faculty expectations for the upgrade and this testing helped identify a few areas that needed additional attention.  A big “Thank You” to the faculty who helped us with this process!

Questions?
Contact NWoodward[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Nancy Woodward) at (608) 246-5210.