Project RITE
The Instructional Use of Blackboard among Undergraduate Students
and Their Instructors
Jay Pfaffman
Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology & Counseling, UT KnoxvilleOverview
Blackboard course management system is used by thousands of universities. Most research about Blackboard has focused on how to encourage faculty to use it (e.g., Bell and Bell, 2005), how to encourage use of the discussion board (e.g., Freeman, 2004; Rovai, 2001), or how to use specific Blackboard features (e.g., Kirkpatrick, 2005). Little research has been done to determine how students and faculty use Blackboard to enhance learning. A faculty-focused multi-institutional study has been done that looked at how courses have changed when they become web-enhanced and will provide a framework for our focus group and survey design (Wingard, 2004). This study is designed to find out whether undergraduates and faculty have a shared vision for how Blackboard should be used to support instruction.
- What faculty uses of Blackboard do students value as most effective/least effective in enhancing their learning?
- From a student's perspective, which uses of Blackboard are helpful and which are bothersome?
- From faculty perspective, what factors support the use of Blackboard in ways identified by students as helpful, and what barriers keep them from using Blackboard in the ways identified as helpful?