Blackboard as an online learning tool : comparative study of Blackboard to previous Blackboard versions and other online learning tools

摘要

Blackboard is a web-based online learning system. It provides students and academics with a set of facilities which assists students’ learning as well as communication between students and academics. These facilities include discussion board, study material, email service, group content sharing, etc. This thesis will focus on the document analysis of Blackboard Learning System and technologies used so that an idea of a better version of learning tool (Blackboard) can be generated in the future. The thesis will also conduct the comparative research of Blackboard Learning System with respect to their earlier versions and other online learning tools to point out the shortcomings of the existing version of Blackboard Learning System. The thesis will analyze which features of Blackboard Learning System are subject to continuous change by comparing earlier versions. It will also examine the superior features of other online learning tools that can be implemented on new versions of Blackboard Learning System. The analysis will be based on the comparative research of Blackboard Learning System with its earlier versions and other learning tools. A variety of resources such as case studies, journals, books, online materials, release papers will be analyzed to evaluate the results. The results of the analysis of the conducted research will be analyzed to propose the recommendations to the new versions of Blackboard Learning System.