Notifications on the Go: The Impact of Using the Blackboard

Abstract

The focus of this study was to evaluate the use of the Blackboard™ App by students in traditional and online learning environments. The participants in this study were students in a first-year college orientation course, and undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in educational technology (EDT) courses, all at a 4-year public university in the Midwest. The orientation course is a traditional seated class with the Blackboard Learn™ learning management system supplementing the face-to-face instruction; the graduate and undergraduate EDT courses are all fully online, taught through Blackboard Learn. The study compared whether students prefer the Blackboard App over the use of email for communicating with their instructors. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey response data. Students’ positive responses concerning the Blackboard app and their preference for email were summarized and discussed.