When I heard that BlackBoard was making available a free app for the iPhone and iTouch, I thought it sounded like it might prove to very useful to students to enable them to check in on their course(s) while away from their computer.
So I went to iTunes this morning to download the app, and unfortunately, didn’t read the reviews until after the download. Here are a couple of snippets from a host of comments:
“I don’t really understand the point of this app. It doesn’t really display any real or useful data. You can use the app to browse clear down to individual grades for example , but then if you want to see the grade, it takes you to Safari where you have to go through the tedium of logging in and using the small iPhone screen to try to navigate…”
“Documentation is poor. Impossible to find PIN# or any resources to “sign up for Bbsync.” Apparently many options in the app are simply pointers to web links. As primitive and poorly conceived as the web apps. ”
In fairness, there were some positive reviews such as:
“This app has great potential and that’s why I’m giving it three stars (out of 5). I have access to both Student and Instructor accounts using Bb Server v. 8.0.375.0 While I connect and sync multiple times using the Student account, my Instructor account gives me an “unknown error every time.”“Don’t review it like you’ve emptied your bank account to download this. It’s not bad. Make sure you go on Bb on your computer and pick up your iPhone BbSync PIN so you can login. If you can’t see your stuff, that’s your school’s fault, not BlackBoard….That said this app could be much better”
So obviously the jury is still out, and may require one to go through the process of trying it for oneself.