By Kat Wilson
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, AVC’s Distance Education and Technology Committee (DETC) met with two Blackboard representatives, Matt Lord and Liam Ferris, to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renewing AVC’s contract with their company this June.
“The biggest issue is the cost,” said Richard Balogh, physical sciences professor and member of the DETC.
In a special board meeting held on Jan. 31, chief business officer Tom Brundage made it clear that due to California’s fiscal crisis AVC must cut $750,000-$480,000 each year for the next three years.
AVC requires a reserve fund of no less than five percent of the school’s expenditures. Even though AVC currently has more than twice that amount, the reserve fund could drop below the mandated five percent in only a year if no budget cuts are made, according to the budget presentation Brundage gave at the board meeting: (http://www.avc.edu/aboutavc/common/documents/13112_BudgetPresentation.pdf)
The DETC has already met with representatives from two other course management systems to replace Blackboard if necessary: Moodlerooms and Etudes. By the end of February, the DETC has to choose which of the three services to recommend to the rest of the academic senate.
“It’s going to be a tough decision,” Balogh said. “Each system has positives and negatives, pros and cons.”
After hearing about the competition, Lord said he was willing to work on lowering the operating costs for Blackboard. But Blackboard currently charges AVC $140,000 a year while Moodlerooms would be $87,000 for the first year then would lower to $80,000 for the following years and Etudes would cost $84,000 a year with a 50 percent discount the initial year, according to Balogh.
In terms of quality, Cindy Walter, a business and management instructor who uses Blackboard for multiple purposes in her classes, called Blackboard the “Jaguar” of course management systems.
Etudes is “very basic,” Walter said. In her opinion, Etudes would only be slightly better than myAVC, whereas Moodlerooms is more similar to Blackboard.
“We want what’s best for our students. That’s the bottom line,” Walter said. But the cost of keeping AVC running smoothly plays a large role in deciding which course is ultimately the best.Several DETC members brought up a long list of complaints against Blackboard during Tuesday’s meeting with Blackboard representatives, mostly concerning poor customer service in the past, unexpected inconveniences and Blackboard’s attempts at monopolizing the field.
Balogh recounted an experience he had only last year in which Blackboard would not let his students access their grades, and the Blackboard support teams did not resolve the issue until the course had already ended five weeks later.
“Instructors dislike Blackboard because it is perceived as a bully,” said Charles Hood, an English professor and member of the DETC. Blackboard “offers poor products then buys out competitors instead of cleaning up.”
Lord and Ferris apologized for the rough treatment that faculty members have received from Blackboard, and pointed the DETC members to Blackboard’s online feedback page to voice their suggestions and complaints.
As Lord pointed out, AVC faculty members have seven years’ worth of problems with Blackboard to draw from, but without the same experience in using either Moodlerooms or Etudes there is no guarantee that one of them will work any better.If the contract with Blackboard is renewed, AVC will get the new 9.1.8 version instead of sticking with the 9.1.6 model currently in use, according to Balogh. The updated Blackboard offers customizable and mobile features, but most of the concerns voiced by the DETC on Tuesday will not be addressed until the 9.1.10 version comes out.
“It’s hardly much improved,” Hood said, and there are “still many, many flaws.”Blackboard might be among the top course management systems out there, but some faculty members may have been scarred too deeply to desire a renewal of the contract.
The DETC is taking everything into account, including feedback from other colleges using Etudes, Moodlerooms, and Blackboard, to determine which system will both fit the budget and be most beneficial to students and faculty in the long run.
