Students returned from winter break to find the countdown was over and Mercer had switched online learning platforms from Blackboard to Blackboard Ultra, an upgrade the college says was necessary and unavoidable.
In a VOICE survey of 30 professors and 50 students, 30% of both professors and students found the transition to Ultra to be difficult. But while 60% of professors said they needed to reach out to Mercer Online for support, only 8% of students reported needing to.
Preferences also varied. According to the survey, 30% of professors and 18% of students preferred the original Blackboard. However, according to Dr. Gonzalo Perez, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, continuing to use the old version was not possible as it would eventually have been discontinued. It wasn’t a question of if the switch would occur, but when.
Throughout the spring semester, students have adapted faster than faculty, but experiences have been mixed.
Zlatin Ivanov, a second-year Theater major, said, “I think [Ultra] is better than Blackboard, but the transition was tough…I just needed some time.” Ivanov also has experience with Canvas because he has participated in Mercer’s partnership with Princeton University. He says, “Canvas is easier than both [Blackboard versions].”
The VOICE survey showed roughly 30% of both students and professors prefer the Canvas learning platform above any others.
One feature of Ultra that has drawn particular attention is the Gradebook function.
According to Kavya Kapoor, a second-year Business Administration major, in one of her classes, the gradebook showed she has a 30%, which she knew was inaccurate.
“I think it depends on the teachers,” she said, continuing, “The grade calculation is probably the thing that nobody understands or can figure out because, like, how much each thing is weighted. I just make an Excel [spreadsheet] because that thing is always never correct.”
Some professors also identified the Gradebook as a particular challenge.
One professor, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak openly, said, “Gradebook kept putting zeros in every row if my students didn’t turn something in, which freaked them out. It freaked me out. I had to figure out how to turn that feature off because sometimes I change due dates or give an extension. I don’t like that the program started assigning zeros without my approval.”
But the Gradebook adjustments do not seem to have been problematic for everyone.
Mitchell Canter, Associate Professor of Communication and Faculty Ambassador for Ultra, said he continues to incorporate the weighted system and just had to reapply it when the transition occurred.
He said, “I looked at the gradebook just to see where the student rankings were, and just from knowing what people have turned in and not turned in, or how well they’ve done on certain projects [and] it seemed to be accurate.”
The acquisition of Blackboard by a company called Anthology, majority owned by Veritas Capital, is what initiated the change in 2021, but Mercer chose to wait until “a lot of the kinks were worked out by other schools,” until initiating the switch, Dr. Perez said.
Vicente Erazo, Assistant Director of Mercer Online, said, “I’m glad that we waited. Early on, when Blackboard [Ultra] was introduced, we saw that it wasn’t ready for showtime. It needed a lot of improvements and a lot of work.”
Some faculty members credited Mercer Online for their support efforts throughout.
Dana Lopes, Professor of Psychology, said of Mercer Online’s support, “They did a really great job in making sure that our content came over [from previous classes]. Even setting due dates and accommodations is much easier than it was before…It’s spectacular.”
Professor Edward Avery-Natale noted that the administration “probably could have communicated better about why we were making the change,” but praised Mercer Online for their training efforts.
He said, “Personally, I don’t really figure out how new technology works until I get in there and play with it.”
Although most changes in education focus on student learning, the shift to Ultra has required professors to become learners as well.
Data from the Handbook of Open, Distance, and Digital Education indicates that it takes a typical person 3-6 months to adapt to a new technological tool depending on experience and motivation, meaning the Ultra adjustment should be mostly complete by fall.
Katie Carnevale, Assistant Professor of Communication and Faculty Ambassador, said, “I had used Canvas and a program called Moodle in my doctoral program, and both of those just seemed to be above and beyond anything Blackboard could do. But with Blackboard Ultra, I feel like we’re almost there.”
