A Study of the Effectiveness of Blackboard Collaborate for Conducting Synchronous Courses at Multiple Locations

Guillermo Tonsmann
2014 InSight : A Journal of Scholarly Teaching  
This paper discusses the effectiveness of the videoconferencing software Blackboard Collaborate for carrying out instruction at college level to students attending classes synchronously at multiple locations. The paper describes the motivation for this study, a brief literature review on the subject, the methodology used, and the results obtained. The main conclusion of this study is the confirmation that synchronous instruction, in general, and Blackboard Collaborate, in particular, is an
more » ... tive environment for tuition of students at a distance. Based on this study, several recommendations to be used in synchronous education are provided. Motivation This paper will analyze the experience the author had in teaching Discrete Mathematics using Blackboard Collaborate, videoconferencing software that allowed students at various locations in the United States to take part in live regular class sessions. The course was designed to test the feasibility of carrying out a course using only remote synchronous connections between instructor and students, and to gain firsthand experience in the process. Park University, the author's institution, currently delivers asynchronous distance education to more than 20,000 students worldwide. The University currently uses eCollege and eCompanion as its main software platform for course delivery. Park University has also more than 40 campus centers at various locations in the United States where face-to-face instruction is offered in various disciplines. Blackboard Collaborate software was recently acquired to be used as an administrative tool. Given this context, the main motivations for the development of this course were:
doi:10.46504/09201404to fatcat:4zfdj32x55afvbiqzccf3ahmru