In a Bb9.0 Learning Module that contains an assignment or a test on a page in the middle (ex: page 5 out of 8), the student cannot return to the same page of the module after submitting the work. The student is taken back to Page 1 after submitting. This is different from the way Learning Units worked in Bb7.3, which DID take the student back to the same page. I'd like the students to return to the same page from which they launched the assignment or assessment because when they go back to page 1 it causes navigation problems -- they assume the module is finished and miss the pages that came after the assignment or assessment.
I'm crossing my fingers that this is a glitch that will be fixed in Bb9.1, which our district is moving toward later this summer.
Hello Sharon,
We are running Bb Learn 9.0.440.8 and I see the same behavior. I looked through the list of fixes that are incorporated into 9.1 and did not see this mentioned. You might want to submit this problem to Blackboard support if you or someone at your institution has a Behind Blackboard account.
Thank you,
Jason
We are having the same trouble with the Learning Module in 9.0. The reason I am searching this site now is to see if there's a work around. I am hoping that is taken care of in 9.1 as well.
We are in the process of upgrading to 9.1 -- Like you, I'm curious whether 9.1 will take care of the problem... When we did a quick preview of 9.1during our install, it looked like there's been a change: assignments open in a new window now and therefore return to the correct learning module page when the external window is closed.
(Only checked one example, though. because we only had 30 minutes to play with 9.1 before the network administrators had to take it back down to finish the installation process. Didn't check any quizzes/tests.) I'll know more after it's up and running.
9.1 is supposed to be up today here, but the engineers are having some problems on the wiry back end of things.
I'll post a follow up when I know more. Thanks for the response!
Good Things! I hope. I have a project set up that would be much more efficient if the quizzes would not kick the learner back to the beginning of the module each time.
Thanks!
I haven't checked all of the modules we have yet, but it looks like there is a difference between the behavior of assignments and quizzes/tests within a Bb 9.1 learning module. Assignments now open in a new window, which allows return to the same point in the module, but quizzes/tests still kick the user back to the beginning of the module after completing the assessment. FAIL!!! This will cause too many students to overlook any pages in the module beyond the quiz. I hope this issue is resolved soon. I like to use formative assessment (checks along the way) when teaching concepts.
Hi Sharon,
Have your Blackboard Administrator report this as an issue to Blackboard Support because it does sound like a bug.
What you have found will also be an issue for Blackboard "WebCT" Vista/CE users moving to Bb Learn 9.x as quizzes in Vista/CE Learning Modules have always returned to the same place as we can also use selective release to make additional content available immediately after the quiz.
Cheers,
Bob
Sharon,
Did you end up submitting a problem ticket on this issue? SP1 for 9.1 is supposed to be out in early-mid June, but I don't know what fixes are included in it, and I don't see a specific reference to this problem in the known issues list.
Out of curiosity, what do you see as the main benefit to using learning modules compared to adaptive release? AR always seemed to me like it would be much more flexible, but I'm an admin, not an instructional designer.
Mike
I'd love to see a copy of the known issue list for 9.1. Please tell me how to access it.
I'm not familiar with the benefits of AR.
I like using a module because it focuses the students' attention on one "chunk" at a time and keeps them focused. It's particularly useful in a linear progression of ideas.
Without a module format, scrolling vertically and clicking series of folders/items makes it too easy to scan and skim without focusing on the text -- learning modules organize the concepts and put it right there in students' first view.
Now, please tell me why you like AR.
We have used selective release in the original WebCT through Blackboard "WebCT" Vista/CE extensively. Once Blackboard finally incorporated Adaptive Release in Bb LS 8.0, we were able to also use it in the courses we teach in Bb LS "Classic"/Learn the same way we use selective release in courses we teach in Bb Vista/CE.
Dr C Mike is referring to the use of Adaptive Release/Selective Release as a way to encourage "mastery" of the content by the students. For some of my courses, I would set selective release on all the modules except the first one. Only when the student achieved a certain score on the quiz, that is, "master" the content, would they gain access to the next module. In Blackboard Vista/CE, we could also set selective release on items in a learning module, so students would not see the next set of content until they completed the quiz in the middle of the learning module.
Another variation of adaptive release/selective release is to release additional remedial material if the student does poorly on the quiz/test.
As you can see, effective use of adaptive release/selective release will keep the student on task of learning the content and keep them from "scanning and skimming" through all the content, even with quizzes integrated into the learning module.
There are many more uses of adaptive release/selective release that can be used to guide the student's learning. The Blackboard "WebCT" Vista/CE users can probably bring up several more recommendations.
The official published "known issues' list for 9.1 is at http://kb.blackboard.com/display/DOCS/Known+Issues+in+Release+9.1, though I'm pretty sure there are other issues which have been assigned ID numbers that are not included there.
Adaptive Release gives you a fairly powerful, flexible way to control when and how materials are released to students. In terms of reproducing what I know about learning module function, you can arrange the materials in a folder--or a heirarchy of folders--only display the next one after a student has checked off that they have read/reviewed the current one. But more importantly, you can require that they complete a quiz or an assignment, and even achieve a certain minimum grade, before seeing the next section. For students that get a grade below a certain threshold, you can open up additional supplementary material.
You also have the ability with adaptive release to limit access only to specific students or groups, or to add date restrictions--or to combine multiple rules. What's more, you can track what's visible to each student by using the Adaptive Release section of the Performance Dashboard, so you may be able to tell where they are in the sequence.
It is a bit more complicated to set up than a learning module if all you want to do is force students to go sequentially through the materials, though.
The LM is much more structured than AR in that the learner is not looking at a series of links to content on one page. They are viewing "pages" instead of folders sequentially. The student view is much different with the LM, much easier on the learner (if they are not directed back to the first step of the module after each quiz.).
Thanks for the Help.