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Making Your Blackboard Course More Mobile Friendly
Posted November 21, 2017
By: Laura Million
In a 2017 survey conducted by Educause, 97% of undergraduate students surveyed said they owned a smartphone and 53% owned a tablet. Of the students who use these mobile devices in class, 47% reported that their smartphones were very or extremely important to their academic success and 38% reported the same about their tablets. 1
Many faculty, on the other hand, rely on a laptop or desktop computer to design and facilitate Blackboard courses. In fact, some may never look at a course using a mobile device. Knowing that students most likely are looking at your courses from mobile devices, consider the following best practices when designing your Blackboard content.
File Types
- Use mobile-compatible file types for all three main operating systems: Android, iOS and Windows. Files that are compatible across all three are:
Content Files:
.ppt, .pptx, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .pdf, .txt
Audio/Video:
.mp3 (audio)
.mp4 (video)
Other audio and video file types may not be accessible across all platforms. For example, .mov is available only on iOS devices and .wma are available only on Android devices.
Images:
.gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png
Content Design
- Use folders to “chunk up” your content so that students do not have to scroll down a long list of files.
- Use short, identifying titles for folders, files, and assessments. Long titles will be more difficult to read on a mobile device.
Test Setup
- Use only mobile compatible questions in tests. The following question types are mobile-compatible questions: True/False, Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Essay, Either/Or.
- Use only mobile compatible settings: Randomized Questions, Timer, Auto-Submit. Other settings may not work across all mobile platforms.
- ITS strongly suggests that students take tests on a laptop or desktop computer over a wired internet connection to avoid compatibility and internet connectivity issues. Feel free to link your students to our knowledge base article for more: “Tips for Taking Tests, Quizzes, and Surveys.”
For additional features supported and not supported by Blackboard’s mobile app, see the “Supported Course Content in the Blackboard App” support page.
1https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2017/8/studentalmanac17.pdf