We live in a world where the internet is becoming the main medium for work, entertainment, learning and pretty much anything else you can think of. It would be beneficial for college students to become familiar with technology commonly used in higher education. Few assignments and homework at Blackburn College are done online; it’s mostly paper and book work. However, this lack of multimedia work in the classroom is harmful for almost all students entering the workforce.
Blackburn uses the CAMS enterprise as a student information system. This system manages admissions, billing, financial aid, housing and many other aspects of the students’ administrative needs. This interface then breaks off into the student and faculty portals. There are alternatives to this program like Canvas and Blackboard. They provide both a student information system (SIS) and a learning management system (LMS) just like CAMS. Along with admissions aspects of the program, Canvas and Blackboard can create assignments online instead of the typical worksheets and paper assignments found on CAMS. Canvas and Blackboard are both far more user friendly and interactive, and both systems also include clubs and organizations as well as courses for the individual student. For Blackburn, this means that each work department and sub-department could have a page on the site as well.
Blackburn’s student portal has good features, but nothing that these other systems don’t offer. Like Canvas and Blackboard, the portal allows professors to send emails through the system. The portal also has a spot where professors can upload documents, make tests and quizzes and upload grades as they go. Additionally, the portal shows the course selections for the semester and the book requirements for each course. However, the student and faculty portals do not have apps that make their site easier to use on smartphones. Canvas and Blackboard both have apps. The portal does have a mobile URL that students can use on their phones to make it operate similar to an app; it’s just not as readily available as an app would be. The link is portals.blackburn.edu/mobility_student.
Director of Technology Services Jason Cloninger acknowledged that there are things missing from the portal, but that is why the college has Moodle. After using a Moodle, Canvas and Blackboard demos, both under the student functions and the professor functions, I found that Moodle was the hardest to use. As a student at Blackburn, I have never had to use a Moodle account for my classes, which means professors probably don’t find it user friendly either. Out of all my classes, only one of them operates online, and that is not through Moodle, but Google Classroom instead. Cloninger admitted that he has heard problems with the portal. He said, “Every year people use the portal and don’t configure it well.” According to Cloninger, the problems with the portal are never about the software itself, but more so about upgrades the school missed or configuration changes.
Cloninger also mentioned cost as a factor in the choice of sticking with portal and Moodle instead of getting one program that can include all the functions offered by Canvas and Blackboard. He said, “It could be a matter of $10,000 to $100,000.” Changing the software would affect every area of campus from admissions, to billings, to records, to all of the academic departments and to the work program. Vice President for Administration and Finance Steve Morris said he has not heard a need for a new software expressed by any faculty or board members. In terms of budget, Morris said, “The budget committee usually responds to requests. It’s just a matter of department heads taking initiative and speaking up.” He also mentioned that if the college were to get a new system it would take at least a year to implement and it would have to be done in stages. If the portal is something that needs to be replaced, however it would be worth the money to integrate technology into the courses at Blackburn.
The portal is a very basic software.
Many problems with the portal, however, exist because professors either don’t know how to use it or refuse to try. Data Services Administrator Kathy Ruiter is familiar with the CAMS portal system forwards and backwards. She said, “Some of the senior staff are very resistant to use technology.” The portal offers a very basic version of a learning management system, and while it isn’t as pretty to look at as other software, it serves its purpose. If the professors now aren’t willing to learn how to use it, then they probably won’t be willing to learn new software either. The only standards professors are required to follow with the portal are uploading a syllabus, updating their contact information and providing a book list for their classes. They are not required to use the grade book, the attendance sheet or the documents aspect of their portal.
Ruiter expressed concern with the lack of standardization with the portal. She explained that the consistent use of the portal would increase retention rate, or at least help the administration to understand the trends of the retention rate. For example, the retention rate would probably be higher if professors used the grade book consistently so students know where they stand with their grades in class before it’s too late. Also, updating attendance through the portal would help gather data on how attendance correlates with the retention rate. Ruiter said, “This fall we are going to start a big push for consistency with using the portal.”
There have been training sessions with the faculty on how to use the portal. When the system was first implemented nearly nine years ago, the faculty received one-on-one training on the tools in the portal. Since then, whenever new professors come to the school, they also receive one-on-one training. Ruiter said a few years ago she held a review session on the portal and there was poor attendance.
After I learned more about the portal and what it can do, the problem seems to fall on the faculty for not using it properly. Although the other systems out there could be better than the portal, it’s hard to know if it will work better here at Blackburn if the professors don’t at least attempt to use it at its full capacity.
Ruiter observed, “Many, if not all high schools are starting to utilize technology, then they come here and it’s inconsistent at best.” The best way to increase technology involvement in the classroom is to have more mandates on professors to implement it. Although the portal may not be the best system out there, it’s at least a very basic introduction to the integration of technology in higher education. Many other colleges have already caught on. Not utilizing technology to its full capacity is harming any student who plans to go into the workforce. The world is evolving and we need to be evolving with it.