2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Facebook as a gradebook
Blackboard's recent integration with Facebook marries education and socialization
Taylor McCune
Issue date: 5/22/08 Section: Science&Tech
Click. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap. Backspace, backspace. "Argh!" Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Repeat.
It's a familiar sound to all of the Web-savvy -- the tedious daily, maybe hourly, ritual of logging on and checking every single Web site and Internet application used-- Webmail, Facebook, AIM, Vista, MySpace, Photobucket. The list seems endless when you're typing, mistyping and retyping various usernames and passwords over and over.
Blackboard Inc., which owns and operates the education Web site Vista among others, has just made that frustrating process a bit easier for some students.
Blackboard released Blackboard Sync on May 12, a Facebook application which allows users to view grades and updates through their Facebook profiles. That's one less username and password to type.
The program is available to any Facebook user whose college or university employs Blackboard version 7.1 or higher--without any authorization from the institution. However, information technology departments do have the ability to block the application at any time.
But for N.C. State students, it isn't that easy because Vista is not compatible with Blackboard Sync at the present time.
Greg Ritter, one of Blackboard Sync's developers, said in an email, "because of certain specification of the Vista and CE products, we are not able to make Blackboard Sync available to users of the Vista and CE product lines at this time."
Ritter indicated that the program would be available for all Blackboard services in the future.
The question of when that future will be is uncertain.
Lou Harrison, associate vice provost for educational technology services of Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications, said that Blackboard Sync will probably not be available until the next version of Vista is released.
"[Blackboard] should announce [the next version] at [its] summer conference. But, we typically don't move to a new version right away," Harrison said.
Repeat.
It's a familiar sound to all of the Web-savvy -- the tedious daily, maybe hourly, ritual of logging on and checking every single Web site and Internet application used-- Webmail, Facebook, AIM, Vista, MySpace, Photobucket. The list seems endless when you're typing, mistyping and retyping various usernames and passwords over and over.
Blackboard Inc., which owns and operates the education Web site Vista among others, has just made that frustrating process a bit easier for some students.
Blackboard released Blackboard Sync on May 12, a Facebook application which allows users to view grades and updates through their Facebook profiles. That's one less username and password to type.
The program is available to any Facebook user whose college or university employs Blackboard version 7.1 or higher--without any authorization from the institution. However, information technology departments do have the ability to block the application at any time.
But for N.C. State students, it isn't that easy because Vista is not compatible with Blackboard Sync at the present time.
Greg Ritter, one of Blackboard Sync's developers, said in an email, "because of certain specification of the Vista and CE products, we are not able to make Blackboard Sync available to users of the Vista and CE product lines at this time."
Ritter indicated that the program would be available for all Blackboard services in the future.
The question of when that future will be is uncertain.
Lou Harrison, associate vice provost for educational technology services of Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications, said that Blackboard Sync will probably not be available until the next version of Vista is released.
"[Blackboard] should announce [the next version] at [its] summer conference. But, we typically don't move to a new version right away," Harrison said.
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