The University will be transitioning from CLEW to Blackboard September 8 for the faculties of Law, Human Kinetics, Education, Nursing, and the Odette School of Business. Remaining faculties will make the change by the end of DecemberThe University will be transitioning from CLEW to Blackboard September 8 for the faculties of Law, Human Kinetics, Education, Nursing, and the Odette School of Business. Remaining faculties will make the change by the end of December

Students laud popular new learning management system

A group of students had a chance to take Blackboard Learn, UWindsor’s soon-to-be-implemented learning management system, out for a test drive this summer and they liked what they saw.

The University will be transitioning from CLEW to Blackboard September 8 for the faculties of Law, Human Kinetics, Education, Nursing, and the Odette School of Business. Remaining faculties will make the change by the end of December.

Erika Kustra, Director of Teaching and Learning Development in the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), says the new system will enhance the University’s capacity to offer engaging, high-quality online and blended teaching and learning. The students say they love the options Blackboard offers and were impressed by the tool’s user-friendliness.

“Blackboard is very easy to use and the actual interface was very easy to learn,” says Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) student Brody Lafrancois.  “If you compare it to CLEW it was like a walk in the park.”

Odette School of Business student Tomas Dobos, FAHSS student Darko Milenkovic, and Faculty of Education student Timothy Au-Yeung recently produced an online video where students share their personal experiences making the change from CLEW to Blackboard : https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/vidlinks/1236688DF046C13.html  

Blackboard has many new customizable features and tools. Instructors can engage with their students through interactive wikis, blogs, and discussion, as well as provide content with a text editor that can embed video, images, audio, mashups and links to websites. Users can access Blackboard using desktops, laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Students can also download a Bb Student app to use on their mobile devices.

“It’s completely unique for me,” says Faculty of Engineering graduate student Bhaumin Patel. It’s like a completely different concept that the University is using and it’s awesome.”