Blackboard Unveils Moodlerooms 3.0
Blackboard has introduced the newest version of its Moodlerooms platform, with enhancements designed to improve teaching and learning experiences for teachers, students and administrators.
Moodlerooms 3.0 is dedicated to institutions and organizations using the Moodle learning management system. The new version of Moodlerooms includes all the updates in Moodle 3.0, such as streamlined course editing and tagging, new dynamic and interactive question types, a one-step plug-in function and improved accessibility. It also incorporates all the recent Mahara 15.10 ePortfolio and social networks management capabilities for a better interaction between users.
The key enhancements in Moodlerooms 3.0 are new XRay Learning Analytics features, an enhanced integration with Blackboard Collaborate videoconferencing and an improved Snap theme.
In Moodlerooms 3.0, improvements have been made to XRay Learning Analytics to make the layout of reports easier to navigate. Critical data, such as the number of students at risk, the number of student logins and the average course grade, are displayed at the top of the page, providing teachers with a quick overview of the status of the course and facilitating their intervention to support students who need help.
The latest Blackboard Collaborate features have been integrated into Moodlerooms 3.0 to give users a better virtual classroom experience. Teachers are now able to invite other teachers or speakers to their videoconferencing room through a link that guests will find directly in the platform. This should make it easier to conduct interactive class sessions with more than one expert by logging into the site and clicking on the link to the session. Also, students will be able to download session recordings in Collaborate, allowing them to review the contents offline.
Moodlerooms 3.0 is also incorporating Snap 3.0, offering several improvements across desktop, tablet and mobile devices such as a streamlined login page and an easier navigation between course page, course cards and activities. The mobile interface has also been redesigned to improve the user experience, make information accessible via various devices and make it easier for educators and students to tailor the information display to their needs.
A new feature of the Snap personal menu is course favoriting, which allows users to add favorite classes to the top of their menus.
The latest features and improvements in Moodlerooms 3.0 will be presented in detail at the first-ever open learning track at BbWorld 2016, Blackboard’s education conference connecting institutions with learners, July 12-14 in Las Vegas.
Blackboard acquired Moodlerooms in 2012. Blackboard and Moodle have a partnership to provide open-source teaching and learning solutions in more than a dozen countries.
More information about Blackboard and Moodlerooms can be found on their respective websites.
About the Author
Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].