In this final assignment for this class, we were to select a component of the Blackboard Learning Management System and do an analysis of its usability and design an improvement. I selected the “tests, surveys, and pools” component which allows for instructors to build questions that can be used for assessment or surveys.
In the analysis, I compared Blackboard to competing systems, researched criticism, and interviewed active users. The design was a cleaner, more graphical interface that is not as piecemeal as the current system.
The video below is my final class presentation/report on the assignment. Images below show various stages of the project.
Early in the process, I created a site map for the system so that I could keep track of the pages I wanted to create for the component.
This is an example of how the Blackboard system looked as of the time I was taking that class.
This graphic shows the suggested (low-fidelity) wireframe for the redesign of the same page above. It incorporates graphics, removes the descriptive text to clean up the page, and adds a direct link to a “question builder” and to help and support documents.
This is the interface for the “Tests” module of the component. New tests can be created, saved tests can be accessed and modified, and new tests can be imported.
The above three images show the lightbox screen that appears when modifying an existing test. A test can be edited, previewed, and deployed using these screens.
One of the final pieces that I created was the “Question Builder.” This screen shows how to create a multiple choice question for a test or survey in this component.
Stormspeed Now 