Blackboard will be upgraded to version 8.0 over the summer. This includes vast improvements in functionality and features. Some of the new features that will be available are highlighted after the jump.

• Grade Center – A new and much improved way of keeping track of students’ grades. This feature supports an interface similar to a spreadsheet, directed e-mail to students and the ability to generate progress reports.
• Blogs – Gives instructors and students the ability to create blogs and journals within a course, providing a structured and engaging forum for writing about course-related topics, projects and ideas, reinforcing critical thinking and reflective learning strategies.
• Wikis – Enables students and instructors to collaboratively create interactive, multimedia websites within a Blackboard course. In a collaborative online workspace, individuals and teams author, organize, and present their work.
• Blackboard Scholar – A social bookmarking web site that allows students and instructors to collect and tag links to online resources and share those resources with other interested individuals.
Educational Technology will provide more information about using these new and improved Blackboard tools as the summer progresses. Watch the EdTech website for self-help materials and the schedule for a Blackboard seminar series in the fall semester. If you don’t find what you need here, or have specific questions, please contact EdTech for more information at a edtech@mst.edu . Stay tuned for more information!