Insights from Interviewees
Interviewee 1, 23, Student
- Only used Blackboard
- Would continue using it as he doesn’t want to familiarise himself with another LMS platform
- Mainly use Blackboard on his desktop as it’s easier to access and load faster. He is also able to download PDF and do quizzes easily with the desktop site. Additionally, he often has to access LMS in school and using the desktop site is better and more accessible than using a phone.
- He usually use Blackboard for his school work, accessing course materials such as lecture and tutorial notes, and quizzes
- The most frequently used functions are:
- Accessing the module page,
- Looking at announcement pages
- Contents to download (e.g. notes)
- Doing quizzes
- Submissions page
- Watching pre-recorded lectures
- The most important feature would be the ability to watch pre-recorded lectures and access module content
- Blackboard has all the necessary features and functions he needs, but a built-in calendar could be helpful in organising the workload.
- He feels that the functions and features are easily accessible but there are inconsistencies between the lecturers. “Yes, they are all separated into their respective module pages, but there is inconsistency between different module pages in terms on how they show their notes, announcement and results. At first, it was slightly confusing to find certain things such as where my current grades were for the module. I am familiar with the UI now as it as been 3 years of previous experience. However, sometimes lecturers use varying methods to display grades or where they share their notes. For example, having too many categories in the module tab and not being sure where the notes are kept.”
- After using it for 3 years, he can now easily navigate through Blackboard and it became more manageable to find the essentials such as notes, he “expects a more uniform, consistent layout, and possibly a simple way to change the colours as they’re generally not very appealing.”
- Additionally, during submissions week, the website frequently crashes due to heavy traffic on Blackboard
Interviewee 2, 21, Student
- She used Google Classroom, Blackboard and currently using Moodle in her University
- Amongst all the LMS platform she used, she prefers using Moodle as it is well-designed, with features being well organised and straightforward with a simple design and a faster loading page.
- She feels as though Google Classroom was lacking in features and lecturers also seemed to struggle to navigate the site and often struggle uploading lesson materials.
- She will continue using Moodle because she enjoys the user-friendly interface.
- She usually uses Moodle on her laptop, accessing it through the desktop site, as well as her phone as they are her primary working devices.
- She usually use Moodle to access classes, download materials and enter online quizzes or exams as everything in her course is uploaded to Moodle.
- The most useful feature would be the dashboard and progress tracker that gives her a more personalised user experience. However, she feels like the most important feature of an LMS should be “the ability to have the students wanting to use the LMS more often.”
- She thinks Moodle could have quick access features and shortcuts to access certain areas in one-click.
Blackboard;
- She usually used Blackboard for school, like reading through and downloading lecture notes and resources, and attempting assignments or tests.
- She usually used the navigator on Blackboard to navigate her modules. However, although they are easily accessible, they can be messy at times. “Yes, they are easily accessible. However, they can be messy at times. The UI UX design of Blackboard does not satisfy the needs of students of the current era and it’s not intuitive enough to make them want to use it more often. Blackboard lacks on the UI UX aspect compared to Moodle or Google Classroom.”
- She also noted that sometimes, the loading page takes forever, which makes her exit the site.