Blackboard and Facebook join at Penn

This fall, students will have yet another reason to stay glued to their Facebook page.

In a new effort to better reach students, Blackboard, Inc. has created a Facebook application - already in use by over 400 universities - that alerts students about updates to their Blackboard accounts, Blackboard product director Greg Ritter said.

Launched on May 12, the application allows students to access new course announcements, forms, course materials, course rosters and updates on whether grades have been posted. When students see the updates on Facebook, they can simply click on a link which will send them to the Blackboard Web site.

Grades will not be accessible through the application.

The new application "gives the student who spends a lot of time on Facebook access to Blackboard without leaving the Facebook environment," Ritter said.

So far, feedback has been very positive, he added.

According to courseware manager John Kiser, Penn is upgrading its version of Blackboard and will launch the Facebook application mid-fall.

Schools can decide whether to allow students to access the application, but Kiser said that as long as the application does not violate "privacy concerns," Penn will allow students to use the program.

"It's easy enough, and there is no cost to install it," he said.

According to Kiser, students approached Penn about adding the Facebook application. It was the one instance he remembers students asking, "Can we have this building block?"

College sophomore Ariel Stein said the new features demonstrate Blackboard's understanding of college students.

"It reflects Blackboard's awareness of how many students use Facebook and that they are willing to adapt to help the students in a way that's convenient for them," she said.

Students without Facebook, like College junior Ross Weber, have expressed greater interest in joining Facebook accounts because of the new program.

Nevertheless, students have mixed views on the availability of Blackboard via Facebook.

"I don't think it's any more convenient," Engineering and Wharton junior Nechemya Kagedan said. "Very few of my classes use Blackboard."

Last semester, Kagedan had to log onto the Web sites of the Computer, Statistics and Finance departments, as well as Webcafe and Blackboard, in order to check for coursework updates.

College junior Yael Landman agreed.

"In my experience, professors have used Blackboard to relay important information so infrequently that the new feature would make no difference to me," she said.

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