Bb Mobile Learn for the iPad |

by Andrea Meier

Bb Mobile Learn for the iPad

April 5, 2010 | Posted in Blackboard Mobile

Today Blackboard announces the launch of the Blackboard Mobile Learn iPad application. Live on the App Store now, the app is free to students and institutions (institutions must enable it first, in a free and easy process, given the amount of secure information it provides).

Two new posts today at Bb Blogs bring reflection on this announcement. First, at the Mobile Garage blog, Kayvon Beykpour, Vice President of Blackboard Mobile, talks about the approach his team took with the first Bb Mobile Learn app and includes a link to a short video demo which offers a short walkthrough of the app itself.

At RayHBlog, Blackboard Learn President Ray Henderson offers his thoughts on product innovation and refinement as seen through the lens of today’s Bb Mobile Learn announcement and the coming soon launch of Bb Learn 9.1.

Comments are on at both blogs, so weigh in with your reactions/comments/questions.

http://macbobpayne.wordpress.com Robert Payne

I have the iPad and we are going to 9.1 for next year! I can’t wait!
Candy

Has anyone used this app yet?
Joseph

How well does it work for the instructor of the course? Can I use all the features in the mobile app?
Thanks!
Triet

I’ve been using the app for the last couple of weeks and I have a few request for the next update:
1.Remember my school so that I don’t have to select it every time I open the app.
2.An option to remember my user ID and password
The other thing…many links open a “Server Error in Application” screen – not sure what’s up with that….any fixes?
Andrea

Thanks for your feedback; we are always looking for ways to improve the app.
To answer your questions – For Blackboard Mobile Learn (Iphone/iPad & Android), the app would remember the school and the credentials if you select the “remember me” option when you sign in. This applies only to schools with native Login. Also, it will automatically let you login to the same school without entering the credentials if you have NOT clicked “logout” option. If you happened to click “Logout” from the app, the app will clear the memory and you will have to select the school and enter the credentials again. For schools with Force-to-Web login option, saving the credentials and the school is not possible since all the login part is taken care thru the browser.
And, The “server error in application” message on iPad was an error that is now fixed and will be available as an update in the iTunes store within a few days. Hope this helps!
Andrea

Good question – we are already hard at work making this app more useful for students and instructors. Currently, the app allows you to access some of the same features that are in your traditional Bb Learn environment; including, viewing documents in multiple formats, posting announcements, commenting on blogs and discussion boards, and accessing content, using the windowing system on the iPad. But, as we are always looking for ways to improve, I encourage you to submit your thoughts and ideas here – our development approach is driven very much by the needs of our users.
Jerry Tieman

When you view content items created in a Bb course on the iPhone Bb Mobile Learn app the html formatting is lost. Are there plans to add the capability of displaying html formatted pages via the app GUI? Currently it just runs the text together in one paragraph.
David Ferguson

Does it support flash? If not, how does it handle flash content?
http://profile.typepad.com/kenroden Ken

Hi Jerry,
Unfortunately, this feature is not yet available within the application. However, the Blackboard Mobile iOS product development team is aware of the issue and is and is currently considering addressing the HTML formatting issue in an a future release of the application.
http://profile.typepad.com/kenroden Ken

Hi David -
In short, Flash support is a device specific issue. Devices that do not support Flash technology see an unavailable plug-in logo where that content should be. As you may already know, Adobe technology is not supported by all operating systems. Because of that Flash content cannot be viewed on all devices. However, Flash content can be viewed on select Android devices.
http://kiranatama.com/services/ipad-apps-development ipad app development

is it pay version of this application?
http://www.uc.edu Anne

Why would you use Bb mobile learn when you can use the blackboard using safari in an iPad?
http://www.mobileappsdevelopmentteam.com/ Madt Team

This is very great news. It helps iPad developers a lot.

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