(this post is a continuation update from my prior post in February 2018)
Edit: 3/27 - Drawing Annotations were enabled for all customers on 3/26, noted by Box in their changelog here.
There has been quite a bit of activity over the past few weeks regarding New Box View, with some good progress being made but also some bumps in the road. Specifically, Box released both Drawing Annotations and "sticky" Point Annotation Mode as promised in early March. Unfortunately, unexpected performance problems were quickly identified with the new Drawing Annotations and Box made the decision to remove the new tools until these issues were remedied. Box has now made progress in fixing the root cause of the performance concerns and have since reenabled sticky Point Annotations and plan to reinstate the Drawing Annotations no later than Tuesday, March 27th. I will update this post once we have confirmed Drawing Annotations have been made available again.
Note: the Box site link above states this, but I wanted to call out that feedback and data created using Drawing Annotations while they were active will be available again when the tool is reenabled – no data will be lost
More broadly, the circumstances of Drawing Annotations mentioned above has highlighted several gaps in communication between Box, Blackboard, and Blackboard clients regarding the timing of changes to the New Box View service. Generally, the flow of information through the community ecosystem is represented as:
(1) Vendor-distributed generalized information
Leads to...
(2) Blackboard-distributed information outlining impact for Bb clients
Leads to...
(3) Bb clients'-distributed targeted information specific for clients' end users' needs
After continued discussions between Blackboard and Box, we have identified several specific actions which will help fulfill the expectations at all points in that communication chain:
- Monthly updates from Box to Blackboard with expected changes coming in the next month
- Email and publicly reference-able location from Box for monthly updates
- Additional end user-facing documentation (e.g. "how does this new feature work?")
These additional activities help reinforce the information in coming from Box in (1); will allow Blackboard to tailor our communications across our established channels (here on the Bb Community Site, on Help.blackboard.com, and through Behind the Blackboard) to meet the needs of (2); and enable the Administrators, Instructional Designers, content creators, facilitators and other end-user facing roles at Blackboard client institutions to be successful at (3).
This additional work continues to strengthen the partnership between Blackboard and Box to provide timely and accurate information to Blackboard clients regarding product updates. We appreciate the community's patience as we work through these actions and look forward to continuing to improve the communication, features, and overall experience of using Inline Grading within Blackboard Learn and the New Box View service.
Hi Trey,
I have read through the Excel sheet of bugs, and I am experiencing a major bug (as of this morning), that I do not believe has been identified.
Once I highlight text, type comments associated with the highlighted text, and then move on with grading the assignment, the text I have highlighted may or may not show up as highlighted text. Once the assignment is graded, and I move on to another assignment, when I return to the original assignment, not all of the phrases I highlighted and commented on are showing up as highlighted at all unless I hover over the phrase. My students, therefore, are only seeing some of the highlighting, and if they, by chance, happen to hover over non-highlighted phrases that I have commented on, they will see my comments. This is an extremely urgent issue, as I have spent my entire week grading 34 essays and providing feedback (the most critical learning tool of the course) that my students may or may not see (or possibly partially see). I am planning to create a video to beg my students to hover over every word (for past essays I have graded as well) they have submitted, in case I have posted a comment on phrases that are not showing up as highlighted. I know you are working closely with Box and to keep us updated on progress, and I appreciate that.
The lack of feedback I am just realizing my students have been getting from me is a major concern, as it reflects poorly on me as an instructor for a situation that is completely out of my hands.
Thank you, again, for your help.
-Leah Marable