I found this VLE based IM really useful when we started using it some years ago but as it isn't mobile very few use it now. I would be interested to know if there are others out there who want to connect and if there are any plans to app it?
I found this VLE based IM really useful when we started using it some years ago but as it isn't mobile very few use it now. I would be interested to know if there are others out there who want to connect and if there are any plans to app it?
Hi Teresa,
We don't have any plans to develop a mobile app for this product. There has been some discussion over the past few years about where to take Bb as a company in terms of presence and chat, but so far nothing has come together as a strategy. BbIM (Pronto) has some technical limitations in terms of improvement and maintenance, and we're beginning to talk about whether to set an EOL date.
Thanks,
Anneke
Hi Teresa
Perhaps this might be something you would like to raise in the bbmoco community?
We are actually in the process of rolling BbIM out across Cardiff University.
We have BbIM as part of our Collab license, and it fills the gap for education for us. We have Office 365, but it has not been made available to students here. As far as I can see it's main strength is the fact that it aligns to course enrolments in Bb Learn. One Case Study we are working on is using it for Wellbeing (Students Services) for online support rooms for students, This is to start at the end of the month.
Personally I believe that this is a product that Blackboard really should be considering developing further particularly for Mobile. Look at the success of apps like YikYak, and the currently just launched Hive app. Surely this are has untapped potential.
Please bring this over to bbmoco so we can raise it as a requirement for development
Thanks
Peter
Thanks Peter, that's interesting. My findings on its use are in this report would be happy to connect with you in Cardiff using it.
Thanks Teresa. The report is very helpful for us. Although it aims to enhance language teaching, it provides evidence of what Online Interactive Exchange (OIE) can contribute.
I work with Peter, and we are trying to fill the gap as Peter said. We have student services, which have increasing requirements for supporting online communication (e.g., students on overseas placement, prospective students, distance learners, wellbeing counselling, etc). I think Blackboard IM provides a way of supporting this kind of requirements. However, it has limits, like it doesn't support mobile devices.
We have had BBIM live at our university for a few years. It comes with, like Peter, our Collaborate license and is installed on every computer at our university, including offices and labs. In saying that, we have found that it is used minimally. We have found that most seniors have never heard of it and those that have many have not used it even though they have access.
In our case, with the introduction of gmail as our institutional email most people quickly gravitated to the Google chat built within the email. It is to the point, now, that we are going to phase out the enterprise installation of the BBIM.
Hi Teresa,
We don't have any plans to develop a mobile app for this product. There has been some discussion over the past few years about where to take Bb as a company in terms of presence and chat, but so far nothing has come together as a strategy. BbIM (Pronto) has some technical limitations in terms of improvement and maintenance, and we're beginning to talk about whether to set an EOL date.
Thanks,
Anneke