Blackboard Mobile is the platform used to bring UBlearns to selected mobile devices.

Blackboard Mobile Learn is the app used to access UBlearns from selected mobile devices.

The Blackboard Mobile Learn app can be used with the following networks and devices:

• iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone on a Wi-Fi connection
• Sprint Network Android, Blackberry and Palm device via Wi-Fi or 3G/4G

(Android, BlackBerry or Palm devices on other carriers are not able to access UBlearns at this time)

Through a partnership Blackboard built with Sprint, UB can provide Blackboard Mobile Learn to our faculty and students with Sprint Android and BlackBerry mobile devices at no cost, and free on a Wi-Fi-only basis on the Apple iPad, iPod touch and iPhone.

To download the Blackboard Mobile Learn app:

• Visit the App Store on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the Android Marketplace on your Android device, or BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry.

• Search for Blackboard Mobile Learn.
• Install the app.
• Search for University at Buffalo.
• Log in with your UBIT username and password.

Students can view announcements and class rosters, check assignments and grades, create discussion threads and posts, and view or post to blogs and journals. You also can access documents in multiple formats, as well as view music, videos, and images uploaded by your instructors (using the appropriate software specific to the media type).

You don’t have to do anything differently with your Blackboard courses for you or your
students to use Blackboard Mobile Learn. Using an eligible mobile device (see above) with the Blackboard Mobile app installed, you can access all the content available in your Blackboard courses. In addition, instructors can post a class Announcement “on the go”, create discussion threads and posts, and comment on student blogs and journals.

Blackboard Mobile Learn is designed for viewing content, not for uploading content to Blackboard. Depending on the particular device, some features will not work correctly, but you can always access these features using a browser such as Firefox on your computer. Students should not attempt to submit assignments or take tests or quizzes in Blackboard Mobile Learn; they should use a non-mobile Web browser for those purposes.
Some features that may not work correctly on all devices are:

• Flash video
• Java-based video
• Quicktime video

• Apple iOS device users (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) will be able to use the app via Wi-Fi. If not on Wi-Fi, iOS device users will receive a message saying you need to be connected to Wi-Fi.
• Android and BlackBerry users not on the Sprint network will receive a message saying you can use the app only on the Sprint network unless your institution purchases an annual license of Blackboard Mobile Learn. You will be unable to use the app from non-Sprint Android and BlackBerry devices.

All Android and BlackBerry users will see the Blackboard Mobile Learn app listed in
BlackBerry AppWorld or Android Market. All users can download the app. However, if you
are not on the Sprint network, you will receive an error message when you try to connect.

If you move from using a Wi-Fi connection to a 3G connection, you will receive an error message stating that the app only works over Wi-Fi, and you should re-connect via Wi-Fi.

• Once a device connects with UBlearns servers, the Blackboard system is out of the communication loop. The connection is encrypted via SSL.

• Blackboard never saves a user’s credentials on its servers.
• The Save Password option on the mobile device simply allows you to save login information on the secure storage space within the application. (This process is akin to the way other mobile applications save passwords on devices.)
• Blackboard Mobile Learn securely transmits usernames and passwords over SSL connection.

You need not be concerned, because no FERPA-protected data passes through a central service.

When you log into Blackboard Mobile Learn, certain information about you is passed between their mobile device and the Blackboard Mobile Web Services Building Block installed on UBlearns server. This works in the same way that user-specific data is handled on a desktop or laptop computer between a web browser and our Blackboard Learn server.

Again, no FERPA-protected, user-specific data passes through the central service that supports Blackboard Mobile Learn.

Support requests for Blackboard Mobile Learn can be sent to:  ublearns@buffalo.edu.

See a demo of how Blackboard Mobile Learn works on eligible mobile devices.