Having spent some time this weekend fiddling with a Blackboard client on a Mac the news is bad.

Rasperries for blackboard! -Zero support for Apple’s browser. Must use Firefox.
-I had headphone/mic connectivity issues of the highest (non-functioning) order with the Java client. It seems to me it’s java runtime issue as the devices appear, but don’t actually connect to the OS.

Regarding headphone choices:
-Get plain-vanilla heaphones that plug into the Mac’s microphone, headphone ports.

I made the mistake of buying a set of higher-priced Plantronics headphones with the USB dongle provided as an ‘enhancer’ of some non-specific kind only to discover a number of problems.
-The way OSX works one needs to switch input/output options in the control panel when using the USB dongle. Fiddley, very fiddlely.
-The java client sees the devices. But it doesn’t work.

Blackboard appears to be Mac-hostile in the worst of all ways. That over-promised Marketing, “It’s Java and Java runs everywhere” speech the PHB’s get before they give money to Blackboard only to find out later the dozen users with Mac’s are riddled with problems. Since it’s only a dozen users, it sucks to be you.

I will test with Linux and see if it’s any better over the next few weeks.