Using Blackboard Collaborate WithOUT Blackboard
Blackboard (Bb) Collaborate is a web conferencing tool similar to AdobeConnect. It can be used separately without Bb and it can be embedded within Bb. This training documentation will provide steps to use Bb Collaborate without using a Bb course.
NOTE: Please access Bb Collaborate from the Chrome web browser for a full feature experience.
Access Bb Collaborate
During the pilot, people who want to use a Collaborate session without going through Blackboard will need to request login access. People who currently have login access to Adobe Connect have already been setup in Bb Collaborate.
Request a Login
• Call TAC at x-4822 to submit a ticket to “request a login to Bb Collaborate.” • A task will be created for the E-Learning team.
• One of the E-Learning team members will create a generic username and password in Collaborate.
• The E-Learning team will notify you when your access is ready. Login
After the user is provided their account, they will log into Bb Collaborate. • Login to MyFSU
• Click on the Employee tab
Two Versions
Blackboard is in the process of migrating Bb Learn and Bb Collaborate (Classic) to a newly re-written version called Ultra. One of the features when using Bb Learn Ultra and Bb Collaborate Ultra is to have the option to use the Classic experience or the Ultra Experience. It is a toggle switch between the two versions.
Once you get logged into Bb Collaborate, scroll to the bottom of the page to click the link to go “Back to Collaborate Ultra experience.”
Create Bb Collaborate Sessions
On the left menu, there is a link called “Sessions.” You can create as many sessions as you would like, however, you can only run one session at a time with your login. Other people may access your session (e.g. “Student Group Meetings”) while you are logged into another session (e.g. Meet With Jackie Hughes.)
In the box that shows up on the left of your screen, give your new session a name. There are three sections in which you can enter session details: Event Details, Invitations, and Sessions Settings.
Session Details: Event Details
The Event Details criteria allow you to have a start and an end date. You may not want the session to end; as it may be a recurring meeting you have each week. In this case, you would check the “No End (Open Session)” box.
Otherwise, you can schedule a one-time meeting or you can schedule a repeating meeting (e.g. monthly department meeting).
This is where you would allow guests and set the role that you would like your guests to have.
Session Details: Invitations
This is where you go to invite people to attend your meeting. Click on the “Plus” icon to add people to the invite list. Click on the “Airplane” icon to send an invitation to an individual. Click the “Resent All Invitations” to send all participants a link to the meeting.
Session Details: Session Settings
Use Bb Collaborate
Bb Collaborate is a web conferencing tool similar to AdobeConnect. If you are familiar with AdobeConnect, just know that Bb Collaborate has similar features as Adobe Connect; the key is to find them!
When you go into a Bb Collaborate session, you will see the screen below. At the bottom of the screen is a series of icon buttons, which are described in detail below.
My Settings
Click on the My Settings icon to go into the settings area. Click on the icon to change your profile picture. You can either upload a picture from a file or capture a photo from the web camera. Once you get your profile picture set, click on “Save.”
Audio and Video Settings
Expand the “Audio and Video Settings” to generate a phone number for phone
conferencing. You can also setup your audio and video here if you need to change camera or microphone.
Notification Settings
Expand the “Notification Settings” to turn on closed captioning. You can also turn off the sound or pop-up alerts from attendee activity.
Connect Audio
Click on the “Audio” icon to turn on your audio and your computer will detect the mic hardware on your computer. Sometimes you may see a message at the top of your screen asking you to set up your audio and video hardware. All you have to do is click through the prompts to configure your audio session. Once finished, the “Audio” icon will become live.
Connect Video
through the prompts to configure your audio session. Once finished, the “Video” icon will become live.
You are ready to receive meeting participants. Participant List
Once the meeting participant(s) arrive into your Bb Collaborate session, you will see the number of people in the “Participants List” icon increase.
Click on the icon to see a list of the participants. You can hover on the participants to make them a moderator, presenter, or captioner.
The moderator can see participants connect, if their microphone is turned on, and if they are connecting with good bandwidth.
Raise Hand
Chat
Meeting participants can click on the “Chat” icon to type questions. The moderator will see a number in a red circle indicating the number of chat posts that have been made. This number goes away when the moderator goes into the chat area. Depending on how you have your “Notification Settings” configured in the “My Settings” section, you may hear a ding and see a pop-up when someone posts a chat. The moderator can chat with everyone or have a private chat with the moderators.
Follow the Speaker
More Tools: Start Recording
Bb Collaborate videoconferences can be recorded, or it can be used as a lecture capture tool similar to Tegrity. You can record your meeting/session by clicking on the ellipses button and selecting “Start Recording.”
If you are using it to record a training session or lecture, you may want to share content first and then start recording. When you are finished recording, click on the ellipses button and selecting “Stop Recording.” If you forget to stop the recording, it will stop automatically for you when you exit Bb Collaborate. See the “Recording” section to find where the recording will be saved.
More Tools: Session Settings
Share Content: Documents / Screen
You can also share content with meeting participants by clicking the “Share Content” icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
After clicking the “Share Content” icon, you should have three options if you are using Chrome: “Share Blank Whiteboard,” “Share Application,” and “Share Files”. The “Share Application” feature is only available in Chrome.
Share Content: Share Application
Share Content: Share Files
Select the “Share Files” option. Browse the computer to find the image, PowerPoint or PDF file you want to share. Once it comes up, you need to highlight it (select it) and then click the “Share Now” button.
You will have to select a slide to begin sharing with the meeting participants. The shared file can be marked up with colored pencil, shapes, and text. You can arrow through the pages of the file. When finished, simply click “Stop Sharing.”
At the top of the screen will be a bar with options to arrow through the shared file, to mark up the file with your choice of color, to point to specific items on the shared file, to add text and to add shapes. Please note that these markups are not permanently on the shared file. It is more like an overlay until it is erased or until Bb Collaborate is closed.
Click the “Stop Sharing” link to close the file.
Recordings
If you do not see an older recording on the list, you will have to expand the “Show Recent Recordings” list and select “Show Recordings In A Range” to enter the date range.
Bb Collaborate Helpful Links
BlackboardBlackboard has a short video tutorial that explains how to use Bb Collaborate Ultra: Blackboard Video Tutorial
Atomic Learning
Atomic Learning has some tutorial videos for the older version of Bb Collaborate that might be helpful.
PLEASE NOTE: You will need to log into MyFSU before the following URL will work. Atomic Learn
Ferris State University
Blackboard Ultra Documentation
Bb Collaborate Disclaimers
• Please exclude any confidential or restricted data from being stored on the site because it may not be in a location that is HIPAA and/or FERPA compliant. This is a SAAS (cloud) model and the data from our online conversations are not stored on FSU owned devices.
