Learn More About Blackboard Collaborate

Blackboard Collaborate Meetings

Collaborate Meetings is a tool used in some Blackboard courses to hold virtual meetings or classes where you will log in and join a pre-arranged session at a set date and time. Your professor may share a slide presentation or lecture or may hold a session to review prior to a test or to answer questions. Your entire class may join or your professor may invite students in small groups.

Collaborate Meetings may be a link in your Course's Navigation menu. We have added this to THRIVES so that you can check it out. 

Your professor may also make the Course Room available. This room can be used at any time for you to make arrangment to meet with a small group of students for discussion or to work on projects.

1. Course Room
2. Scheduled Sessions

When you click on Collaborate Meetings, Collaborate will load. It is recommended that you use the Chrome browser for PC and Safari for MAC. There is a software package that needs to be uploaded and run on your computer for Collaborate to work. Chrome and Safari do this automatically but if you use another browser, you may need to give permission for this to load. This only needs to be done the first time you load Collaborate so we recommend that you go to the THRIVES Collaborate Meeting and enter the Course Room. This will load the needed software and you can also set up your audio and video in advance.

When you enter a Collaborate Meetings Session, you will see the following screen:

1. Sessions menu tab
2. Your video feed
3. Main Collaborate Window
4. Your tool bar:  Status and Settings Icon, Audio and Video Controls, Raise hand and a fifth icon will appear if there is a poll.
5. Collaborate panel tab.

Collaborate Panel

During a Collaborate Meeting Session, you will want to have your Collaborate Panel open. You open this panel by selecting the purple tab in the bottom right corner.

1. Main panel area. When set to chat, here is where you will see the text chat messages from your professor and classmates.
2. Text chat entry
3. Icon bar. First icon is the chat area, then participants icon which gives a list of the people in the room with you, followed by the share icon used only when you have been asked to present, and the gear icon which opens your settings. In your settings, you can add a profile picture, set up your audio and video and control the notifications.

Participating in Collaborate Meetings

You will want to participate in these session by text chatting with your classmates, asking questions and making comments. You can open the chat area by opening the Collaborate Panel. However, there are more ways to participate.

Ask a question with using audio

To ask a question, first raise your hand and wait for the professor to call on you. You raise your hand using the fourth icon on your tool bar at the bottom of the main window. When you are called on, you can unmute your microphone and turn on your video (if you wish) using the middle icons on the tool bar.

Providing other feedback

You can also provide quick feedback during the meeting using the first icon on the tool bar which opens My status and settings.

1. Your name, click here open your Settings menu
2. You can mark yourself away if you have to step away from the meeting and you can also click here to leave the session
3. Feedback section - you can click on one of the options and this will show an icon beside your name in the participants list available through the Collaborate Panel.

Participate in a poll

Your professor may use polls during the session. When a poll is available, it should pop up on your main window and a fifth icon is added to the tool bar.

1. The question
2. Click on an option to select your answer
3. The fifth poll icon which appears when there is a poll

Accessing Collaborate Meeting Recordings

When you open Collaborate Meetings, you will see the Sessions Menu which shows the Course Room and Scheduled Sessions. If you open the tab on the top left corner, you will be able to access the Recordings Menu. This will show a list of the recording made through Collaborate Meetings for this course. You may be able to download the recording, but this will take a long time and much bandwidth, so it is not recommended. It is better to watch the recording from this menu.

1. Tab to open sessions and recording menus
2. Click here to return to the sessions menu
3. Click here to access the recordings menu
4. The list of available recordings will show in the main window, click on a recording link to start to play

Blackboard Collaborate Self Check

Blackboard Collaborate Video

Get ready to join a Course Session

Participate from a computer

Be sure to join the session 5 – 10 minutes prior to the start.

Setup your audio and video when you first join a session.

Call into the session via telephone if your audio is not working well.

Participate in the session by responding to polls and providing feedback to the leader.

Raise your hand by clicking the hand icon when you have a question or a comment.

Use Chat to send text messages to other participants and the leader during the session.

Remember that running other applications on your computer can slow your connection to the session.

Participate from a Mobile Device

You can participate in a Blackboard Collaborate Ultra session directly from your mobile device (Apple, Android, or Windows) with the free Bb Student app. Within the app, you are able to fully interact during the session:

When participating from a mobile device, you will have the best experience over Wi-Fi. Devices running operating systems prior to iOS 8.4 and Android 4.4 can experience rapid battery drain, so it is recommended that you are fully charged or plugged in.

Now that you are in a session, let's take a quick tour.

Here is a medium length (8 minutes) video that reviews the Session Menu, the Mini Menu and the Collaborate Panel.

There are different types of Attendees in a Collaborate Meeting, please review this Attendees Help File from Blackboard for an explanation of each type.

Finally, it is important to be professional when participating in your Collaborate Meetings, please review this Session Best Practices from Blackboard for some tips.