Quickstart

Adding a tool link to the content area

1. From the content area select Tools and More Tools and then Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
2. By default the link name is Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
3. Select Submit and it will now appear in the content area in your course.

PLEASE NOTE:

When you add Blackboard Collaborate to your course content, it links to the tool, not a specific session. Help your students find the session you want them to join. Tell them the session name in the link name or content editor.

Please follow the instructions on how to create a link for students:

Learn Collaborate Ultra integration guide (2.48 MB PDF)

1. Turn editing on by clicking on Edit Mode. You will find the Edit Mode button on the top right side of the screen. 
2. In Edit Mode, click on the Course tools menu (left side of interface) and choose Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
3. Click on the Create Session button on the top left of the screen.
4. In New Session type an appropriate name that will be meaningful to the students for this event. “Week 1 Tutorial”, for example.
5.  Join Session Button is how you join the session.
6. Anonymous Dial-in can be used for people to access the session via their phone, they will appear anonymous in the session.  
7. Tick Guest Access as this allows users external to Learn and the University to join the session. You can change the Guest Roleto Presenters, Moderators or Participants.
8. Set the date and time the session starts and ends. You can choose to keep a session open or repeat and set Early Session Entry. This allows participants of the session access to the event up to 60 minutes beforehand.
9. Type a detailed description of the meeting. This helps students prepare for the session.
10. Open Session Settings and decide:
    1. Default Role for students entering the session
    2. If students can Download recordings
    3. Anonymise chat messages in the recordings
    4. Share profile pictures
    5. Use audio, video, chat, and editing tools
    6. Allow users to join via telephone
    7. Participants can only chat privately with moderators
    8. Supervise the private chat
    9. Large Scale Session for  250+ attendees
    10. Profanity filter - This is primarily intended for primary and secondary school use, please see more information here before you choose this option.
11. Select Save
12. The Session will now appear in the All Upcoming Sessions list

Please follow the instructions on how to add a Collaborate session to your Blackboard Learn Course:

Learn Collaborate Ultra integration guide (2.48 MB PDF)

Remember to add a link to Collaborate in a content area on Learn so that students can access it.

Navigate to your course in Learn

Find the Collaborate Sessions.

Click on the Menu Button and select Recordings. Here you will see all recorded sessions.

You can change the filter to either see "Recent Recordings" (last 30 days) or "Recordings in Range".

Select your recording and then click on the Recording Options. From here Instructors can Watch, Download, edit the name of your recording in Recording settings, delete, copy link to the recording and Add caption source.

Students will be able to watch the recording in the browser and possibly download as an MP4 if this options has been chosen by the Instructor.

Please follow the instructions on how to find your Collaborate Recordings in your Blackboard Learn Course:

Learn Collaborate Ultra integration guide (2.48 MB PDF)

Related links:

Recording and Storage Management of Collaborate sessions

 View Session reports (how to view attendance and poll results in Learn and Moodle)

The Course Room

Each Learn course has a ready-made session by default. It can be left unlocked for anyone in the course to join the session at any time and provides a convenient room for impromptu meetings or unsupervised student meetings. You can choose to lock the course room to prevent confusion with scheduled sessions. More information about the course room is available on Blackboard Help.

Groups

It is not currently possible to restrict access to the Collaborate tool. Once students have been given access to the Collaborate tool, they will have access to all rooms and all recordings. Use meaningful titles to prevent students from accessing the wrong sessions.

Student-led sessions

By default, students in your course will enter Collaborate sessions as participants. You can give students moderator or presenter permissions in the following ways:

• Promote attendees during the session from the Attendees Panel
• Start breakout groups to facilitate small group collaboration. Everyone assigned to a group will have moderator permission irrespective of the role they joined the session with.
• Change the Default Attendee Role in Session Settings. Anyone entering the session will be assigned your chosen default role.
• Create groups in the course and make Collaborate one of the tools available to each group. Group members will have presenter permission.

Securing your session

The Collaborate integration in our VLEs (Learn and Moodle) provide the most secure access to sessions because students have to be enrolled on the course in order to gain access to the Collaborate tool. Do not enable guest access to your session unless it is necessary. For more information visit our Collaborate Security webpage  or Blackboard’s Help page.