Blackboard Collaborate


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Blackboard Collaborate is an online classroom web-conferencing tool with many features including video, voice, chat and white board.

ATLAS-TLT offers a bridge to Blackboard Collaborate through Learn@Illinois. We do not offer tech support for the Blackboard module itself. For full documentation and troubleshooting, please visit Blackboard Collaborate Support.

Blackboard Collaborate Settings

› Basic Session Details
› Common Module Settings
› Restrict Access
› Activity Completion
› Schedule
› Session Attributes
› Session Grading
› Group Settings

Blackboard Collaborate Module

› Manage Moderators


Basic Session Details

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  1. Use the “Title” text-box to type in a name for the Blackboard Collaborate session that will appear on your course site.
  2. Use the “Session name” text-box to type in the name for your session as it will appear in the Blackboard Collaborate Scheduler.
  3. Use the “Description” box to add a description for your session. This is also a good place to add instructions for your students.
  4. Use the “Session begins” dropdown boxes to choose the beginning date and time of your session.
  5. Use the “Session ends” dropdown boxes to choose the ending date and time of your session.

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Common Module Settings

  1. Choose whether or not to hide or show the Assignment module using the “Visible” dropdown box.
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  3. If desired, type a number into the “ID number” text box. Setting an ID number provides a way of identifying the activity for grade calculation purposes.
  4. Choose a group mode for the activity. The different group modes are described below:
    No groups – Students will not be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students will see the contributions of every class member.
    Separate groups – Students will be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students can only contribute to their group and only view their group’s contributions.
    Visible groups – Students will be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students will see the contributions of every class member, but they can only contribute to their group.
  5. Use the “Grouping” dropdown list to determine the grouping for the activity. See Groups and Groupings for more information.
  6. To add access restrictions to certain group/grouping, click on the “Add group/grouping access restriction” button. Then a restriction option for the selected grouping will be added to “Access restrictions” under “Restrict access” section.
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Restrict Access

Use the restrict Access settings to control when and how students have access to the activity. See Restricting Access to Content for more information.

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Activity Completion

Use the Activity Completion settings to track the completion of the activity. For more information, see Activity Completion.

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Schedule

  1. instructor-content-activity-blackboard-03Use the “Early session entry” to determine how many minutes users can join the session before its scheduled start-time.
  2. Check the “Display early session entry time” box to let users know how early they can join the session before it starts.

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Session Attributes

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  1. Use the “Recording mode” dropdown to choose how you want to record the session. The descriptions for each recording mode are below:

    Manual – A chairperson must manually start the recording
    Automatic – The recording starts automatically when the session starts
    Disabled – The session is not recorded

  2. Use the “Max talkers” dropdown to determine how many participants can be talking into their microphones at the same time during your session.
  3. If you want to create a private session, check the “Restrict session Participants” box so that only invited participants can join the session.
    This option does not apply if you are using Groups in your Blackboard Collaborate activity.
  4. Check the “Enable session teleconferencing” box if you want participants to be able to dial in to the session by phone. The phone number and PIN for the session will display in the Blackboard Collaborate Module.

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Session Grading

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  1. Use the “Grade this session” checkbox to determine whether the Blackboard Collaborate session will appear in the gradebook.
  2. If you’ve chosen to grade the session, use the “Grade attendance” dropdown menu to determine how the session will be graded. The descriptions are below:

    None – Attendance for the session is not tracked automatically, but the session will appear in the Gradebook where you will be able to input text feedback.
    Scale – If a Student attends the session, they will be assigned the best grade in the selected scale.
    Point – If a Student attends the session, they will be assigned the full numerical grade selected for this session.

    See Grading Activities for more information.

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Group Settings

These settings are only available if you’ve changed the group mode of the activity to Separate Groups or Visible Groups. See Change the Group Mode of an Activity or Resource for more information.

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  1. When using a group mode in Blackboard Collaborate, an individual session is created for each group that is setup for the course.
  2. Use the “Custom group session name” to choose a name for each session. The descriptions are below:
    None – The session name does not change for each group.
    Only Group Name – The group name is the session name for each group.
    Append group name to title – The group name is added at the end of the session name for each group.
  3. Use the “Prefix description with group name” checkbox to add the group name at the beginning of the session description for each group.

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Preload a Whiteboard or Plan file

  1. In the “Preload file” row, click on the plus icon.
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  2. choosefileClick on “Choose File” to pick the file that your Blackboard Collaborate session will be preloaded with. Accepted file types are .wbd, .wbp, .elp, and .elpx.
  3. After choosing a file, click “Upload this file”.
  4. Click “Cancel” to return to the Blackboard Collaborate module.
  5. Once you’ve added a preload file, the plus icon in the module will turn into an X icon. Click the X icon to remove the preload file.
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Manage Moderators

  1. Scroll down to the “Session Moderators and Participants” box and click on the “Add/Remove Moderators” link.
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  2. The current moderators for your session will be listed on the left. Potential moderators are listed on the right.
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  3. Highlight the names of the moderators you want to add or remove, then click on the “Add Moderator(s) and “Remove Moderator(s)” buttons at the bottom.

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Add an Activity or Resource

  1. In the upper right, click on the green button that says “Turn editing on”.
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  2. Locate the section where you want to add an activity or resource. At the bottom of the section, click on the button that says “Add an activity or resource”
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  3. A window will pop up with a list of activities and resources. When you click on one of the items in the left column, a description will appear in the right column. Choose the activity or resource you want and click the “Add” button.
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Move or Arrange an Activity or Resource

To rearrange the order of an activity or resource:

  1. Click on the compass arrows icon next to the title of the activity or resource you want to move and hold down the mouse button.
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  2. Drag the section up or down to move it to a new location.
  3. Release the mouse button.

To add or remove an indentation to an activity or resource:

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the left of the activity or resource.
  2. From the drop-down list, choose “Move right” or “Move left” next to the arrow icons.
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Rename an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the pen icon to the right of the activity or resource’s name.
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  2. Type in a new name for the activity or resource
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  3. Press enter to save or escape to cancel.

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Edit the Settings of an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of the activity or resource.
  2. From the dropdown list, choose “Edit settings” next to the gear icon to hide the activity or resource.
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Hide or Show an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of the activity or resource.
  2. From the dropdown list, choose “Hide” next to the eye icon to hide the activity or resource.
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  3. Once the activity or resource has been hidden, return to the “Edit” menu and choose “Show” to show it again.
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Copy an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of the activity or resource.
  2. From the dropdown list, choose “Duplicate” next to the pages icon.
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Allow a Specific User Certain Permissions When Using an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of the activity or resource.
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  2. From the dropdown list, choose “Assign roles” next to the user icon.
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  3. Choose the type of roll you want to assign to a specific user. The details of that role are listed in the “Description” column.
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  4. Choose the specific user from your list of potential users on the right. Click the arrow buttons to add or remove them to the “Existing Users” list on the left. You can also use the search boxes at the bottom to find a specific user.
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  5. The names in the “Existing Users” list will be assigned the role you chose on the previous page. When you’re finished, you can choose another roll to add from the drop-down list at the bottom, or you can return to the previous page by clicking on “Back to the list of all roles”.
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Delete an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of the activity or resource.
  2. From the dropdown list, choose “Delete” next to the X icon.
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Change the Group Mode of an Activity or Resource

  1. Click on the user icon next to the “Edit” button of the activity or resource.
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  2. Every time you click, the icon will change. Each icon represents a different group mode. The different group modes are described below:

    nogroupNo groups – Students will not be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students will see the contributions of every class member.

    separategroupSeparate groups – Students will be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students can only contribute to their group and only view their group’s contributions.

    instructor-content-activities-14Visible groups – Students will be separated into groups for the activity. In interactive activities, students will see the contributions of every class member, but they can only contribute to their group.

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