Kim Utley (Team Leader)Shawnya Harris, Robert Maynard,

Brian McIntosh, and Rodger Rossman

is a web conferencing system that allows participants to collaborate online in real time

Introduction Video to the Collaborate Platform

http://www.brainshark.com/blackboardinc/vu?pi=zEMzqrsiYz0z0

Collaborate Capabilities

• Real-time instruction online• Audio & video interaction• One-to-one or one-to-many

• Host Meetings & conferences• Saves travel time and money

• Virtual office hours• Meet one-on-one or in groups

• Tutoring programs• Instructor-to-student• Peer-to-peer• Scheduled sessions or drop into virtual room

Collaborate Capabilities

• Classroom Collaboration• Different locations & cultures• Enriches the learning experience

• Asynchronous Content Development• Record and load in advance• Available if student misses class

• Student/Parent Orientation• For prospective freshmen• Builds a sense of community

• Remote Guest Speakers• Brings remote experts into the classroom

Collaborate Capabilities

• Virtual Field Trips• Affordable for everyone

• Travel the world

• Professional Development• Technological & emotional support for instructors

• Cost effective

• Virtual Help Desk• Remote troubleshooting

• Technician takes over student’s desktop to solve problem

Collaborate Features

• Real-time polling and quizzes

• Application sharing and file transfer

• Text chatting (instant messaging)

• Virtual hand-raising

• Playing of audio and video files

• Interactive whiteboard

• Shared web browsing

• Breakout rooms for small groups

• Recording of sessions for later playback

• Mobile web conferencing

The Main Screen

Audio / Video Panel

Participants Panel

Chat Panel

Content Area:Whiteboard

Application sharing

Audio / Video Panel

If you want to talk to your participants,You need to press the “TALK” key.

If you want your participants to see you,You need to press the “Video” key.

It is recommended that you always run the audio setup every time you start a session.

Participants Panel

You can let everyone know what you are feeling at the moment using the emoticons – for instance: A smiley face will appear next to your name for 30 seconds when you select a smiley face emoticon.

Your students can show that they have a question by raising their hand.

You can show that you stepped away from the conversation for a minute (when you smell dinner burning)

You can see the participants in this panel – currently Mr. Rossman is the only one showing.

The area where everything is “X”d out controls the global capabilities of all participants. For instance: You can shut down the microphones and videos of all participants.

The Content Area Control

The area circled in red in this picture shows the controls for picking the content area.

The first icon is the white board for drawing on the screen.

The Second icon allows you to pick an application, which is already running on your computer, to share with the class.

The Third icon is used to share web pages.

In this picture I clicked on application sharing so you can see a list of applications running on my computer from which to choose.

Loading Content into the Whiteboard

You can load a power point or picture or other content into the white board space. Then you can click through the slides during your presentation.

In this picture I have clicked on “LOAD CONTENT” and the program is allowing me to pick a file to load into the white board space.

Benefits of Collaborate

• Increases retention rates in online courses

• Eliminates geographical barriers

• Builds online communities

• Saves travel costs

• Increases staff productivity

• Accommodates multiple learning styles

• Incorporates technology in the classroom

• Leverages limited teaching resources

• Provides professional development

Moderator Best Practices

• Practice, practice, practice

• Join early

• Facilitate student orientation to the technology

• Engage participants

• Check with participants frequently for understanding

• Prepare content ahead of time

• Have a “producer” in your session

• Smile and your participants will smile with you

• Record your sessions

• Run the Audio Wizard as soon as you join your session

Helpful Tips for using Collaborate

• In an audio conferencing setting, such as a synchronous online lecture class, it is essential for the instructor to maintain control of the responders input

• The instructor should make certain that all students are able to use all the key Collaborate features to be used during a given session

• Moderators can “release” a Participant’s microphone by right-clicking their mouse over the participant’s name in the participant’s window. For web-cams, disable video

• For the start of a session, it is helpful to load a PowerPoint slide into the Whiteboard to describe protocols such hand-raising/speaking, etc.

Helpful Tips for using Collaborate

• Use a poll question to determine whether users can see and hear OK. If not, reduce or remove video-cams to ensure good quality audio for all participants

• It is best to prepare quizzes in advance, and then run them at the appropriate time

• Text-chatting is much quicker to use than e-mailing for distributing files to participants (e.g. a Word document)

• Do not use all capital letters in the text-chat – this can signify anger

• Moderators can choose to record Blackboard Collaborate sessions and make them available for viewing at a later time

Collaborate Pros

• Online delivery method is more accessible for a wide variety of students and locations

• Open and social; encourages interactivity

• Great for office hours and tutoring

• Class collaboration can occur despite geographic differences

Collaborate Cons

• Difficulty for some learners to adapt to this synchronous method

• Challenges among instructors and students in learning software

• Differences in internet services and speeds lessens interactivity

• Cost of software license

Initial SetupFirst step: Turn on the tool!

The tool is turned off by default.

You have to turn on the collaborate room.

In your “Course Management” menu system click on:

“Customization” > “Tool Availability” >

Now click on the box in the “Available” column next to

“Blackboard Collaborate Course Room”

You may simply want to click on every Blackboard collaborate

“available” button in the list.

Scroll to the bottom and click submit.

Now you have a room (or more) to collaborate with your students.

Step two: Acquire the loader!

In your “Course Management” menu system click on: “Course tools” > “Blackboard Collaborate”

First time using the application:Decide which room you want to access and Click on the “Join Room” button.You will be asked to load some software.Click on the “download launcher” buttonThis Downloads an msi file to your computer.Run the installer for PC or unzip the download for MACStart the wizard. Follow the instructions.This only needs to be done one time.

Click on the “Join Room” button again.You will be asked to save the “xxx.COLLAB” file to your computer.Save the file and the run it.Accept the agreement.Set your internet speed.Clicked on OK.Your “collaborate” session will now begin.(Be patient! This takes a little while to establish)Each time you click “JOIN ROOM” your computer will ask you to save an “xxx.collab” file to your computer and run it.You do not need to keep downloading that file.’The next time you download the file, NAME it “Meeting.course_name.collab” and save it to your desktop.After that, when you want to access the course collaborate session, simply double click the “meeting” file on your desktop.If you have multiple classes, you can have multiple “meeting” files to access the tool in each class.

Why Blackboard Collaborate?

In this 2 Minute video we learn why Collaborate is such a great way to synchronously present material over the internet. http://youtu.be/orcs8rtgTuc

References

• http://oia.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Using_-Best_Practices.pdf

• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/Collaborateguidance/Blackboard%20Collaborate%20Good%20Practice%20Guide.pdf

• http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Resources/Best-Practices.aspx

• http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Services/On-Demand-Learning-Center/Web-Conferencing.aspx

• http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Overview.aspx

References Continued

• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/Collaborateguidance/Blackboard%20Collaborate%20Good%20Practice%20Guide.pdf

• http://www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=223df857-4b9f-46b8-94c6-7381f24073c7

• http://www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=4e570572-d82f-46af-b572-8bbba327f994

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=orcs8rtgTuc

• http://www.brainshark.com/blackboardinc/vu?pi=zEMzqrsiYz0z0