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Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

blackboard collaborate ultra

Blackboard Collaborate is built specifically for live, multi-media, and many-to-many collaboration. Whether you have two students—or two hundred—Blackboard Collaborate enables world-class communication, collaboration, and education that transforms teaching and learning. Using Collaborate Ultra meets the 4C’s of 21s Century Learning: Critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity (view graphicnew window).

Whether you are new to Collaborate, or have used Collaborate for several years, you will find the Ultra experience easy to use.

Blackboard Collaborate offers live audio/video, break-out discussions, and archived class sessions. Other uses include virtual office hours, tutoring, department and administrative meetings, advising, and professional development workshops.

Advantages of Blackboard Collaborate Ultra include gallery view, student accessible recordings, and no need for download – it's a web-based application that is integrated with Blackboard, MC’s chosen Learning Management System.   

Take the Ultra Experience Tour! Blackboard Collaborate with the Ultra Experience User Interface Tournew window. Find QuickStart guide in Resource section.

Collaborate Ultra - Discontinued July 1, 2024

After Blackboard was acquired by Anthology in 2021, the parent company decided a year later that it was going to sell Blackboard Collaborate to Class Technologies. Montgomery College faculty have been supporters and users of Collaborate for the better part of the decade; while Collaborate has a strong core of regular users, many of MC's faculty have migrated to Zoom since the Covid-19 pandemic. With our Class Collaborate Ultra contract expiring on June 30,2024, we are asking faculty to migrate to Zoom. Zoom has added a number of new features such as notes, clip and surveys to go along with the whiteboard and online polls. It is much more user friendly for the classroom environment than it was just a few years ago.

All spring courses will have access to the Collaborate tool through the end of term.

  • Starting in summer 1 session 2024, you will need to use alternate tools for video/audio web-conferencing and collaboration, such as Zoom or MS Teams.
  • All Collaborate recordings will be inaccessible after June 01, 2024. The vendor will permanently delete all recordings after the cessation of the contract.
  • If you have any recordings that you wish to keep, you must download the recordings. Please, do not download to Blackboard. Recordings can be downloaded and saved to Yuja, YouTube, OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox, or MS Teams and linked to courses
  • If you used Collaborate to record lectures that you wish to re-use, make sure there are no students in the recording. Recordings cannot be used if there are students from a previous course section in the recorded session videos (due to federal privacy laws that ensure no identifiable student information can be gained in a different course).
  • Downloading and saving Collaborate sessions does take some time so please do not wait to get started.

Downloading recordings:

Open the Recordings and click on the Recording Options menu to the right of the session you want to view. Then click Download.

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like assistance, please do not hesitate to contact dl@montgomerycollege.edu.

The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra tool is integrated into Blackboard, accessible on the left-hand course menu of your course site.  With Collaborate Ultra, there is nothing to install; everything operates from the browser. Simply Create a Session to get started. Watch How Do I Create a Collaborate Session?new window video tutorial for more information.

If you want to create a Blackboard Collaborate session for your course or department meeting outside of Blackboard or a related course, please follow the steps below to request a link.

  1. Pick a time and date for your event.
  2. Send a request to Michael Mills to create a Blackboard session for you.
  3. Make this request at least 48 hours before your meeting. A meeting room will be created. Your event will be added to the Blackboard Collaborate Calendar.
  4. You will receive a Blackboard Collaborate Ultra email indicating the date, time, and duration of the meeting along with a link to your session. Check to make sure it is accurate. Forward this email to all participants.

Contact the instructional designer on your campus if you need technical support.

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is an easy to use videoconferencing tool. For a quickstart without training, follow the guidance and reference the supporting videos below:

  1. Check to make sure you are running the latest version of Internet Explorer or Firefox.
  2. Log into the Blackboard Collaborate site through the link given in your email. If you are new to Blackboard Collaborate, we would recommend logging in 30 minutes or one hour before the session begins to allow you time to set up your computer and make sure everything works.
  3. Webcam and headset, or microphone are optional, but plug them in and test to make sure they are functional.

Guide

  1. View the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Experience for Moderators Quickstart Guide (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .
  2. Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Experience Tour videonew window 
  • Attendance - new windowUltra allows you to manage your attendees (participants, guests, presenters), choose to share attendance with Blackboard, and access detailed reports.
  • Audio/Videonew window - Automatic prompts are presented as you enter the session to set audio and video. The microphone is active after you turn it on, but you get to preview your video before others can see you.  Use the microphone and camera icons along the bottom of the panel.
  • Breakout groupsnew window – Ultra facilitates group collaboration with settings during the session.
  • Camera Sharingnew window - You can share a secondary camera to display live or prerecorded content, while maintaining your video view as moderator.
  • Chatnew window - Attendees can chat with moderator, everyone, or privately.
  • Closed Captioningnew window - Closed captioning requires the role of a captioner to type for display to select students.
  • File sharingnew window - Faculty can share files to any or all breakout.
  • Gallery Viewnew window - Pick up visual cues and see student performance.
  • Pollingnew window - Type or paste questions for polling during the session using multiple choice or closed answer questions.
  • PowerPoint Sharingnew window – Ultra allows you to share (present) your PowerPoint or PDF presentations.
  • Recording new window- Record your session and notify students.
  • Screen Sharingnew window - Share content on your desktop, applications from your browser or videos from webpages.
  • Settings for Interacting with Studentsnew window - Ultra allows you to choose student permissions for chat, audio, video. 
  • Session Scheduling  [ Video new window| Document Tutorial new window] - Set sessions in Ultra from within Blackboard for students, guests and presenters. Facilitate easy access to sessions using Tool Link in your Blackboard Course. 
  • Whiteboard [ Video - Document Tutorial (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) ] - Annotate content and collaborate with students using the many features of the whiteboard from a blank canvass to a PDF file. 

Holding Virtual Classes with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom 

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom are convenient and reliable options available in every Blackboard course and independently to help faculty and guest presenters connect online with students for a virtual lesson or virtual office hours. In this two hour workshop, you will learn about the useful conferencing features that you can use right away to moderate a class in real time. You will also learn how to apply best practices for teaching online synchronously to conduct successful virtual meetings, breakout groups/rooms, or recordings. Ultra updates and video conferencing resources for all MC platforms will also be provided.  

Outcomes

  1. Actively participate in a synchronous session and engage using synchronous video conferencing tools as a participant. 
  2. Demonstrate and describe the use of moderator and host conferencing tools to present content synchronously. 
  3. Describe the moderator user interface of two popular video conferencing systems available in Blackboard to lecture and meet with your students virtually.
  4. Identify at least three best practices for moderating a virtual classroom and interacting with students.

Register in Workday.

 

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