Tigers Bb collaborate presentation 2014

1. Kim Utley (Team Leader)
Shawnya Harris, Robert Maynard,
Brian McIntosh, and Rodger Rossman

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

3. Introduction Video to the Collaborate Platform
http://www.brainshark.com/blackboardinc/vu?pi=zEMzqrsiYz0z0

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. The Main Screen
Audio / Video Panel
Participants Panel
Chat Panel
Content Area:
Whiteboard
Application sharing

9. Audio / Video Panel
If you want to talk to your participants,
You need to press the “TALK” key.
It is recommended that you always run the
audio setup every time you start a session.
If you want your participants to see you,
You need to press the “Video” key.

10. 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.
You can show that you
stepped away from the
conversation for a minute
(when you smell dinner
burning)
Your students can show
that they have a question
by raising their hand.
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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Initial Setup
First 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” button
This Downloads an msi file to your computer.
Run the installer for PC or unzip the download for MAC
Start 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.

20. 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

21. References
• http://oia.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Using_-Best_Practices.pdf
• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/Collabora
teguidance/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

22. References Continued
• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/Collaborateguid
ance/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