Learning Technology ServicesA Unit of Learning Information and Technology

University of Wisconsin-Stout © 2016 The Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin

Allowing Access to Unenrolled Participants in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

While students enrolled in your course can easily access the Collaborate Ultra sessions you have created, there may be times when you would like to have someone not enrolled in your course attend a session. This might be a colleague, administrator, or a guest speaker. Allowing outside participants to attend your sessions is easy and does not require you to enroll them in your course.

Start by logging in to your course, going to the Other Tools menu and choosing Collaborate: Ultra from the list.

When your Sessions window opens, choose the session you want to use and click on the Session Options button to the far right of the name of the session name.

After you click the Session Options button a menu will open. Choose “Edit Settings” from the list of options.

When the Session Settings window opens, go to the Guest Role and Guest Link area. Make sure the Guest Role is set to the role you want the outside participants to have when they enter the meeting. Then highlight and copy the entire URL in the Guest Link area.

Learning Technology ServicesA Unit of Learning Information and Technology

University of Wisconsin-Stout © 2016 The Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin2

When you are finished, be sure to click the Save button.

Open your email client and paste the URL you copied into an email and send it to the people you want in the session. Since the URL would allow anyone with Internet access into the session, it is important that the recipients of the email do not share the URL with others.

When it is time for the outside participants to join the session, they should open their Google Chrome browser. Then, they should paste the URL from the email into the address bar and hit the Enter key on their keyboard.

In the window that opens, they should enter their name and then click on the Join Session button.

If you have the Notifications turned on, you will see a message when they enter the meeting.

If they do not have the correct role when they enter the meeting, go to the lower right-hand corner of the screen and click on the purple button with the double arrowhead in it.

This will open the Collaborate panel. When the panel opens, choose the Participants List.

Learning Technology ServicesA Unit of Learning Information and Technology

University of Wisconsin-Stout © 2016 The Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin3

When the Participants List opens, mouse over the name of the person. When the circle with the three dots in it appears, click on it.

This will open the options you have for this participant. Choose the role you would like them to have by clicking on it. In order for them to present material, they must be in either the Presenter or Moderator role. If they will not actually be moderating the session, it is best to put them in the Presenter role.