Blackboard Collaborate™ for Frostburg State University Faculty Librarians

Dr. Seán Henry, Aug. 20, 2014

What Collaborate™ can do for us: Empower library instruction for online

courses Record instruction & training sessions for

on-demand viewing Facilitate webconferencing, online

consortial meetings, or even search committee interviews

Covered in this presentation: Collaborate screen layout Functionalities (described by screen

layout feature) Participant permissions Setting up a Collaborate Session

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Audio/Video Panel

• Press “Talk” to use mic (USB headset recommended)

• Additionally press “Video” if using webcam

• Video box can be minimized

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Participants Panel

• See who is in the session• Grant permissions to

participants• Elicit participant

responses (raise hand, polling, emoticons, etc.)

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Chat Panel

Real time chat, Q & A among participants, plus a private channel between multiple moderators

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Tools Menu

• Application Sharing: share screen from specific application or share entire desktop

• Audio : adjust microphone and speaker settings

• Moderator : grant or take away moderator privileges (easier to do from participant panel)

• Recorder (appears with moderator permissions): Stop/start recording of session

• Telephony – access telephone number of session to distribute to participants who need to call in

• Video – adjust your video settings

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Content Area

The main screen for sharing and displaying content via three modes (toggled between three buttons circled above):• Whiteboard• Application Sharing• Web Tour

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Whiteboard

Whiteboard (default): A nice area to load PowerPoints, and you can even doodle on them in real time on the screen using the circled tools!

Collaborate Screen Layout: Application Sharing

Application Sharing permits on-screen sharing of one particular app (MS Word, Firefox browser, etc.) or your entire computer desktop for full functionality (recommended for library instruction)

Application Sharing may require resizing screens for best visibility by participants, especially if the Collaborate side panels are not minimized

Collaborate™ Screen Layout: Web Tour

Web Tour fills the Content Area nicely, but is not recommended for library instruction … Web Tour allows participants to interactively share their own webpages and follow the moderator’s links, but not if any links open in new browser windows or tabs!

Participant Permissions

As Moderator, it’s easy to grant permissions to participants by right-clicking their names on the participants panel and bringing up the menu! You can:

• Give full moderator privileges, or• permissions to specific features like

whiteboard or application sharing• Mute participants whose microphones are

creating fuzzy feedback, etc.

Two ways to set up a Collaborate™ session:

Request a session from the FSU website: http://www.frostburg.edu/bbcollab/requestform/

Create a session inside your Blackboard Learn classroomPros and Cons of both discussed on the

upcoming final slides! BTW, did I mention that a Collaborate Session lasts 365 days?

Request a Collaborate™ session via Online Form

Pros for requesting a Collaborate session via http://www.frostburg.edu/bbcollab/requestform/: Ideal for one-shot library instruction for online

classes, flexible Web conferencing, or recording training sessions for on-demand viewing

No need to have a Blackboard Learn classroom Con:

Open to anybody with link access (less secure)

Request a Collaborate™ session via Blackboard Learn:

Pros: Collaborate sessions can be set up autonomously Moderator permissions for participants can be set up in advance Session more secure

Cons: Must have a Blackboard Learn Classroom Collaborate participants restricted only to

students/instructors/teaching assistants enrolled in the Blackboard Learn classroom or guests invited privately by email

Questions?

Contact Seán at shenry@frostburg.edu Consult campus Collaborate support at

http://www.frostburg.edu/bbcollab/