Blackboard Collaborate can now be accessed from your mobile device. Simply download the free App from iTunes.

The App allows you and your students to participate in a scheduled Blackboard Collaborate sessionusing your iPhone, iPod or iPad. Although it isn’t as powerful as the web version of Blackboard Collaborate, it still provides access to the most commonly used functions.

Participants can use the mobile App to:

• Listen and talk to participants and moderators
• Interact with the session via the text chat
• View whiteboard content and shared applications
• Raise their hands, respond to polls, or participate in breakout rooms.

How do I connect?

There are two main ways to join a Collaborate session.

• Through your Blackboard unit using the Blackboard mobile App
• Through your Blackboard unit using a web browser (e.g. Safari)

Simply click on the active session link and the BB Collaborate mobile App will automatically open, connecting you to the session.

Want to see it in action?

If you are interested in seeing how the App works then sign up for a free short half hour workshop. Just remember to download the BB Collaborate Mobile app to your iPhone or iPad and bring it with you.

For more information on the application feel free to contact

David Spann
Virtual Classroom Coordinator | Curtin Teaching and Learning
Email | d.spann@curtin.edu.au
Web | LTS WebForm

Blackboard Collaborate is a live web conferencing and virtual classroom platform that allows staff and students to communicate using a real-time learning space. The main features include two-way audio, multipoint video, an interactive whiteboard, application sharing, web tour, polling and session recording.

You can conduct a range of online activities using Blackboard Collaborate including introductory or ice breaker exercises, brainstorming, problem sharing and solving, presentation of research and projects, oral presentations, role plays, debates, mentoring and support.

As the moderator of a Blackboard Collaborate session, you have the ability to upload PowerPoint slides to the Whiteboard and provide explanatory information just as you would in a face-to-face session. However, there are a number of additional tools that you can incorporate into your virtual lessons. You can:

• share and distribute files to your students in real time
• take your students on a web tour
• use the video conferencing facility to talk to the students via webcam
• conduct polls within the session and determine your students’ level of understanding
• share applications on your computer or the entire desktop
• assign your students to groups and allocate them breakout rooms for private discussion
• invite external participants or guest speakers into the session.

You can also record your Blackboard Collaborate sessions for those students who are unable to attend. An important advantage of a recorded session is that the interactivity of the session remains intact. For example, if the moderator shares a file with the class half way through the session, as students reach that point in the recording they will also be presented with the file, which they can download via the recording.

Some advantages of using Blackboard Collaborate

Utilising an online virtual classroom means that staff and students from any location can join in and participate with fellow students, academic staff and guests.

If you facilitate a class online, then as long as you have access to the Internet (and have a headset and microphone); you are not tied to your office on campus.  Need to attend an overseas conference or present a poster but can’t because of your timetable? Consider scheduling a Blackboard Collaborate session instead. Having problems sourcing a good venue for your tutorials? Perhaps Blackboard Collaborate would suit your needs.

The updated interface of Blackboard Collaborate (click thumbnail to view at full size)

What’s New in Blackboard Collaborate?

If you are already familiar with Elluminate Live!, here are the Top 5 things you need to know about the changes in Blackboard Collaborate.

Add Blackboard Collaborate to your Blackboard unit

To enable Blackboard Collaborate in your Blackboard unit, access the Blackboard Collaborate webpage for step by step instructions.

Blackboard Collaborate Sessions now available

If you are keen to start using Blackboard Collaborate, please book into a Blackboard Collaborate online session via our bookings page.

Alternatively, LTS staff will be available to assist you within Blackboard Collaborate every Thursday from 11am – 12noon. Simply drop into the Blackboard Collaborate session and ask questions related to Collaborate, Blackboard, Campus Pack or OLAS.

Want to try it out?

If you’d like to explore Blackboard Collaborate without having to enable it in your Blackboard unit, we have set up a practice area where you can login and investigate all the features of  the virtual classroom.

You can enter as a moderator and practice uploading your lecture notes and handouts, use the whiteboard area or share your applications. Alternatively, you can see what a student will experience by entering as a student.  Simply click on the relevant button below.

More information and help resources

If you need more assistance, you can also access a range of help resources online via Curtin Teaching and Learning Blackboard Collaborate.

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