Blackboard Collaborate

As flexible learning becomes increasingly sought after as a strategy for teaching and learning, synchronous teaching applications such as Blackboard Collaborate may be employed more here at UBC more frequently. Collaborate is software that creates an online live classroom that enables instructors to hold online classes, meetings, presentations and discussions. In this month’s EKM Workshop we looked at Blackboard Collaborate and the opportunities for its use in the School of Nursing.

Opportunities 

Collaborate is an interactive web teaching tool that can be used in a variety of ways. As a synchronous system,  it offers a live Web-based classroom to allow direct live interaction  with students, and presentation using PowerPoint slides, the web, or multimedia. This live classroom function offers a resource for graduate level classes where we have some students in Vancouver and some students remotely. It supports both audio and videoconferencing. For classes of greater than 20 or so people the bandwidth may be limited for video for all participants,  requiring only audio to be employed for the audience, or use of video sequentially.

During a web conference, the video automatically swaps to the person who is talking. Applications such as Word documents and spreadsheets can be shared through the Collaborate window. There is also a limited polling system within Collaborate, but you can use PollEverywhere as an external web-based poll and just send students to vote at the correct time, and then display the reluts. Websites that are used through Collaborate are fully functional, and users can communicate with audio or by typing messages.

There are a few simple functions and principles that keep online learning such as this smooth and enjoyable for the whole class. For example, use of a microphone on the students computer is recommended for a better experience, and there is a “raise your hand” button so that everyone doesn’t speak at once. Students should also be reminded of how to be respectful in the online classroom and prepared. For example, students should test their connection in advance to avoid issues on the day, and keep their microphone muted if they are somewhere loud, or are likely to disturb the class with other local noise. They should also dedicate time to the class so they are not interrupted by family members, pets, or friends when online. A few simple group-negotiated ground rules usually help here.

Faculty noted that Collaborate could be very useful for recording and storing guest lectures that might be useful for future classes, as the sessions presented are easily recorded  and saved for online access. For example, it is challenging for some guest lecturers to give presentations to students every six weeks in the undergraduate rotation schedule. The guest lecturer could record a presentation once and students could access this presentation online every rotation for that cohort. If the guest lecturer is able to deliver a presentation as a synchronous system, the instructor can give them access to add their own Powerpoints and control the Powerpoints during the presentation.

Instructors can also use the Collaborate system for online office hours/tutorials. For students or faculty who cannot easily come to to campus, or where it is not feasible, online office hours are an effective way to meet students’ needs to discuss topics with an instructor outside of class.

Faculty could also create a “class” for committees or other meetings to reduce the need for physically meeting on campus. This would also be beneficial for project meetings that take place with collaborators from other universities or agencies.

Limitations

Setting up the classroom is not quite as intuitive as we would wish, but with a little practice is simple enough. Support and tutorials are available from UBC elearning and here, and from Blackboard here. If faculty have any issues with the system, they can email  CTLT for support, or email Bernie to take up an issue at the Faculty Connect Advisory Committee.

One limitation is that the system here at UBC is only open to prepare an hour before the scheduled time of the class. If an instructor would like to prepare hours or days beforehand they have to open the session and keep it open to students until the time of commencement. Sending a message to students to inform them that although the Collaborate Classroom is open they only need to sign in for the scheduled class at the specific time avoids confusion. Otherwise instructors can be organized and prepared with Powerpoint presentations, videos, websites, etc ready to be accessed on their desktops. Unfortunately, Collaborate just takes a snapshot of each Powerpoint slide. Therefore if there is a video or animation embedded in the Powerpoint, it will not show. Videos should be accessible via the web or in Connect, and simply launched with a link by the instructor at the correct time..

Blackboard Collaborate works on Macs or PCs and uses JAVA , so requires that JAVA be installed on the users computer. This is freely available and most users have it already installed (Collaborate checks and advises where to download it if it is not present on start up). However, it can inconvenience users when using multiple computers, or for those with limited access rights to install software.

Overall, the Blackboard Collaborate application in Connect is an incredibly valuable resource for teachers, and offers lots of opportunities for creativity. The contribution it can make to flexible learning through web conferencing alone is valuable enough to make taking the time to learn the system worthwhile. Furthermore, time and energy saving applications like online office hours or online group meetings can increase efficiency and flexibility. Give it a try or sign up for a Blackboard introductory webinar or view a demo to get started!