Blackboard Collaborate Ultra: Virtual Classrooms & Meeting Spaces

Check out this introductory video for a tour of the Collaborate Ultra interface.

These introductory resources will give you a comprehensive overview of the tools and functionality available to instructors and/or session moderators in Blackboard Collaborate

Follow these links to Blackboard's documentation to access step-by-step instructions on how to use the different tools and features in Collaborate as an instructor/session moderator:

Content & Teaching Tools:​

Note: If you are using Google Chrome as your Web browser (recommended), you must download and install the WebRTC browser extension in order to share applications from your computer unto the Whiteboard in Collaborate Ultra. This extension is available for free in the Chrome Web Store:

Session Management Tools:

The Accessibility in Collaborate Ultra page will help you make your sessions more accessible for people with disabilities or other special assistive requirements. 

Moderator access to Collaborate Ultra is available to Otterbein faculty and other employees upon completion of the moderator certification process. Certification and room creation is managed by the Center for Teaching & Learning. See the Moderator Certification section of this LibGuide for more information.
 

Once inside a virtual room, the session moderator can promote participants to different roles. These roles determine the level of control participants have over the system's tools. The participant roles available in Collaborate Ultra are the following:

• Moderator (Usually the room "owner" or session "administrator")
   
• Presenter (An "upgraded" participant with access to additional communication tools, but without administration privileges)
   
• Participant (Regular guest or audience member with basic access to the system's tools, which can be superseded by Presenters or Moderators)
   
• Captioner (A special "guest" with access to captioning and other tools to assist participants with disabilities)

For more information about the specific administrative priveleges and communication tools associated with each role, see the Collaborate Ultra Roles section of Blackboard's Help Web site.

Tip: You can use Collaborate Ultra to bring guest speakers to your class. This article from the ProfHacker Blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education Web site shares some useful pointers for planning that kind of session: