Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Download PDF version - Add a Collaborate Ultra Session

To create a Blackboard Ultra activity:

1. On the course home page, click Turn editing on . 
2. In the appropriate topic or week section, click Add an activity or resource. In the resulting pop-up, select Collaborate Ultra from the pop-up menu.
   
3. On the Adding a new External tool page, type a name for your activity and alter any other settings you require then click Save and display
   

4. Next you will see the Blackboard Ultra home, here you can create and manage your sessions and recordings.

5. To create a new session, click Create Session.

6. Complete the new session fields in order to create a session; here you can obtain your guest link to share with external users (only visible after the session has been named). Once completed click Save

7. Once saved, your sessions will show as follows; Blue indicates open active sessions, grey indicates inactive sessions.  

This section includes guide on each feature within the Event Setting section of a session.

Download PDF version - Event Settings

Jump to:

Dial In Setup
Guest Access
Event Details

Dial In feature

Users can join the sessions from their phone anonymously without having to use a browser to join the session.

1. Create a new session
   

2. Copy and paste dial in where users can see.
   

Each session will have a unique phone number and PIN in which participants dial it on their phone to join the session.

Participants view when accessing the blackboard activity

Participants can also join a session through Facetime and other call applications as well by clicking on dial in function and selecting their preferred application.

1. Click on the Blackboard collaborate Activity
2. Click on the session you want to join
   

3. Click on Dial In
   

4. Select your preferred application
   
   

Guest access

Guest access can be enabled to allow guest lecturers, potential students or other users who aren’t directly participating in your course to access your session.

Selecting guest access will generate a link. This link can be copied and pasted to a guest that you want to access your session.

1. Create a new session/edit an existing one 
   

2. Select guest access
    

3. Copy and paste the link where users can use the link

Guest Role can also be controlled to be either participant, presenter or moderator.
This can be down by clicking on the drop-down box of Guest role.

Event Details

Event details allows you to control the start/end day and time, repeat session, early entry before start time for the session and also the description of the event.

1. Create a new session/edit an existing one
   

2. Expand Drop-down list- Event details
   

3. Setup relevant session dates here
   
   Start Date and time – Allows to edit the starting date and time of the session
   End Date and time – Enables you to edit the end date and time of the session
   No end (open session) – Disables the end date
   Repeat session – Repeats the session based on regular intervals that is decided
   Early Entry – allow participants to enter the session before the start time 
   

This section includes guide on each feature within the Session Setting section of a session.

Download PDF version - Session Settings

Jump to:

Allow Recording Downloads
Private Chat
Participant Access Restrictions
Edit a Recurring Session

Allow Recording Downloads

Allowing recording downloads enables users to download recording of the sessions.

1. Create a new session or edit settings of existing session.
   
2. Expand Drop-down list - Session settings.
   
    
3. Select allow recording downloads.
   

Recorded sessions are compressed and saved as MP4s. Recordings includes the activity in the live session. These include audio, any content shared or active speaker video, captions entered during the session or added later by a moderator and Chat messages of the everyone channel. The Breakout group part of the sessions are not recorded.

Private Chat

Participants can only chat with moderator feature

Participants can only chat with moderator feature when selected allows participants of the session to only chat privately with moderators. If not selected, the participants can chat privately with anybody else in the session.

1. Create a new session or edit settings of existing session
   
2. Expand Drop-down list - Session settings
   
    
3. Select Participants can only chat privately with moderators
   

Participants can now only chat privately with moderators.

Participants view during session.

Moderators supervise all private chats feature 

Moderators supervise all private chats feature when selected, moderators are able to monitor all private chat channels.

1. Create a new session or edit settings of existing session
   
2. Expand Drop-down list - Session settings
   
    
3. Select moderators supervise all private chats
   

Moderators view whilst in session.


Participates are alerted when this feature is turned on when engaging into private chat during the session.

Participants Access Restrictions

Moderators can restrict participants access on what they can or cannot do during the session.

1. Create a new session or edit settings of existing session.
   
2. Expand drop down list- session settings.
   
    
3. Unselect 'participants can' options to restrict access.
   

When you unselect;

Share audio: Participants cannot share their audio and only presenters and moderators can.

Share video: Moderators and presenters can only share video.

Post chat messages: Participants cannot post in chat but moderators and presenters can. Participants can see the chat post by moderators and presenters.

Draw on whiteboard and files: Participants are unable to draw on whiteboards and files.

Edit a recurring session

Recurring sessions repeat over a period of time and appear as a folder with individual sessions inside.  Any setting set on the recurring session will be shared with the individual sessions inside it. As such, staff must perform edits to the recurring session itself and will have limited options to edit the individual sessions within it.

When editing recurring sessions, staff may receive an error notice saying that the session end time is in the past. This guide will go over how to edit a recurring session, including what to do when this notice appears:

1. Click the 'Session options' icon beside the recurring session.
   
   Make sure you are clicking the icon for the recurring session 'Folder' and not for any individual sessions inside it.
   
    
2. Click 'Edit recurring session'
   
    
3. The start and end date will display the original date you set this recurring session up with. If the first session has already completed, these dates will be in the past.
   
   To make changes to the recurring session, you will need to change the start date to a current/future date. To keep session dates and times consistent, update the start and end date to the time that the next session will occur.
   
    
4. You can leave repeating settings as is, however, you may want to change the number of occurrences to match the number of classes left after the new date as some classes may have been completed already.
   
    
5. The steps to make a past recurring session editable are completed, make any additional setting changes that you need.
    
6. Click Save. All setting changes will be applied to the recurring sessions.

Internet Browsers

Supported browsers:

• Google Chrome 32 bit version 55 or later (recommended for optimal compatibility)
• Mozilla Firefox 49.0 or later (recommended for optimal compatibility)
• Safari 10 or later 

For Mobile devices (Smartphones/Tablets) it is recommended to use web browser. Please do not use the Blackboard Collaborate app. 

Not Supported:

• Internet Explorer
• Mobile App

Support for Desktop Sharing

To be able to share your desktop, you must be using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and have the Desktop Sharing plugin installed. To install the plugin:

1. Start your Collaborate Ultra session.
2. Click the Share Content icon (+ symbol).
3. Click Share Application.
4. Install the extension by clicking Add to Chrome.

Hardware Requirements

The minimum hardware requirement are a microphone and speakers.

Ensure the platform you will use to access Collaborate has the desired Input and Output devices such as the correct microphone and speakers selected in your System setup.

Cameras are also supported and must be selected in your platform's System setup.
 

Support Resources

For support on using Blackboard Ultra tools, click here.

For support on setting up your video or audio capabilities within Blackboard Ultra, click here.

Known Issues

For known Blackboard Ultra issues, please click here.

Alternatively, you can also check the known issues ton Blackboard's website here.

Support Contacts

For support on setting up Blackboard Ultra please contact External TELT Support.

Email: externalteltsupport@unsw.edu.au

Phone: 02 9385 3331

Download PDF version - Audio and Video set up guide for moderator

Jump to : 

Audio Setup
Video Setup
Setting up Audio and Video Later
Sharing Audio and Video during Session
Dial into a session with your phone

Providing Permissions

The first time you join a Collaborate session, you are asked to provide permission to access your microphone and camera. You need to allow both Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and if prompted, your browser, to access your microphone and/or camera in order to use the voice chat and video sharing features.

1. Join a session for the first time

2. Select Allow when Chrome/Firefox prompts you to give permission for access to use your microphone and camera

If you have denied Blackboard Collaborate Ultra access to your microphone or camera, you can enable it by exiting, re-entering the session and selecting allow for the permission prompts.

In case you have permanently blocked Blackboard Collaborate Ultra from accessing your camera/microphone, you can update the permissions in the permissions page of your browser's settings/preferences menu.

Setting up Audio

The first time you enter a Collaborate session, you will be prompted to test your audio and video sources. If you do not wish to use a microphone or camera, you can skip this step by clicking on the “X” towards the top right of the audio overlay.

1.  Click on the drop-down box and select your preferred microphone
   
   
2. You can test whether the selected microphone is working by speaking into it. If the purple audio bar does not move when you speak, no audio is being picked up by the microphone.
   
   
3. Click “Yes - its working”
   

Setting up Video
 

1. After you confirm your audio source, you will be prompted to set up your video source. If you do not wish to use your camera, you can skip this step by clicking on the “X” icon towards the top right of the video overlay.
   
   Click on the drop-down box and select your preferred camera
   
   

Note: if you blocked permission for the browser to gain access to your camera, no cameras can be used, and no video playback will be shown.

2. Test whether the camera is working by checking if the camera recording is visible on the screen.