New Features Introduced in Collaborate Ultra – June 2020

by / Tuesday, 16 June 2020 / Published in Blackboard, Collaborate Ultra, Teaching with Technology

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Recently, Blackboard introduced the below new features in Collaborate Ultra to improve the user experience and facilitate academic effectiveness.

Improved the create and edit session functionality

A new interface and functionality for creating and editing sessions were introduced to improve the user experience and avoid accidental changes. Now, you can easily switch between tabs of Event Details and Session Settings.

Follow the below steps to create or edit your sessions:

  1. Enter the session name.
  2. Update the Event Details of your session. Note: Guest access is now disabled by default.
  3. Update the Session Settings.
  4. Click on Create.
  5. Click on X icon.

collab_create1

 

Download poll results report

Instructors can now download a session’s Poll report from the session attendance report area. This report includes the poll question and the response for each attendee.

collab_report_poll

Note: Only the results of custom polls will appear in the report. The results of blank polls won’t appear.

Below is an example of a custom poll.

collab_custom_poll

 

Share camera 

In the Share Content panel, the Share Camera tool is introduced under the Primary Content area. The tool allows sharing the camera of the moderator/presenter as a content in the media space area in the session, whether the microphone is ON or not. This is useful for instructors who might be sharing the camera to show live activities in the lab or present using the smartboards in the classes. This would also be useful for sharing a secondary camera if needed.

collab_share_camera   collab_content_camera

 

Whiteboard updates

It’s now easier to select and rotate items on the whiteboard.

collab_whiteboard

 

Session owners and admins can always download recordings

Session owners, course instructors, and administrators can now always download recordings even if the option to download recordings is clear in the session settings. Use the Allow recording downloads check box to let everyone else download the recording.

Collab-download-recording

 

Webinar mode

It’s now possible to create large sessions that support up to 500 attendees. To see the large scale session (250+) option under the session settings, you will need first to complete creating the session. After you click on the Create, the option will appear in the Session Settings tab.

Note: For webinar sessions, breakout groups aren’t available, and by default, all participants can’t share audio, video, post chat messages, or draw on whiteboards and files. Moderators can choose to turn chat on DURING a session. Other participant settings can’t be changed.

If you want a single participant to share audio or video, post chat messages, or draw on whiteboards and files, promote the participant to the presenter role.

collab_webinar1

 

Resources

Blackboard help – Collaborate Ultra Release Notes

Webinar session settings

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