Collaborate Webconferencing Version 12 FAQ

Faculty FAQ (scroll down for Student FAQ)

Overview: Blackboard Collaborate version 12 (formerly called Elluminate Live) is the primary tool for webconferencing at CMC for faculty, staff, and students. Blackboard Collaborate will soon be available to CMC instructors via their Canvas courses, by clicking the button labelled "Blackboard Collaborate." Instructors who lead a web-conference in Collaborate are "moderators" and students who join and have a less powerful role are called "participants." Also, Canvas provides a second webconferencing tool named Big Blue Button which can be accessed inside a Canvas course by clicking the "Conferences" button at left. Big Blue Button is currently available. However, unlike Collaborate, the Big Blue Button webconferencing tool does not offer a recording option.

A note to CMC faculty: we strongly urge you to include your full name, your course's name and/or your course's SYN number in the title of any Collaborate session you create in your Canvas courses. This will greatly facilitate troubleshooting and tech support.

I need an orientation to using Collaborate.
How do I set up a Collaborate (formerly called Elluminate Live) webconference in my Canvas course?
How do I revise or delete an upcoming Collaborate webconference I've already scheduled in my Canvas course?
How do I view a recorded Collaborate webconference in my Canvas course?
How do I delete a recorded Collaborate webconference in my Canvas course?
How do students participate in Collaborate webconferences in Canvas courses?
How do students view recorded Collaborate webconferences in Canvas courses?
How can I track who's viewed my recorded Collaborate webconferences?
Help! I deleted my recorded Collaborate webconference? How can I get it back?
Is it possible to invite other people to join my Collaborate webconference that I've created in my Canvas course?
How do I invite other people to join my Collaborate webconference once it's started?
How can I share a recorded Collaborate webconference that I created in my Canvas course with someone not enrolled in that course?
Collaborate tutorials and more information
Moderator's manual for Collaborate
Collaborate app for iPhone and iPad FAQ and tutorials
Known Issues with the LTI version 1.1 integration of Blackboard Collaborate and Canvas

I need an orientation to using Collaborate.
The Office of Innovations in Teaching and Learning offers a training in Blackboard Collaborate webconferencing each month. All of the professional development trainings offered by the Office of Innovations are free and open to all CMC faculty and staff. The training schedule with WebAdvisor registration information can be found at www.coloradomtn.edu/training. You can also check out this 7 minute orientation video on Collaborate.

How do I set up a Collaborate (formerly called Elluminate Live) webconference in my Canvas course?
If you are an instructor, then you can create Collaborate webconferences inside your Canvas courses. Please click here for illustrated instructions. Students do not have the abilities that instructors do: they cannot set up Collaborate webconferences, edit existing upcoming sessions, or delete recordings of past sessions inside their Canvas courses. If you're an instructor wishing to set up an upcoming Collaborate session, click on the Blackboard Collaborate button in the navigation menu. Then click on the "Create Sessions" tab and choose the date and time of your session, as well as other options. We strongly urge you to include your full name, your course's name and/or your course's SYN number in your session's title. This will greatly facilitate troubleshooting and tech support.

How do I revise or delete an upcoming Collaborate webconference I've already scheduled in my Canvas course?
Only instructors can revise upcoming Collaborate webconferences in their Canvas courses. If you're the course instructor and you wish to modify a Collaborate webconference that you've already scheduled, i.e. that has not yet taken place, then click on the Blackboard Collaborate button in the navigation menu. Then click on the "Sessions" tab and edit the date and time of your session, as well as other options. Please click here for illustrated instructions on how to modify a scheduled session. Please click here for illustrated instructions of how to delete a scheduled session. We strongly urge you to include your full name, your course's name and/or your course's SYN number in your session's title. This will greatly facilitate troubleshooting and tech support.

How do I view a recorded Collaborate webconference in my Canvas course?
Please click here for illustrated instructions. Enter your Canvas course. Click on the Blackboard Collaborate button in the navigation menu. Then click on the "Previously Recorded" tab. Locate the recorded session you wish to view and click on the circular purple button to the left of its name to launch the recording playback.

How do I delete a recorded Collaborate webconference in my Canvas course?
Enter your Canvas course. Click on the Blackboard Collaborate button in the navigation menu. Then click on the "Previously Recorded" tab. Locate the recorded session you wish to view and check the checkbox to the left of its name. Then click on the "Delete Selected" button below the list of recorded sessions. Your recorded session will be deleted and CMC's support staff will not be able to un-delete it, so please delete with care!

How do students participate in Collaborate webconferences in Canvas courses?
After you schedule a Collaborate webconference, students simply enter the course, then click on the Blackboard Collaborate button. Students will not see all the tabs in that Blackboard Collaborate area that instructors see; they will see only the tabs for "Sessions" which lists upcoming scheduled sessions, and "Previously Recorded", which lists the course's recorded sessions. To join a session, students should click on the "Sessions" tab, then select the webconference they wish to join, in an appropriate timeframe (typically starting 30 minutes before the session's start time.) Clicking on the purple circular button to the left of the webconference's name will launch the Collaborate session. It's recommended that students check their browser before attempting to launch a Collaborate session by clicking here.

How do students view recorded Collaborate webconferences in Canvas courses?
After you have held and recorded a Collaborate webconference, students simply enter the course, then click on the Blackboard Collaborate button. Students will not see all the tabs in that Blackboard Collaborate area that instructors see; they will see only the tabs for "Sessions" which lists upcoming scheduled sessions, and "Previously Recorded", which lists the course's recorded sessions. To view a recording, students should click on the "Previously Recorded" tab, then select the webconference they wish to view. Clicking on the purple circular button to the left of the webconference's name will launch the recorded Collaborate session. It's recommended that students check their browser before attempting to launch a Collaborate session, whether live or recorded, by clicking here.

How can I track who's viewed my recorded Collaborate webconferences?
The Collaborate tool as accessed via Canvas does not provide you with the ability to track who has viewed your recorded Collaborate webconferences. Tracking is only available for Collaborate sessions scheduled for you by the IT Department's Service Desk. Please contact the Service Desk to request a Collaborate webconference if you need to track who has viewed your recording.

Help! I deleted my recorded Collaborate webconference? How can I get it back?
If you delete a recording inside a Canvas course, please contact the Service Desk. They must contact Blackboard Collaborate tech support to retrieve any accidentally deleted recordings. (The Service Desk and the Office of Innovations can’t undo deletions of Collaborate recordings--Blackboard Collaborate tech support must handle this.) Please provide the Service Desk with the full name of your recording and the time and date it was recorded to facilitate undeleting your recording. This is why we strongly urge you to always give your Collaborate sessions a name that includes your full name and/or your course's SYN number and full course code. However, Blackboard Collaborate tech support only backs up their server housing all the recordings periodically, not continually. In other words, if you delete your recording immediately after it was made, it’s probably gone forever.

Is it possible to invite other people to join my Collaborate webconference that I've created in my Canvas course?
By default, only the people enrolled in your Canvas course readily enjoy access to your Collaborate webconferences and recordings. Please contact the Service Desk to obtain the links in advance for inviting others to join your live webconferences or view your recordings. Once your session has been launched, you can invite others to join you. Please see this tutorial on how to do so.

How do I invite other people to join my Collaborate webconference once it's started?
By default, only the people enrolled in your Canvas course readily enjoy access to your Collaborate webconferences and recordings. Please contact the Service Desk to obtain the links in advance for inviting others to join your live webconferences or view your recordings. However, once your session has been launched, you can invite others to join you. Please see this tutorial on how to do what's called an "in-session" invitation.

How can I share a recorded Collaborate webconference that I created in my Canvas course with someone not enrolled in that course?
By default, only the people enrolled in your Canvas course readily enjoy access to your Collaborate webconferences and recordings. Please contact the Service Desk to obtain the links for inviting others to join your live webconferences or view your recordings.

Collaborate tutorials and more information
For Collaborate tutorials and more information, please click here to visit Blackboard Collaborate's support website. One note about using this website: as you may recall, instructors who lead a web-conference in Collaborate are "moderators" and students who join and have a less powerful role are called "participants"-- so on this page teachers should scroll down and click “For Moderators” to see tutorials they need. They can click “For Participants” for PDF’s and videos they may wish their students to view. By visiting this page, you can check your browser to make sure it's ready for use with Collaborate.

Moderator's manual for Collaborate
The moderator's manual for Collaborate Version 12 in PDF format can be found online here.

Collaborate app for iPhone and iPad FAQ and tutorials

Click here for a downloadable version of the Collaborate mobile web conferencing user guide.
For a video tutorial covering the iPhone and iPad Collaborate app, that also includes what the instructor sees from the computer Collaborate interface to indicate if a student is joining from a mobile device, please click here.

Here’s what session participants can do in Collaborate Mobile Web Conferencing:

Easily attend from iPhone® and iPad® devices
View Microsoft Office® PowerPoint® slides, whiteboards and application sharing
Listen to the session audio over VOIP
Breakout rooms
Interact with polling, hand raising, emoticons and text chat

And here's what you should know about the limitations of the Collaborate app for iPhone and iPad:

Only participants can log in with the app; moderators cannot use the app to join a session
Recorded sessions cannot be played back via the app
The app is for joining live sessions only (and joining them as a participant, not a moderator)
You'll be able to view a shared application, but cannot control / interact in it
Can view the whiteboard, but can’t draw on it
Can transmit/hear audio, but not video

Known Issues with the LTI version 1.1 integration of Blackboard Collaborate and Canvas
A known issue is fault or defect that has been documented, but not yet fixed. Please click here for a list of known issues with the LTI integration version 1.1 of Blackboard Collaborate webconferencing and Canvas. If you are experiencing an issue, please check your issue against this list.

Student FAQ

Overview: Blackboard Collaborate version 12 (formerly called Elluminate Live) is the primary tool for webconferencing at CMC for faculty, staff, and students. Your instructors may conduct online webconferences using Blackboard Collaborate. You'll access those webconferences via the Canvas course. Teachers participating in a Collaborate webconference will have the leading role of "moderators." Students who join a Collaborate session will have a less powerful role as "participants." Also, Canvas provides a second webconferencing tool named Big Blue Button which can be accessed inside a Canvas course by clicking the "Conferences" button at left. Your instructors may opt to use Big Blue Button for webconferences too.

I need an orientation to using Collaborate.
How do students participate in Collaborate webconferences in their Canvas courses?
How do I view a recorded Collaborate webconference in my Canvas course?
Collaborate tutorials and more information
Collaborate app for iPhone and iPad FAQ and tutorials

I need an orientation to using Collaborate.
Please check out this 7 minute orientation video on Collaborate.

How do students participate in Collaborate webconferences in their Canvas courses?
Enter your Canvas course. Click on the Blackboard Collaborate button in the navigation menu. Then click on the "Previously Recorded" tab. Locate the recorded session you wish to view and click on the circular purple button to the left of its name to launch the recording playback.

Collaborate tutorials and more information
For Collaborate tutorials and more information, please click here to visit Blackboard Collaborate's support website. One note about using this website: as you may recall, instructors who lead a web-conference in Collaborate are "moderators" and students who join and have a less powerful role are called "participants"-- so on this page students should scroll down and click “For Participants” for PDF’s and videos they may need. By visiting this page, you can check your browser to make sure it's ready for use with Collaborate.