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Find Your Way Around

Last updated: September 12, 2022.

Get to know your way around Collaborate. We’ve organized everything into three convenient areas: a content presentation area, the Session menu, and a Collaborate panel.

Content presentation area

The content presentation area, media space, or main stage, in Collaborate is where the content of the session is displayed. The size of this space is maximized to create an inherent full-screen experience at any screen size.

Tip: Select the picture-in-picture window to switch your focus. Your main screen becomes the picture-in-picture and the picture-in-picture becomes the main screen.

If there is no shared content, you’ll see attendee profiles and video in a grid view. You can switch between a grid view and a view that follows the speaker.

With the follow-the-speaker view, the focus moves to the current speaker as the discussion unfolds.

Tip: Collaborate switches to follow-the-speaker view automatically when there are more than five attendees.

Grid view

Follow the speaker view

Content presentation tools

Tools that appear in the content presentation area relate directly to what is happening in the session at that moment. Tools also depend on the permissions moderators set.

Tool Description
Audio Turn your audio on. Lines through the microphone icon means that it is turned off. Select Share Audio to turn it on.

With your keyboard, press Alt + M to turn your microphone on and off.

Video Turn your video on. Lines through the camera icon means that it is turned off. Select Share Video to turn it on.

With your keyboard, press Alt + C to turn your camera on and off.

Hand raise Raise your hand to answer a question or get another moderator’s attention. Select Raise Hand.

With your keyboard, press Alt + H.

Collaborate panel Open the Collaborate panel.
Session menu Open the Session menu.
Follow the speaker view Switch to the follow-the-speaker view.
Grid view Switch to the grid view.
Picture-in-picture Change the focus of your screen. If shared content is on your main screen, switch to watching the speaker. Select the picture-in-picture to bring that content to your main screen.
Status Show your status as away. Point to the green checkmark by your avatar image and select Set as Away. Select I’m back! when you return.

You can also update your status to give feedback during the session.

Session menu

The Session menu opens a collection of high level session actions and information. Open it using the Session menu button at the top left of the screen.

Session menu tools

Tools and features you use only once or twice during a session are conveniently grouped here.

Tool Description
Start a recording Moderators can start recording the session from the Session menu.
Use your phone Get a dial-in number and unique PIN to use your phone for audio during a session.
Report an issue Report an issue with the session.
Help Go to Class Collaborate help on help.blackboard.com.
Learn how to use Collaborate Open tutorials on how to use Collaborate.
Leave session Exit the session and complete a quick survey to tell us about your experience.
Close Close the Session menu.

Collaborate panel

The Collaborate panel takes your session experience to the next level. You now have a single space to go to engage other attendees with all the great collaborate tools

Collaborate panel tools

Tool Description
Chat Chat with everyone in the session. Open the Collaborate panel and select Open Chat.

The moderator can turn chat off.

The emoji pack for Collaborate supports diversified emojis and Unicode 8 characters.

Use one of five supported skin tones on any human emoji. Add underscore, tone, and the supported tone number (1 through 5) to your emoji when typing. Don’t forget the colons on either end of your emoji text.

Example: :wave_tone5:

Collaborate’s chat history only has 50 messages displayed at any given time.

Attendees panel View the list of attendees. Open the Collaborate panel and Select Open Attendees List.
Share Content Moderators and presenters can share a blank whiteboard, an application, PDFs, PowerPoint® presentations, and images in GIF, JPEG and PNG formats.
My Settings Add a profile image, set up your audio and video and your notifications. Open the Collaborate panel and select My Settings. You can’t change your name or email address used.
Close Close the Collaborate panel.
Share Whiteboard Moderators and presenters can share a blank whiteboard from the Share Content panel.
Share application Moderators and presenters can share their entire desktop or a single open application from the Share Content panel.
Share files Moderators and presenters can share PDFs, PowerPoint® presentations, and images in GIF, JPEG and PNG formats.
Polling Moderators can start and run polls during a session.
Breakout groups Moderators can start and run breakout groups.
Options Open the attendee options menu.

Navigate Collaborate with assistive technology

More on how to navigate Collaborate with assistive technology