Why integrate Collaborate with the Blackboard Learn LMS (Learning Management System)?
When Collaborate is integrated into Learn, your instructors and students can enjoy an experience that goes beyond simple Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI). Sessions are secure, convenient, and easy to use. And the experience is only going to get better as we continue to build a deeper integration.
Get the best of both worlds with seamless access to sessions that are both secure and open
Students join sessions securely when they join from their course. The students are authenticated through the LMS and provided with secure session links only they can use. At the same time, instructors can use guest links to invite anyone not enrolled in their course, such as a colleague or an external expert for a Q&A session. Access from these guest links can be turned off at any time.
Joining sessions and meeting as a class is made easier and convenient
Students can access Collaborate sessions from directly in a course. Instructors don’t need to send invites. A course room is available for use any time. Instructors don’t have to create new sessions unless they want to. Everyone enrolled in the course automatically has access to the session and with the right level of permissions in the room. They don’t need to sign in again. And instructors can automate attendance tracking.
With the integration, instructors can save time on administration with automated attendance tracking between Collaborate and the course
Instructors decide what makes a student present, late, or absent. Collaborate then does the attendance tracking for them and sends the information to the course Attendance page for review and grading.
Recordings are automatically available for secure access
Once the session’s recording is over, it’s automatically posted in the course. Recordings of the sessions are only available to those enrolled in the course by default. Instructors can choose to grant public access and share a recording link. They can tell at-a-glance who has access to the recordings and edit the permissions any time.
Create breakout groups based on your course groups
Groups created in your Blackboard Learn course are available in your course Collaborate sessions for breakouts. Instructors can use their existing course groups to create breakout groups in advance and save time. Build on existing student collaboration. With this integration, students can stay in the same group without extra work for the instructor. In the Collaborate session, the instructor can also enjoy some flexibility and adjust groups as needed without impacting the groups in Learn. For example, to balance groups among attendees.
The Collaborate and Blackboard Learn groups integration is available on the SaaS deployment. It applies to both experiences:
- Original course experience group sets (not standalone groups)
- Ultra course experience course level groups
Leverage the tool for group collaboration in your Learn course
Work groups inside your course can use Collaborate on their own too if you want it. Finally, give students in your courses their own private group space to meet in their group tools. These group sessions are self-organized and a great place for students to practice presenting online. Instructors don’t need to do anything except make the group space available.
- In Learn Original course experience, Collaborate can be a group tool providing each group with their own private room.
- In Learn Ultra course experience, activate Conversations on Group assignments so students can use discussions and a private Collaborate room. They’re even informed when somebody from their group is already in the room!
A unified data platform
Learn SaaS institutions can leverage Blackboard Data to make sense of the learning data across their tools including Learn and Collaborate. The unified canonical data model of Blackboard Data enables you to access and explore the underlying datasets and get insights that combine information from across your ecosystem.
With the Developer Tier you can create custom queries and analyses based on your institutional data.
With the Reporting Tier you’re provided a set of pre-built reports which show you the learning activity taking place in your Blackboard tools, and help you solve Usage and Adoption questions.
Ready to take the next step? Follow the steps on this page to to set up your integration.