Recordings

Overview

Moderators can record a session to play later or save for archival purposes. You can provide a link to the recording for those who missed or want to review the session.

Users may have opportunities to interact with a recording. Users may receive a file through the file transfer facility, view a quiz, or navigate to web pages in web tour.

Users cannot watch interactive recordings on mobile devices. However, recordings can be converted to MP3 and MP4 formats and viewed on mobile devices. Not all institutions support conversion of recordings to MP3 and MP4 formats. Contact your administrator for details.

All activity that occurs in the main room of a session is recorded, except for private chat messages, the timer, and personal notes. Anything that occurs in a breakout room is not recorded.

You can start, stop, pause, and resume recording at any time during a session. You also can erase a recording and start over.

Session creators can set sessions to record automatically. Then, you cannot start, stop, or erase the recording. Contact your administrator if you want to control the recording of your session.

Moderators can use all of the available recording features. Participants cannot record sessions, but they can play them.

Multi-Camera Video in Recordings

If you record a session with multiple simultaneous cameras, you cannot choose whose video stream appears in the primary video display. By default, the video stream of the current speaker appears. However, if you enabled Make Video Follow Moderator Focus for the live session, then your video stream appears in the primary video display.

Record Sessions

When you launch a new session that is not configured to record automatically, you are prompted to record the session in a pop-up window. Click Start or Close.

All moderators receive the reminder window. When you dismiss the window, you dismiss it only for yourself.

To disable this reminder for future sessions, select the Don't remind me again check box. You can enable the reminder for future sessions in the Preferences window.

Start a Recording

To start recording your session or resume a stopped recording, click Record on the collaboration toolbar.

Session attendees are alerted a session is being recorded with an audible notification, "Recording started." Attendees who join the session after recording has started will hear, "Recording in progress." However, if attendees are using the telephone for audio communications, they will not hear the notification. You can turn off audible notifications.

For moderators, Record changes to Recording.

Click Recording to stop the recording the session. You can start and stop the recording as many times as you want. You do not need to stop and start recording your session to prevent periods of inactivity from being recorded. Blackboard Collaborate automatically condenses periods of inactivity to optimize the recording length.

For participants, a recording icon appears on the collaboration toolbar.

Erase Recordings

At any time in a session, you can erase the content of the recording up to that point. From the Tools menu, point to Recorder and click Erase Recording. You must confirm that you want to erase the recording.

The new recording will contain only the activity that took place after you erased the earlier recording.

Play Recordings