Collaborate Ultra

Get started: Choose a building block

Your users can join a Collaborate with the Ultra experience session from their Blackboard Learn course. They don't need to install Java or download and open Java-reliant files to their devices. The session opens in a new window or tab, depending on their browser settings.

You have two choices to get started with Collaborate with the Ultra experience in Blackboard Learn 9.1. There are two building blocks with similar but distinct functions:

• Blackboard Collaborate: With this building block, instructors have one open session dedicated to their course, known as the course room. The course room lasts the life of the course. They can turn student access to the room off, but they can't create new sessions.

  With the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block, you can use Collaborate with the Original experience or Collaborate with the Ultra experience for the course room. You control which courses use each experience.

  The Blackboard Collaborate Building Block is available for Blackboard Learn SP 12 and higher, but older versions only support Collaborate with the Original experience. To get the building block that contains Collaborate with the Ultra experience, you'll need Blackboard Learn 9.1 October 2014 and higher.

  More information on the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block is available on Behind the Blackboard (available in English only)

• Blackboard Collaborate Ultra: With the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block, instructors have both a dedicated course room and the ability to schedule as many new sessions as they want. The room lasts the life of the course and can be turned off.

  The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block uses Learning Tools Interoperability^® (LTI) compliant credentials.

  More on requesting credentials

  This building block is bundled with Blackboard Learn 9.1 October 2014 and later, and the upgrade path from one version to the next is very simple.

What's the difference?

Here are some essential details to keep in mind:

• The Blackboard Collaborate Building Block offers you the choice to use Collaborate with the Original experience OR Collaborate with the Ultra experience.
  • Collaborate with the Original experience is the older, enterprise version of the software.
  • Collaborate with the Ultra experience is the more modern, browser-based version.
• The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block only lets you use Collaborate with the Ultra experience. The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block uses Learning Tools Interoperability^® (LTI) compliant credentials, but this is different from using an LTI integration. This building block allows you to configure the availability of Collaborate with the Ultra experience directly within the Administrator Panel.
• A Blackboard Collaborate integration is also available through an LTI integration, without having to install a building block. The LTI integration requires you to link Blackboard Learn to the Collaborate Session Administration System, an external portal where you schedule and manage sessions.

Looking for information on how to use Blackboard Collaborate on Learn SaaS deployments? Learn more about using Collaborate Ultra in the two course views.

Which Building Block is right for my institution?

Not sure which Building Block is best for you? It comes down to the technology you want to use. You can use the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block at the same time as the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block, if you want the features to overlap.

This table compares the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block and the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block (with Collaborate with the Ultra experience enabled).

Scenario Recommendations

Scenarios	Use Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block	Use Blackboard Collaborate Building Block (with Ultra enabled)
Instructors can schedule more than one session in a course
Instructors can view the session attendance report
Instructors can send Collaborate attendance information to Blackboard course
Instructors have a dedicated course room that can be turned off
Instructors and students can view recordings
Recordings can be downloaded
Admin can choose between Collaborate Ultra and Original experiences on a course-by-course basis

Remember: if you decide to use the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block, your only choice is to use Collaborate with the Ultra experience. You can choose Collaborate with the Original or Ultra experience if you use the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block.

Get your credentials

To use Collaborate with the Ultra experience with your Learning Management System (LMS), start by contacting Blackboard to have it enabled on your instance and receive your integration credentials.

Submit a case on Behind the Blackboard (available in English only). Fill in all of the fields and make these selections:

• From the Product line menu, select Collaborate.
• From the Environment menu, select Web Conferencing.
• From the Issue Topic menu, select Collaborate Ultra.
• From the Functional Area menu, select LMS Integration Credential Creation Requests.
• From the Category menu, select your Learning Management System.
  • Blackboard Learn
  • LTI integration
  • Moodle plugin
  • Rest API integration
• From the Instance menu, select your instance:
  • Production
  • Test
  • Development
• In the Description area, specify Collaborate Ultra.

Configure the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block

The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block uses Learning Tools Interoperability^® (LTI) compliant credentials. You need to request new credentials after you install this building block. If you previously used the LTI integration to add Collaborate to your Blackboard Learn instance, you can reuse those credentials.

1. Go to Administrator Tools, Building Blocks, and Installed Tools.
2. Find Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and select Settings.
3. Select Web Conference Settings.
4. Fill in the Collaborate Services Configuration information with the information Blackboard gave you.
5. Select Submit.
6. After you configure the building block, turn it on.

Configure the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block

1. From Administrator Tools, select Building Blocks, and Installed Tools.
2. Find Blackboard Collaborate, and select Settings.

   If this is the first time you're using this building block, you'll have to enter the credentials Blackboard provided to you.

3. Select Set Availability for Courses and choose Use the Ultra experience.
4. After you configure the building block, turn it on.

When you choose Use the Ultra experience, Collaborate with the Ultra experience is available immediately to all Blackboard Learn courses, organizations, and associated users, and Collaborate with the Original experience is no longer an option.

Any existing Collaborate sessions using the Original experience in a Blackboard Learn course won't be converted to the Ultra experience. Original experience recordings continue to be available in Blackboard Learn courses even if Collaborate with the Ultra experience is enabled for the course. However, each course room only uses the Ultra experience after you choose this option.

If you'd like to choose the Collaborate experience for specific courses, you can select Custom. Search for the courses, and choose the Collaborate experience you'd like those courses to use.

Turn on Collaborate

After you have configured Collaborate, turn it on.

1. From the Administrator Panel select Tools.
2. Find Blackboard Collaborate or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
3. Turn on the course and organization tools as needed.

After the room is turned on for their course, an instructor or someone with a higher role makes the room available to other course users when they first access it. The room stays open for the life of the course.

Attendance reporting

Attendance reporting is only available in sessions with an end date and time. Attendance is not tracked in course rooms.

Let Collaborate take attendance for you. Your Blackboard Learn instructors can host a Collaborate session without tracking attendance manually.

Based on criteria you and your instructors can set, Collaborate tracks if a student is present, late, or absent from a session. Collaborate then sends that information directly to the Attendance page in the appropriate Blackboard Learn course.

Attendance from the Collaborate session can be counted in each student's average attendance in the course, which can also be used in calculating student grades.

Configure attendance reporting

The Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block must be enabled and configured on your system before you can use attendance reporting. Each Learn instance must also have a unique Collaborate consumer account. If you share a Collaborate consumer account between your staging and production environments, you must request an additional Collaborate consumer account.

To use attendance reporting you need to register the Cloud Site ID and enable the attendance reporting feature.

1. From the Administrator Tools select Building Blocks, and Installed Tools.
2. Find Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and select Settings.
3. Select Cloud Site ID Registration.
4. Choose Register and select Submit.
5. Select Attendance Settings.
6. Select the Report Attendance check box.

   This allows instructors to choose to use the attendance reporting feature in their sessions. Instructors must still choose to use the feature for each session they want to track attendance. To learn more, see the instructor help for attendance reporting.

7. Optionally, edit the attendance thresholds. These thresholds are not locked. Instructors can change them in their sessions.
   • Late after: Attendees who join the session after the number of minutes entered are marked late. By default, attendees are late if they join the session later than 5 minutes and up to to 20 minutes after the scheduled start time. If the attendee joins a second after the 5 minutes they are marked late.
   • Absent after: Attendees who join the session after the number of minutes entered are marked late. By default, attendees are absent if they join the session later than 20 minutes after the scheduled start time. If the attendee joins a second after the 20 minutes they are marked absent.
   • Required time in session: Attendees must be in the session for the percentage of time selected, or longer, to be marked present. By default, attendees must be in the session for at least half of the session running time to be marked present.
8. Select Submit.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reuse my existing Blackboard Collaborate Building Block credentials in the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block?

No. You need new credentials.

I use the LTI with Collaborate Ultra in Blackboard Learn, can I use my LTI credentials in the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block?

Yes. You can use your LTI credentials in the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block.

Can I use the Blackboard Collaborate and the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block at the same time?

Yes. They are independent of each other.

Will my Ultra sessions and recordings migrate from the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block to the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block?

No, but the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block can be used at the same time so you can still locate the recordings there.

Change the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block to recordings only, if you don't want instructors to host sessions using the Blackboard Collaborate Building Block but still have access to their recordings. 

More on enabling recordings only on Blackboard Collaborate Building Block on Behind the Blackboard (available in English only)

Will my Ultra sessions and recordings migrate from the Ultra LTI to the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block?

Yes. You will see your Ultra LTI sessions and recordings in the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block.

Will the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block have my rooms?

No. You have a new Course Room and can create new sessions.

Where do I find more information on scheduling sessions in the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Building Block?

Information on scheduling sessions for moderators