Blackboard Collaborate vs. BlueJeans Events (discontinued)

I would say it is very useful for group collaborations online, as well as virtual classrooms where you wish your students/guests to collaborate in an adaptable environment; however I would advise against using the shared screen to display audio or video, nor would I encourage the use of the shared board with a group of people with disciplinary issues (as there is no accountability for who wrote/drew what).

Incentivized

BlueJeans Events is really well-suited for large attendance virtual events and meetings. It was perfect for many of the classes I've taken, as well as hosted, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, where oftentimes in-person classes and interactions have been limited. I love how BlueJeans Events fosters meetings and interactions for large numbers of individuals, despite the fact that in-person meetings of this size have not entirely been feasible during the past year and a half.

Incentivized

• The Whiteboard feature is perfect for tutoring. We use it to write out formulas, draw diagrams, etc while in video chat to enhance explanations.
• The file attachment feature is also very handy. This means we don't have to do a follow-up with a student using their email to send files of handouts, etc.
• It's great that we only have to share a classroom access link for a student to enter a session. With other products, they had to set up a username and log-in with an account. Link access means 1 less hassle.
• We are currently beginning to use the "record session" feature video sessions to use as training for new employees.

Incentivized

• Automatically generated reminder emails to registered attendees before the event.
• Easy to host a panel and have them meet before the event goes live.
• Moderator chat allows for those running the program to chat without all of the attendees seeing. This allows for you to address technical issues, program flow, etc.

Incentivized

• Some of the newest computer high resolution screens are not as compatible with the interface. The font and windows are much smaller and the user is not able to increase the size of the windows to make it easier to read/navigate.
• The audio can sometimes be inconsistent and tune in and out when someone is speaking. This is not every time though and many times the audio is clear.
• The login process takes a bit longer to get into the program. You have to go through a few step process and loading time to get into the application.

Incentivized

• Reliability is the biggest challenge I see with BlueJeans. There are times when BlueJeans seems to handle the demands of a big company seamlessly, but then there are other times when BlueJeans runs into issues that I've seen affect entire offices for extended periods of time which creates a challenge for the teams who depend on BlueJeans to effectively run their remote meetings. While in the grand scheme of things, these outages have been few and far between, when they happen people aren't able to start their BlueJeans meetings and have to scramble for an alternate way to meet (while attendees are simultaneously having issues trying to dial into the BlueJeans meeting).
• Aside from the occasional outage, the quality of the video and audio is pretty solid. With variables that are likely outside of the BlueJeans product (office connectivity, bandwidth issues, internal routing) there are times where BlueJeans would either lag or echo which would either impact the output for the host of the meeting (who likely has a room full of participants) or multiple attendees. It would be great to see BlueJeans enhance their packet handling in these cases to prioritize audio over video (and perhaps auto-adjust video quality when there are bandwidth issues).

It is a tool that faculty likes to use. It has so much flexibility to allow students to see a class even if they happen to not be available in the classroom.

Incentivized

We use it frequently and it has its advantages so I don't see better options for some kind of meetings. The quality of video and audio are great and that's what is very important to us. We like thing being professional. BlueJeans is simple and rich in possibilities. What's more, BlueJeans support is great and professional, they don't forget about their customers.

Incentivized

Blackboard Collaborate is reliable and feature-rich. It's a great web conferencing tool for teaching & learning, offering polls, chat, video and audio, whiteboard, content sharing, and breakout rooms. Blackboard Collaborate can be used for virtual office hours, lectures, guest speakers, training, professional development, conferences, technical support, academic advising, and so much more. Blackboard Collaborate can be used separately from the learning management system or it can be integrated for a single sign-on experience. It supports recordings, playbacks, private sharing, and MP4 downloads. Overall, it's a solid tool and very reliable.

Incentivized

This rating comes from end user experience. When they step into a meeting, they get asked to put in SSO credentials if the meeting is restricted. In many cases, the meeting is open to anyone and staff needs to enter a name to continue. Some staff will forget to add a name and come in as a Guest. Call in options will only provide the phone number for the person calling in on the participant roster. This overall can be a little confusing for some, but to others this is a great service.

Incentivized

The availability of the software is quite impressive. You can access it at any time that you want and from anywhere that you want, but that depends on how the software is set up by the University. There might be sudden outages due to not having enough space on your database, which we had that very issue happen recently here at our University. During that time, you could not access their blackboard at all until it was brought up online again.

Incentivized

BJ Events is Available always when we need it. There was no situation that we encountered an error or an outage. How are you doing this? :)

Incentivized

The performance of the software is remarkable. The loading speed of the pages is more than satisfying, it all depends on the users internet package. So far, there wasn't any issue of Blackboard slowing down other software or systems when integrated with them

Incentivized

I think that BlueJeans Events is 7/10 because it's pretty efficient. The audio and video quality is pretty great. I've only had a few connectivity issues but otherwise, it's performed fine. The features are also impressive; I am a huge fan of being able to record my calls so that I can refer back to them whenever necessary.

Incentivized

Sometimes they do planned maintenance. Depending on the time zone you’re in, this may be in the middle of the night. That’s great. Sometimes this maintenance isn’t completed overnight however, and you need to use the platform and it is down. I’ve never been able to successfully contact them to report an outage or get assistance when it is down. I just have to wait until it comes back up to go to class, review sessions, etc.

Incentivized

I really like site bluejeans.com and how simple it is.You can find there instructions, tips and how to create event or secure it! Of course FAQ is always useful and that's what you can find there too! Of course there is contact to support team which I remember was great and professional. Support Team really cares about their customers and don't forget about them. It feels like you can always count on them and reach out with any kind of question(s) which I think is very important.

Incentivized

Important to gather all infroamtion from client and ensure all basis are acknowledged before actually doing the installation of equipment

Incentivized

Nearpod does not allow for the same type of synchronous environment that Blackboard collaborate does. Further, Nearpod, as the name suggests is best suited for a face-to-face classroom that is, preferably, one-to-one. While it has some of the same functions as Nearpod, Blackboard collaborate is best suited for remote transmission rather than face-to-face

Incentivized

BlueJeans Events is an all-in-one platform that works well when used as a moderator and as part of the audience. The feature that was useful was the practice session it allowed us to do for our tech check. Made the day of our event less stressful.

Incentivized

The reason for this rating is that the software is a pretty good tool that can be utilized for use in all of the Universities around the world. It has the capability to fulfill the needs of various different education systems. Although, there are slight improvements that are needed, therefore the rating is at 8.

Incentivized

We've been using BJ Events with big event and it worked as good as smaller one. All meetings were international and it didn't seem like it at all, I mean the quality was great. Maybe time delay was noticeable sometimes (sound to video) but it might also be caused by poor quality of internet connection.

Incentivized

• Because faculty can schedule sessions on-the-fly without IT involvement, they are able to accomplish goals that they plan for weeks in advance as well as impromptu goals that come up at a moments notice.
• Integration with the campus Learning Management Systems provides quick and easy scheduling of sessions that can be joined easily by students in those courses.
• Scheduling of meetings can also be done through the web interface directly which enables administrative departments not associated with courses in the learning management system to also schedule meetings not affiliated with courses.
• On-campus users can schedule meetings without outside participants by sending an open "guest link" URL that allows users to participate despite not having an account within the system iteself.

Incentivized

• There has certainly been significant cost savings on travel, particularly for internal communications. We have also found that BlueJeans has been better than other client systems like Webex. For example, we regularly switch to using BlueJeans over customer systems (Webex, Skype for Business).
• Certainly meetings are shorter and more productive, specifically our daily standup meetings with remote users.

Incentivized