Engage Learners & Support Online Teaching with Blackboard Collaborate
November 23, 2021

Engage Learners & Support Online Teaching with Blackboard Collaborate

Mariann Hawken | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackboard Collaborate

Blackboard Collaborate is primarily used as a web conferencing tool for teaching & learning in higher education, but we have also used it for technical support, academic success, conferences, presentations, training, virtual office hours, and more. Collaborate is a dynamic platform that supports learner engagement and content sharing. Faculty use it for online instruction as well as hybrid learning. In some cases, it's also been used for hyperflex teaching where students can choose whether to attend in person or online.
  • Support learner engagement via breakout rooms.
  • Facilitate participant engagement via polls and chat.
  • Share content via browser sharing or file sharing.
  • Seamlessly integrate with Blackboard learning management system.
  • Needs to support digital backgrounds for user privacy.
  • Needs live transcription support for users with disabilities.
  • Needs preloading option for poll questions, especially for large scaled sessions.
  • Increased support for online/hybrid learning.
  • Increased support for online training & professional development.
  • Increased support for technical support.
  • Increased virtual office hours for student courses & learning.
  • Increased recording views for training & meetings.
Blackboard Collaborate is ideal for teaching & learning whereas Webex and Zoom are business-focused. While Collaborate may lack some user-desired features, it more than makes up those features with its focus on participant/learner engagement. For example, polling is easier, chat is clear and flexible, and breakout rooms support student interaction. Collaborate, unlike its competitors, allows one to share actual files, which makes co-hosting and co-presenting far easier than sharing a desktop app. When co-teaching or co-facilitating, you want your session to be seamless, not disrupted by shifting host duties or confusion over tools. Collaborate allows one to focus on teaching, not confusing workflows.

Do you think Blackboard Collaborate delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Blackboard Collaborate's feature set?

Yes

Did Blackboard Collaborate live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Blackboard Collaborate go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Blackboard Collaborate again?

Yes

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.
The support has been very good. We integrate Blackboard into our learning management system so everything is seamless for users. Most issues arise from the user's browser configuration, cookies, and other privacy settings, not from the tool itself. Collaborate is pretty reliable with strong audio and video quality. Support has been helpful when we've had the occasional quirk, again more likely due to a user-side challenge than the platform itself.
Blackboard Collaborate is well suited for teaching and learning, especially online classes. When used with learning management, Collaborate allows for seamless sign-on between the users' course sites and the web conferencing platform. Collaborate is ideal for launching virtual discussions, lectures, office hours, and more. Users can easily upload files to display or share their desktop/specific applications, which is great for demonstrating course principles and meeting learning objectives. Collaborate is really good for breakout rooms, where users join or are assigned to small groups for discussions or team-based learning activities.

Blackboard Collaborate Feature Ratings