Blackboard

Blackboard

Blackboard Collaborate is a one click virtual classroom and online collaboration tool built specifically for institutions who need to deliver more engaging, personalized, and flexible learning options for students.
It goes well beyond traditional web conferencing to meet the extensive and varied collaboration needs of today’s educators and learners. Designed with the learner in mind, Blackboard Collaborate delivers a level of engagement that makes students forget they’re not in a physical classroom.
Blackboard Collaborate is the reliable, education-first virtual classroom that allows learners to engage from their desk, on the go, or wherever their busy lives take them.
Blackboard Collaborate was created in July 2010 and is used by K-12 schools and higher education institutions for professional development and distance learning. It is written in Java. The platform is also used by businesses for distance learning and for conferencing.
Educators have the autonomy to utilize best-practice pedagogical approaches within their LMS, learners can thrive in the classroom, via online learning, or through hybrid learning models. Blackboard Learn comes equipped with the built-in software educators want, including accessibility and anti-plagiarism tools.
Blackboard’s services include: managed hosting, platform consulting, enterprise consulting, online program management, training and student services.
Blackboard Student Services provides management services for student admissions and enrollment, financial aid, and student accounts and retention. It also provides IT and helpdesk support to students and faculty for learning management systems.
Blackboard Learn provides educators with the tools to help deliver life-changing teaching and learning experiences, and system reliability to do just that. From efficient workflows to our extensive community of practice, Blackboard Learn is the ideal combination of education and technology.

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Pedagogical background

Educators and learners can track their progress with highly visible, quickly actionable displays, keeping students on track for success. With multiple helpful methods of communication built-in.
With Blackboard Learn encourages ongoing educator-learner interaction – whether inside the classroom or through virtual learning – on any internet-accessible device.
With Blackboard Assist, students will receive personalized support from their own institutional resources, when and where they need it. When institutions consider the quality and effectiveness of the online educational experience, understanding how widely online tools and content are being used across the institution is the first question that needs to be answered.
Blackboard Reporting provides the essential insights and data access that Blackboard SaaS clients need to effectively manage the EdTech platform, powered by Blackboard Data.
With Blackboard collaborate through interactive whiteboarding, chronological hand-raise notifications, extensive chat features, on-demand polls, moderated breakout groups and more, educators can encourage student collaboration in newly innovative ways. Real-time feedback features mean instructors aren’t left guessing if their lesson is hitting the mark.
Instructors can confidently engage their entire class or provide personal attention through group discussions, one-on-one office hours and every configuration in between.

• Always-available course rooms allow educators to avoid the need to create new sessions unless they choose to.
• Everyone enrolled in the course gains automatic access with the appropriate level of room permissions.
• Recordings are immediately accessible within the course once sessions end.
• Attendance is automated, allowing Blackboard Collaborate to send the details to the course attendance page in Blackboard Learn for review and grading.

Use cases/examples of usage: (tutorial)

Strenght: Blackboard Collaborate is a virtual environment optimized for learning. Whether you have two learners or two hundred Blackboard Collaborate enables world-class communication, collaboration, and education that transforms the webinar experience. This technology ensures that all participants are in sync, regardless of computer platform or Internet connection speed.

Weakness: Blackboard Collaborate relies on a launcher utility software that provides a convenient and reliable way to run the platform and join our webinars. Note: on desktop computers Blackboard is dependent on JAVA, which some organizations prohibit. Installing Blackboard Collaborate Launcher or JAVA may require the assistance of your IT department for proper installation. Blackboard Collaborate Launcher is free to download. Sometimes sound quality is poor, Difficult to monitor the chat with many users, Could incorporate a list with the raise hand feature to see who raised their hand and when. Needs Better polling tools.

People opinion about the tool: https://www.g2.com/products/blackboard-collaborate/reviews

Similar Tool: Zoom; Google Meets; Skype; Microsoft Teams.

Technical and operational requirements: PC or mobile.