Documentation:Blackboard Collaborate/Web Conferencing/Uses and Benefits
Uses and Benefits
Bb Collaborate Web Conferencing can be used in a diverse range of situations that can support teaching and learning between colleagues, instructors, students and staff.
- Conduct Lectures and Presentations
- Lectures and presentations may garner the attendance of a handful of participants or by hundreds and hundreds of people. Without the constraints of a physical space, your presentations via Bb Collaborate Web Conferencing can hold as many people who are interested in attending your session. Co-facilitate the lecture with a colleague from another institution. Invite guests from outside the university to participate either via their personal computers or iOS devices. Learn more about participants or gauge their understanding through polls and surveys. Ask your TA to moderate discussions in smaller break out and chat rooms. Share a recording of your presentation with those who were not able to attend.
- Facilitate Project Meetings
- Collaborative projects require regular communications with colleagues who maybe located locally or abroad. Web Conferencing enables you to hold meetings without worrying about travel arrangements or booking rooms. Take advantage of the interactive whiteboard to brainstorm and work out ideas, share documents and other desktop applications the Application Sharing and enable the session recording to have an archive of your meeting. You can have a maximum of 6 video participants at the same time.
- Hold Office Hours
- Office hours are opportunities for instructors and teaching assistants to guide students in their learning with activities such as clarifying topics, introducing to important research and answering lingering questions. These are also opportunities for you to get to know your students outside of class. The challenges of conflicting appointments and class schedules as well as commuting in and out of campus become barriers to students taking advantage of this opportunity. Bb Collaborate Web Conferencing can be used to hold online office hours at any time of day. You can hold open discussions or bring students into private, one-on-one sessions by using breakout rooms. Students can access your session via a course on Connect or by sharing an external link to them.
Featured Highlights
- Create audio and video presentations anytime and anywhere
- Interactive whiteboard designed for collaborative work with text and images
- Drag-and-drop functionality when sharing media and moving participants
- Easy switching between document, application and web sharing
- Small break out rooms for group discussions and private, one-on-one meeting times
- Gauge participant understanding or learn more about your audience via online polling and surveys
- Record and archive sessions for students to review at a later time
- Accessible via your personal computer or iOS device as part of your Connect course or independently as an external session
For more information about features, visit: blackboard.com.