FacProfDev Summer 2013 - Day 7
by Varun Khanna
Gerard Flynn, Sr. Director, IT Administration & Client Services
presenting BB Collaborate at FacProfDev Summer 2013
It's day 7 (out of 10) at Pepperdine University's FacProfDev Summer Workshop 2013.
Gerard Flynn, Senior Director, IT Administration and Client Services in his presentation on Blackboard Collaborate (formerly known as Elluminate) highlights 10 things to keep in mind when Pepperdine faculty use this powerful online classroom collaboration tool.
- Go to browsercheck.pepperdine.edu to confirm you have the latest Java version.
- Plug-in your microphone and headset before you launch the Blackboard Collaborate application. Use the audio setup wizard.
- Up to 200 people (including faculty member) can join the online collaboration tool but, only 6 people can talk at one time.
- Students can now call into the session using their telephone or VoIP.
- Talk to your students about online classroom ethics before the session. Make and share a list of your own do's and don'ts with your students.
- The left hand panel of Blackboard Collaborate (including Participants window) requires your time, attention and practice.
- Powerpoint slides will be stripped of any and all animations. Keep your slides engaging but, simple with no animations or transitions.
- Everyone will have a varying degree of connectivity to internet speeds. Keep that in mind when you load a slide or document. Wait a second or two before you start talking about it.
- There are global settings for the entire class and there are local settings (for an individual student). You can globally apply a setting to the entire class. For example: muting everyone's microphone. Or, you can turn off a single student's microphone.
- A powerful tool to keep in mind - polls. You can take a live poll, keep the responses private or public as well as publish the poll results to the whiteboard.
