1.
State the technology and provide a link to a website or article that
discusses the technology and its educational applications.
Blackboard Collaborate (formerly known as Elluminate Live!) is a web conferencing system that allows for collaboration in real time. The Blackboard name can be a bit misleading as it can also be integrated with other course management systems such as Moodle, Sakai, and D2L.
Designing for Participant Engagement with Blackboard Collaborate: A good practice guide to using Blackboard Collaborate to support teaching, learning & assessment, co-operative working and conferences (May 2012). (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/collaborateguidance.aspx)
-> The guide has a lot of information from an overview of the technology, to technical considerations, to instructional design ideas. I found p. 30-50 most relevant for ideas of different ways to use Blackboard Collaborate (with specific mention of blended learning) as well as links to additional articles and resources including case studies.
2. Concisely affirm or challenge the category of technology you found it in below.
This technology is listed in the synchronous/web conferencing category which is definitely accurate for its main purpose.
3. Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used.
Features of Blackboard Collaborate (as listed in the above guide) include: audio-conferencing, video-conferencing (allowing up to 6 simultaneous web-cams to be viewed), real-time polling and quizzes (including multiple choice questions), application sharing (allowing applications on one computer to be seen by all participants), text chatting (instant messaging), playing of audio and video files, file transfer, whiteboard (a shared space that everyone can see, allowing attendees to e.g. draw/write on and import graphics, photos and PowerPoint files), shared web browsing – called “web tour” (allowing attendees to follow one person as they browse the web), break-out rooms (for small-group discussions and collaboration), recording of sessions (allowing playback at a later time) and capturing of content generated in a session e.g. text-chat and whiteboard.
4. Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blended course.
This type of technology could be used in a blended course to replace some of the time together in a traditional course format. This time collaborating online could be used for group project collaboration, student presentations, guest speakers or community experts, and virtual office hours. Another advantage is that all of these interactions can be recorded so that students can re-watch or watch at a different time.
5. Identify weaknesses and/or liabilities of using this technology in a blended course.
With a technology such as this, one of the biggest liabilities is always technical issues either for the moderator or the participants. Also, depending on how students will be participating, this can require students to purchase additional equipment such as a microphone and web camera. Other weaknesses with this particular technology can be managing a large amount of text in the chat window if you have a lot of students participating at once.
6. Is it no cost, commercial, subscription, shareware, or something else? Is it open source or proprietary?
There is a cost for Blackboard Collaborate (and I believe it is pretty high) but they do not publish pricing information. But perhaps if this technology allows an institution to change some of their traditional courses into blended or online courses, the savings in facilities costs might offset the cost of the technology.
7. Why is this technology significant?
This technology is significant in that it allows for some creative ways to get students involved and engaged outside of the four walls of the classroom.
8. What are people saying about it?
The feedback seems to be very positive about Blackboard Collaborate, with some interesting case studies of how instructors are using this technology in their classes. While there are a number of synchronous meeting technologies available, this one was designed specifically for educational use.
http://elearning.missouri.edu/blackboard-collaborate-vs-wimba-classroom/
http://collaborate.tlc.aston.ac.uk/
Blackboard Collaborate (formerly known as Elluminate Live!) is a web conferencing system that allows for collaboration in real time. The Blackboard name can be a bit misleading as it can also be integrated with other course management systems such as Moodle, Sakai, and D2L.
Designing for Participant Engagement with Blackboard Collaborate: A good practice guide to using Blackboard Collaborate to support teaching, learning & assessment, co-operative working and conferences (May 2012). (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/collaborateguidance.aspx)
-> The guide has a lot of information from an overview of the technology, to technical considerations, to instructional design ideas. I found p. 30-50 most relevant for ideas of different ways to use Blackboard Collaborate (with specific mention of blended learning) as well as links to additional articles and resources including case studies.
2. Concisely affirm or challenge the category of technology you found it in below.
This technology is listed in the synchronous/web conferencing category which is definitely accurate for its main purpose.
3. Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used.
Features of Blackboard Collaborate (as listed in the above guide) include: audio-conferencing, video-conferencing (allowing up to 6 simultaneous web-cams to be viewed), real-time polling and quizzes (including multiple choice questions), application sharing (allowing applications on one computer to be seen by all participants), text chatting (instant messaging), playing of audio and video files, file transfer, whiteboard (a shared space that everyone can see, allowing attendees to e.g. draw/write on and import graphics, photos and PowerPoint files), shared web browsing – called “web tour” (allowing attendees to follow one person as they browse the web), break-out rooms (for small-group discussions and collaboration), recording of sessions (allowing playback at a later time) and capturing of content generated in a session e.g. text-chat and whiteboard.
4. Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blended course.
This type of technology could be used in a blended course to replace some of the time together in a traditional course format. This time collaborating online could be used for group project collaboration, student presentations, guest speakers or community experts, and virtual office hours. Another advantage is that all of these interactions can be recorded so that students can re-watch or watch at a different time.
5. Identify weaknesses and/or liabilities of using this technology in a blended course.
With a technology such as this, one of the biggest liabilities is always technical issues either for the moderator or the participants. Also, depending on how students will be participating, this can require students to purchase additional equipment such as a microphone and web camera. Other weaknesses with this particular technology can be managing a large amount of text in the chat window if you have a lot of students participating at once.
6. Is it no cost, commercial, subscription, shareware, or something else? Is it open source or proprietary?
There is a cost for Blackboard Collaborate (and I believe it is pretty high) but they do not publish pricing information. But perhaps if this technology allows an institution to change some of their traditional courses into blended or online courses, the savings in facilities costs might offset the cost of the technology.
7. Why is this technology significant?
This technology is significant in that it allows for some creative ways to get students involved and engaged outside of the four walls of the classroom.
8. What are people saying about it?
The feedback seems to be very positive about Blackboard Collaborate, with some interesting case studies of how instructors are using this technology in their classes. While there are a number of synchronous meeting technologies available, this one was designed specifically for educational use.
http://elearning.missouri.edu/blackboard-collaborate-vs-wimba-classroom/
http://collaborate.tlc.aston.ac.uk/
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