Blackboard Collaborate Reviews

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate is a simple and powerful tool. Features like creating groups and file sharing allow users to improve their user experience while using the software. I appreciate that the video quality would be stable despite of the difficulties in connectivity we could experience. What I like the most is the fact that you do not need to download any additional app to use this software on your phone.

Cons

I have not had any problems while using the app however I think that some additional functions can be implemented such as a button to control the level of audio, annotations and a video speed controller.

Pros

The integration of Blackboard Collaborate with the Blackboard LMS makes it very easy to conduct video chat sessions with course participants for the sake of online lecturing, tutorial sessions, or office hours. Collaborate has more or less all the features available in dedicated video conferencing tools such as Zoom or MS Teams with the ease and flexibility of using it from within the Blackboard LMS.

Cons

Some performance lagging in voice has been experienced on slow network connections. The number of participants is not the cause of this but probably the media tuning algorithms to smooth the lags cause by intermittent Internet connections.

Pros

I like that it has the basic features needed for this type of software, such as the ability to administer and grade quizzes online. It is pretty intuitive to use, but it could be better.

Cons

The whole program looks and feels very dated. Because it looks so dated, it feels like it has not been upgraded in a while and could be difficult to use. It surprisingly is pretty intuitive to use however, but there are still ways that it could be improved upon. For example, grading assignments can be made an easier task that does not need to be featured on a separate page.

Pros

Ease of Navigation
User friendly
Multiple avenues of communication (video, audio and live chat)
Break out rooms options for group collaboration during classes
Ability to schedule and create multiple classes that can be conducted simultaneously without disrupting each other
Hands up feature
Polls
Recordings available

Cons

Initial learning curve as the platform is not similar to others that’s i’ve used before.

Pros

Great for large groups, has enough features to keep up with the competition including: breakout rooms which work great, screen sharing, whiteboard for demonstrations, moderating for a smooth meeting flow. It's somewhat easy to use, so that's always a plus.

Cons

My biggest problem is reliability and stability. The software has crashed on me quite often, even with a robust and very capable laptop. For a software that's supposed to make collaboration easy, these issues are big drawbacks for me, and it's why we switched back to our original software.

Pros

The software is suited for online classes.

The software has what is described as two factors authentication prior to sharing sound and video

Cons

The bandwidth needed to participate on this platform is high therefore a strong network connection is needed to actively participate.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Collaborate

Pros

As background information, this was used for online classes - so my experiences is limited and based only on that. With that said, though, I was pleased with my interactions with Blackboard Collaborate. Here are the pros:
- It has an Interactive Whiteboard feature that is quite helpful. Teachers can add their slide deck or presentation here. The students can then "interact" with the presentation using some nice features (type words, underline texts, even highlight).
- Similar to other programs, you can share your device's screen with the class or you can allow other students to share their screen if they need to show a presentation or something. This comes in very handy if used well.
- If you've never used Blackboard before, I think it's pretty easy to get the hang of. It's well organized and has a nice user interface.
- Without Blackboard, managing the workflow in an online class would be extremely difficult. However, Blackboard does a phenomenal job of allowing information, assignments, quizzes, etc. to be assigned and returned/collected in an organized fashion.
- If a student is unable to attend a live session, Blackboard includes a record option so they can go back and watch the lesson whenever possible. This can also be used for remediation and review.
- They have some nice little features that often go overlooked, like the quick response or thumbs up/thumbs down features. It's helpful when quickly checking for understanding.
- Breakout/small group feature.

Cons

Here are some concerns:
- While it works well with Chrome, this platform does not seem to work with Safari or Edge. (This could be user error, though.)
- This may be user error, too, but I found the audio to be a little off. It seems like they could do some updates here to help it sound a little more smooth and less choppy. Sometimes you don't always hear everything.
- Even though the record feature is awesome - it can be annoying because the video and the audio are sometimes off.
- I guess this could be based on the WiFi connectivity, but video quality is inconsistent.

Pros

I like that Blackboard can contain and store so many things - Zoom links and previous video recordings, slides/presentations, PDFs of complete textbooks, and more. It makes online learning as a graduate student easy, and I don't have to use my limited free Google storage to access a variety of resources that my professors provide me.

Cons

Sometimes it feels clumsily organized. This may be my university's fault, but it can be hard to find links, or I have to click through 4 levels of links to get to my destination. I'm sure site organization is managed by the admin users, but sometimes it just feels like there are too many options, half of which don't even have anything within.

Pros

The integration of collaborate within the Blackboard LMS means that a third-party program, such as Zoom, is not required.

Cons

It can, at times, require more resources than what older systems might be able to handle.

Pros

1. User friendly application.
2. Easy to access and navigate.
3. Accommodates students learning needs.
4. Video and audio clarity.
5. Easy sharing of files and documents.
6. Best communication channel.
7. Fast updates.
8. Sharing presentations, using a whiteboard, notifications, announcements, and instant chatting are all interesting features.
9. All in one platform for distance education.
10. Easy to organize conference and manage participants.

Cons

1. Strong internet connection is required.
2. It is not possible to trace student participation.

Pros

The easy to use Bb Collaborate helps keep an online class alive. The recording options allows teachers to teach an online course, have the experience recorded, and then uploaded for later viewing for those students unable to attend live. For asynchronous classes, setting up individual meetings, or sessions for coaching students (especially for speech communication courses) is so helpful, easy to use, and very easy for students to simply click on a link to join the meeting. I feel it is a safer version than zoom, and the file-sharing, and screen-sharing options make it versatile and user-friendly for teaches and students alike. My favorite feature is the scheduling set-up: you can easily invite individuals or an entire class by sending the link to them via an email, and creating a time-frame for entering the meeting. The icons on the meeting page are also easy to navigate for first-time users (most of my students are using this for the first time) .

Cons

Some of the "how to" features when searching for help in using the application were not as clearly presented (there's a lot to navigate through on those help pages), but this is the only aspect of this teaching tool that I would re-visit. The rest of the software hasn't show to be difficult to use, in any way.

Pros

As a student the software is easy to use and has an easy to use dashboard. It is nice to be able to email other students or teachers, especially when you get to the university level. I like how there are different options to view your grades and when you submit your assignments there is a confirmation code that is generated. There is also a variety of tools besides email in which communication can take place, like discussion boards, videos, or links to other websites. I also found it handy to keep track of important announcements from campus organizations and professors. As an Administrator I like how the software can keep me organized and track the progress of the students.

Cons

I did not have many issues as a student, but as an administrator I found a few places with room for improvement. At times it was difficult to upload assignments, I would always get an error message. I know I am completing the correct steps because I have uploaded many assignments. Another issue I had was that this software always seemed to go down at the most in opportune times, like right before finals and then an extension had to be given to the students to be fair. I can't say if it was the fault of the school or the software, all I know is it is frustrating.

Pros

A great software for large class groups with features geared towards teaching and learning.

The option to record meetings and save to the cloud makes it a great platform for creating pre-recordings for classes.

The breakout room feature makes it easy to manage large groups by separating them and visiting each group individually.

The amount of control provided to the host over the features is great for class management.

Cons

For sessions to run smoothly the internet connection has to be extremely fast.

The bandwidth requirement for use of this software is very high and causes students to disconnect frequently.

The platform can glitch at times and may require a restart before normal use can be resumed.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate makes e-learning interactive and hassle-free. I am a university student and the administration decided, when the lockdown started in March, to use this platform to facilitate online learning. When I was introduced to the interface in the beginning, I found that it was very easy to navigate. It offers a tour of the interface which proved to be quite helpful. However, Blackboard is so simple and easy to use that you won't have difficulty using it without the tour/tutorial. The labels are accurate, and everything is easy to find and well organized. The e-classroom features include options to use video, audio and the chat, where everyone can type and interact throughout class time with the use of emoticons/emojis. Teachers can share their screens, record sessions, create polls, create break out groups for group work and more. Blackboard Collaborate can be used on tablets, laptops and phones. It is perfect for online learning.

Cons

There is really nothing to dislike about Blackboard Collaborate. It ticks all the boxes and really does take much of the dreariness out of the virtual learning platform. Although e-learning is definitely not comparable to face-to-face learning, Blackboard Collaborate makes it much easier to adapt.

Pros

This program is used for all of our training, mentoring, Advisor meetings, and round tables; as such, I appreciate the versatility of the program in my organization.

Screensharing is easy to use, as are video and audio chats.

Creating a test in Blackboard is a very cool feature I learned about recently and I’ve been trying it out to make tests for my mentors.

Moderator tools, such as turning off chat, audio and video help prevent any possibility of cheating amongst Advisors.

I really like the whiteboard feature as well, and myself and my mentors and team mates alike enjoy making silly messages or posting clip art from the internet.

Cons

Blackboard has crashed on me quite a bit, as it has on many others in my organization.

Connections errors happen quite often.

Sometimes, the collaborate file we download gets randomly corrupted and we have to figure that out on our own and re-download a fresh copy.

There isn’t much troubleshooting on their website for the issues we face, and sometimes IT is as clueless as we are on how to fix it.

The interface for Collaborate is severely outdated, and needs a fine tuneup.

We were excited to learn of an iPhone application for Blackboard, and then we downloaded it and not only has it not been updated in years, it was extremely dated and lacked basic functionality like screen sharing, video, whiteboard and moderator tools.

Pros

Blackboard is sufficient when it comes to completing assignments, taking exams and posting on discussion forms. It is simple to see what your grade is in the class and what assignments you have to complete.

Cons

The user experience of this software is subpar. The main course page of the website needs to be redesigned. The design of the page is bland and there is a lot of unused space on the website. The text box that students use on Blackboard is terrible. The autocorrect of the text box is unable to recognize a lot of words and claims that it is not a real word and gives a red line underneath. There are also multiple times where pressing the spacebar does not work and you have to click out of the box and click back in in order for it to work again.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate (Ultra) has improved and now I can share my entire screen with my students without the image erroring out or showing repeated screens that trail off into infinity, which means I no longer have to switch from application to application and can seamlessly share any program or document as soon as it is opened.

Cons

The ability to detach or un-dock the text chat box and move it around to a different location while sharing my screen during a live chat would be most helpful. When you are using two monitors and focusing on one it would be great if the text box could be shown in a more convenient spot so I could see it at the same time.

Pros

I enjoyed using Blackboard as a student of a local community college. I found that it was really easy to use and one of the best programs I had ever encountered! It was so important to me to be able to learn not only in class, but also at home. Being that I had not been in classes in some time it sometimes took me longer than my classmates to understand, and learn things. I was able to use Blackboard at home and they had many different activities that would help you get extra practice from flashcards, quizzes and labs that you could use to help you better understand the curriculum that was being taught that day!

Cons

Sometimes down for scheduled banner maintenance so was not able to access my grades or assignments when I needed to. Thankfully I was always informed of any maintenance beforehand so I was able to see the information needed before it was down! (Not usually very long at all though!)

Pros

Blackboard is the veteran of online course environments for universities. The platform is versatile and offers the integration of many services, such as file upload, grading, assignment submission and interface customization.

Cons

At the beginning, the platform's functionalities can be a bit overwhelming and navigation can be confusing.

Pros

This learning software has been such a blast to work with throughout being in university. Even before the Pandemic occurred Blackboard Collaborate was a platform where all work can be completed and submitted while having the tools necessary to succeed.

Cons

There is a learning curve that all users of this software must overcome to understand how to use this software. For instance, there are specific tabs each instructor or student must be familiar with to navigate to their desired destination. However, there aren't many negatives because it does not take long to understand how to work around the software.

Pros

I like the ease and setup of the course in blackboard. The layout is super-friendly in terms of finding your course materials, your email, instructor information, or accessing discussion boards. As a student in different schools, I found blackboard worked pretty much the same way, no issues in attending my live class sessions or taking my tests.

Cons

No cons regarding blackboard from a student's stance. It is really laid out where anyone can log in and find their way around after a brief tutorial.

Pros

Easy to useUser friendly interfaceAllows full collaboration between students and teachersDynamic material managementVideo call rooms availableAllows constant communication

Cons

The search for the material is time-consumingGroups are often not closed correctly

Pros

I really liked using blackboard for all of my classes. It was an easy website or app to go to everyday to check my grade and assignments that are due. It made it easy for me to contact teachers when needed.

Cons

I don’t love the set up of the website when you log in. It takes some getting used to to fully understand it. I also didn’t like how it showed all the classes i took in past semesters first so i had to go to the bottom of the page to find the classes I’m currently enrolled in.

Pros

Lots of useful features for professors and students that makes online learning feel more personal. Instant messaging works well and the interactive whiteboard is indispensable. It's a nice touch that it's browser-based, so there's no need for students to download a desktop version as it can be accessed anywhere. Students seems to benefit from the instant interaction with the teacher with the two-way webcam capabilities. Uploading files, slides, and videos is smooth and useful.

Cons

All features are hard to realise if you don't have a lot of IT resources or experience. Students should be able to record private sessions/breakout rooms. Sometimes students find that the more people in attendance, the more instance of freezing and errors. Some students have also mentioned issues interacting with the MacBooks. Tablet/mobile capability could also be tweaked as the interactive whiteboard seems to have issues on these platforms.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate is a powerful tool for video and teleconferencing and information sharing. I like the ease with which information can be shared. The platform have a host of interactive features such as real time polls, group and private chats and break out groups. Participants can also be elevated to presenters at any time with a click of a button where they can share screen and other applications. The platform is also available as a mobile application for on the go access.

Cons

Mobile application have limited capability.