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

As opposed to web casting and video conferencing software, Blackboard Collaborate has interrogations and features that are specifically designed for engagement with the learners/audience

Cons

I am a new user of the Blackboard Collaborate's license so far nothing to complain about. Although the budget for this product is more expensive than our previous option

Alternatives Considered

Webex and Google Classroom

Reasons for Choosing Blackboard Collaborate

We have the budget to try an alternative as we are looking for a platform that can help us syndicate and sell our content directly to the learner/audience

Switched From

Zoom Meetings

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

One of the best ways to conduct lectures/tutorials, all students were able to easily interact with the facilitator and the learning materials, the white board is an amazing feature that makes the entire experience the best

Cons

Optimisation of bandwidth, anyone with weak internet connection has a hard time catching up with the sessions

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

Zoom Meetings

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Collaborate

Functionality of the software is more suited than the other softwares

Pros

The software does a good job with video, audio and screen sharing. I'm able to easily must students and see when someone has a question. I like that when I record a session, it makes the recording automatically available for the students.

Cons

I teach at a community college and recently switched to Collaborate for my class. I teach adults who are able to handle most technical issues, but collaborate has been very frustrating to deal with. Several of my students simply quit coming because they kept getting kicked out. I also like to join on both my phone and laptop so I can demonstrate mobile apps, but Collaborate only allows me to log in once. The help section and knowledge base have a lot of content, but I can never find the answers I'm looking for.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate has a broad range of features and comes along with high customizability. The video conferencing is very good, also in comparison with competitors, such as "ZOOM" and "Microsoft Teams".

Cons

Ease of use and ease of development is lacking. Moreover, the then even more necessary customer support is not always as available as needed and responses solving an issue can take a while. A clearer and simplified design of the overlays could tremendously benefit these issues.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Collaborate

We were more aware of Blackboard Collaborate. Later, we switched to Microsoft Teams.

Pros

Easy to use, worked everytime we used it

Cons

it cost much more than our other webinar software

Alternatives Considered

LiveWebinar

Reasons for Switching to Blackboard Collaborate

we did switch from Blackboard to Livewebinar because of the price

Pros

In a time when classrooms look like our living rooms and bedrooms, a service like Blackboard Collaborate rises to the occasion and delivers that bedroom class experience like few others can. Not only does it allow instructors and students to “collaborate” via traditional video, audio, and screen-share methods (how many services do that now?), but it also comes with multiple rooms, a place to list course directives, and a place for students to leave messages, including assignments. As a provider of supplemental instructions (as in, I’m not the instructor but the support member), I could join in the conversation and offer advice in a place where students would read it and even respond. It’s like group text messaging, but better. If I could narrow this down to one “pro,” it’s that Blackboard Collaborate considers all the communication angles and makes them available to all who are assigned to use it.

Cons

Other than the convoluted way some features are put together, the biggest issue I had was with the occasional connection problem. On one notoriously hilarious day, the instructor asked me to share some information about the department I work for (a student service), then interrupted me halfway into my speech with, “Well, I guess that’s our answer.” It seemed like she was getting impatient. But the reality was that she couldn’t hear me, and she thought I’d left the class. And she was the only one. All the students and her dean could hear me just fine. Things like that happened every so often. Not exactly great. Definitely not consistent.

Pros

Using Collaborate ensures that all course content AND the virtual classroom are all together in the same Learning Management System. It's much easier for students (and us Professors) to have a "one stop shopping" location for everything course related.

Cons

I haven't run into any issues using this software with my students.

Pros

I used Blackboard Collaborate for several years in graduate school. What I liked most about this software was the simplicity of utilizing the conversation threads. There was nothing too "fancy" and the layout provided simple 'reply' and 'reply all' buttons. Each week we were required to answer questions about a scenario, and reply to other students' remarks as well. It was easy to see which posts did not have replies yet so that we each student got a change to have a reply. I think if this information wasn't provided on the main screen many posts would be overlooked, and I liked that the layout was clear on who posted and who replied, especially when professors emphasized replying to posts that had fewer or no replies already. I also liked that there was a messaging system built in, so we could communicate with our fellow students and professor within the website while working on assignments.

Cons

What I liked least about Blackboard Collaborate was that if I wanted to message my entire class, I would have to individually click every student's name, and then click the "To" button in order to add them as recipients. It was honestly time consuming and extremely frustrating as a graduate student because it wasted so many minutes every time, especially because I would often forget to actually click "To" after I manually clicked a student's name, so I wouldn't realize they weren't added into the message and would have to start over. This was unfriendly for users, especially for graduate students who need to focus on their assignments and communicating to their peers rather than trying to remember if they did the two-step clicking process for every single student rather than having a simple "select all" option! I don't know why there was no select all option to add the entire class when this is a platform universities often use for online classes and assignments. One more thing I did not like about Blackboard was that the layout was a bit confusing and not user friendly. It took me a while to get used to the flow of the website which felt unorganized and a bit scattered. I could see this being more of a problem for older graduate students who aren't used to adapting to various website layouts with many links to each class and each assignment stacked upon each other in an overwhelming 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

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

The way our Blackboard Collaborate was set up meant that the layout was well organised and it was very clear how to navigate all the different menus. It did help that I only had 2 courses per trimester, but still the layout is very good.
Module content was easy to find.
I liked how you could leave questions in the discussion group and either the lecturer or other students would answer and it felt like you were not completely studying on your own.
I think the way the class tests were set up is very good, also the questions are randomly allocated to every student to try and prevent cheating, which I think is a very clever thing to do.

Cons

The uploading of documents was not always straightforward and sometimes I wouldn't be sure if the work was submitted.
Joining a course room to join a live lecture would not always work.
Also I tried joining a course room on my phone a few times, but not very successful, audio would be there, but the visual (slides usually) could not be seen.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate has video conference abilities. The program has a 'whiteboard' that can be shared on the screen and interacted with by both administrator and users. (teacher and students)
They make it so you can upload PDF into files, and share those with the users on the screen. This feature is nice as you only have to upload it once.
They allow share screen with any open tabs as well.

Cons

If there are more than 4users on the call, you cannot see more of them. It is impossible to see everyone at once, or to scroll through the other users. There are many connectivity issues with Blackboard Collaborate making it challenging to provide quality interaction with users. It has a lag in timing between what is shown or said and when the other users see it on their screen. The whiteboard feature is nice, but writing on it is challenging as well as when you erase, you have to erase the whole 'whiteboard' rather than controlling what pieces to erase and which to keep.

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

The thing I like about blackboard is the ability to download app onto phone and easily navigate through messages, discussion post, new grades submitted.. the list goes on. Blackboard has taken in the evolving approach in technology implemented into this software. You can modify, add or dismiss what you don't want shown. Blackboard if your platform and can customise it as you wish to fit your need. It is very user friendly.

Cons

I don't think there's anything I dislike about this software. Perhaps the one thing I like least about this software is not being able to view attempted assessments via the phone application. It will direct you to use your desktop browser to view details.

Pros

I have found Collaborate to be very intuitive to use, all the more important in a fast-paced, online classroom setting. It is easy to modify student permissions and roles in the event things get of-track, and it is easy to review chat messages as well as ensure recordings saved, uploaded, and distributed. It is also easy for me to monitor classroom attendance at a glance and separate students into smaller breakout sessions.

Cons

I would like some sort of centralized view of the breakout sessions. As one classroom leader, it is difficult to monitor all chats at once, as I found some students would get off-track and it took me a few moments to visit each separate room. It is possible I missed some sort of easy-switch feature that would allow me to do this. Overall, my experience has been very good.

Pros

I like that blackboard works well with Microsoft Power Point slides and that allows users to collaborate with chat, microphone, and board tools. I also like that it allows recordings to be made.

Cons

This software is difficult to learn to use well and is NOT intuitive. It frequently crashes at our organization, which impacts student learning. You cannot record in breakout rooms which makes small group work a challenge. It does not load Google Slides well which limits the other software one can use to create the slides.

Pros

Blackboard is overall easy to use. Students and teachers can hear and see each other. However, it lags and sometimes glitches when too many people talk or use the camera. It is easy to load content and teach from. I like the ability to have students appshare their screens and my ability to take control of their computer if needed to help them.

Cons

Blackboard often freezes or glitches. This makes it very frustrating for students/parents and teachers who are using it. It often lags or glitches when too many people talk or use the camera. I wish they could figure out a way to fix these issues.

Pros

We use Blackboard for my graduate school classes, as well as my undergraduate experience. It works well for what we need it for - posting in-class materials, submission of homework assignments, communication of information between professor & students and also between students. Also, this time around (in my grad program), I now get automated emails when my professors update info or grade assignments, which is very nice to have. I didn't have that as an undergrad.

Cons

Sometimes it can be somewhat clunky. I have seen it from the professor's side when they have tons of classes they're teaching, and it is a mess - I don't know how they navigate it. But overall it serves the students well.

Pros

Blackboard Collaborate is accessible from most device types, which is helpful when dealing with larger classrooms, and and technically-challenged professors. The platform is also accessible for students with language and physical needs, which really extends the lecture opportunities in ways not really available in a real classroom. Also, unlike some other LMS programs, Blackboard Collaborate doesn't try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to features and user interaction. Much of the functionality feels similar to existing and common software that users will likely be familiar with, so the learning curve is not steep.

Cons

Blackboard Collaborate can be slow, awkward, and suffers from the same sort of limitations as other digital conferencing tools. Yes, there are features not dependent on real-time, two-way communication, and it can function without all users on board, but it can't replace many normal lecture/class use cases. That means that educators and administrators have to think of new curriculum and instruction plans just to use the software. This is not so much a technical fault as it is just a limitation of the concept.

Pros

the features are very user-friendly and it is very easy to navigate for beginners. The most favorite part of it is the ability to offer remote sessions such as online course room, online join room, and online discussion between the professor and the students. Blackboard Collaborate is absolutely the best option for schools, businesses, or even government meetings during this pandemic when social distancing must be kept.

Cons

Well, I have to say that the connection is quite bad if you are using a cellphone in remote sessions because you would be sometimes cut off in the middle of the lecture with your professor and online classmates. Therefore, I would highly recommend using your desktop computer or laptops for a strong connection. After all, Blackboard is still the best option for delivering online courses.