Presenting in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

When presenting in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, you may wish to share documents or slides with your students. To incorporate media into your Collaborate session, enter your session and click on the purple tab in the bottom-right corner. This will expand the Collaborate Panel. You will then be presented with several options for sharing content and communicating with your students. Follow the steps below to add files and other media into your Blackboard Collaborate Ultra session.

Part 1: Sharing Files

  1. After expanding the Collaborate Panel, click on the arrow-shaped Share icon, located along the bottom-right tool bar

  2. From the options that appear, click Share Files:

    Screen capture of the "Share" tool with Share Files highlighted

  3. Click Add Files to load files into Collaborate. This process should bring up your device’s documents folder, where you can either drag-and-drop or select a file to open in Collaborate. Once you drop the file onto the Collaborate panel, or click Open, the files will populate in the course room:

    Screen capture of device's documents area, with the Add Files tool highlighted

  4. You can share a file with your students by selecting it from the documents in the right-hand navigation bar and clicking Share Now:

    Screen capture of uploaded file with "Share Now" button highlighted

  5. To scroll through multi-page documents, select a page from the navigation bar, then use the arrows below the document to move to the previous or subsequent page

  6. To stop sharing, click on the circular, white Stop Sharing button at the top-right of the screen


Part 2: Screen-Sharing

  1. From the Collaborate Panel, click on the arrow-shaped Share icon along the bottom-right tool bar
  2. From the options that appear, click Share Application/Screen:
    Screen capture of the "Share" tool with Share Application/Screen highlighted
  3. A prompt should appear, asking whether you want to share the entire screen of your device or just an application. Click on one of the options to make your selection.
  4. In the window that appears, click on the application or screen you would like to share, then click Share to confirm
  5. You should then see your screen or selected application displayed within the session room. You may use the tools along the top of the screen to adjust the zoom and size of the image:
    Screen shot of shared screen, with zoom and sizing tools highlighted
  6. To stop sharing, click on the circular white Stop Sharing button at the top-right of the screen


Part 3: Whiteboard

  1. From the Collaborate Panel, click on the arrow-shaped Share icon along the bottom-right tool bar
  2. From the options that appear, click Share Blank Whiteboard:
    Screen capture of the "Share" tool with Share Blank Whiteboard highlighted
  3. A white screen should appear to both you and your students, accompanied by a tool bar across the top of the screen. Select from the available pointer, drawing, shape, text box, and eraser tools to illustrate concepts to your students on the virtual whiteboard.
  4. To stop sharing, click on the circular white Stop Sharing button at the top-right of the screen


Part 4: Student Controls

By default, your students may only view the content that you present in Collaborate. However, you have the option to allow specific students to share documents and content—follow the steps below to learn how.
1. From the Collaborate Panel, click on the Attendees icon—indicated by the silhouette of two people
2. Locate the name of the student who will be permitted to share content. Click on the […] icon to the right of the participant’s name.
3. From the drop-down menu that appears, click on Make Presenter. This setting will allow the student to use the file-sharing, white board, and screen sharing tools for as long as it is enabled:

Screen capture of Attendee Options drop-down menu

4. If you would no longer like for the student to have presenter privileges, click on the Attendees icon, locate the student’s name, and click on the […] icon once again. Choose Make Participant from the drop-down menu of options that appears.




For more information on presenting with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, please reach out to the LeBow Instructional Tech Services team.

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