Every year the elearning@ed conference includes a Poster Session to showcase projects which staff have been working on throughout the year. In my case I promote the different services I lead on within Information Services.

Over the last three years I have produced three posters on Blackboard Collaborate to promote the university supported virtual classroom/meeting tool to potential users or answer any questions for staff who already use it. Looking back on these, it is great to see how the service has developed over time.

This is an exciting year for Blackboard Collaborate as it’s going through a major upgrade, the name will even change to Collaborate Ultra because Blackboard have “redesigned Collaborate to give your users a better teaching and learning experience—the Ultra experience” (Blackboard Inc., 2016)

elearning@ed 2016 Poster Session – Collaborate Ultra

Having been involved in beta testing and pilot projects for Ultra, I can attest to an improved online experience with Collaborate Ultra versus Classic Collaborate which means you can:

• Join sessions quickly –no longer need to install java, it’s web-browser based.
• Enjoy an intuitive interface – the updated Collaborate Ultra interface is simple and easy to use.
• Focus on teaching – the new simplified interface is easy to use so instructors can focus on teaching.

Information Services are planning on upgrading to Collaborate Ultra in mid to late Summer 2016.

If you’d like to be kept up to date about Collaborate Ultra please join the Collaborate Alerts Mailing list:

Instructions on Subscribing to a Mailing List

Collaborate-alerts mailing list

Further information about the upgrade at the University of Edinburgh:

Upgrade to Collaborate Ultra: Summer 2016

Further information specifically about Collaborate Ultra:

Blackboard Help: Collaborate Ultra

Collaborate Ultra at elearning@ed 2016 / Educational Design and Engagement by is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

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