Monday, October 15, 2012

To make a Collaborate sessions unavailable

 Use the feature below while setting up the session so that student do not enter the session while preparing the class/meeting

Click “Create Session” and select the Participation tab.  The first option on the tab is “Restrict Participants”.  Check the box and student will not be able to access/see the session.



When preparation is complete, click on the chevron next to the session and elect “Edit” from the dropdown list.  Select the Participation icon and un-check the “Restrict Participants” box



Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Blackboard Collaborate Mobile


     Main Screen















Chat Feature 

 iPad Functionality

The iPad functions a passive device for Collaborate. Take a look at what you CANNOT DO with Collaborate on an iPad.

What You Cannot Do With an iPad

1.  Access Web Tour (this feature is not included yet)

2.  Access Talk device (you cannot talk into the iPad in a Collaborate session)

3.  Interact with Whiteboard (you can see the whiteboard, but you cannot draw on it etc..)







Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Friday, May 25, 2012

BB Collaborate Google Chrome Problem

When I am using Google Chrome and I click on the link to launch the   session, nothing happens.           

There is a known issue with Google chrome automatically launching java web start (JNLP) files that are necessary to open an Elluminate Live or Blackboard Collaborate session. There are two methods to work around this problem.
            
 1) After entering your name to sign into your session (also see screen shots

 When prompted to keep or discard the file --> "meeting.jnlp" choose keep 

 Next to meeting.jnlp, choose the drop down menu on the right (right arrow menu) and select "always open files of this type."

The session should then open and all subsequent sessions should now open automatically.  If the session does not open, close the browser and re-enter the session link, the session should then open automatically.
                                                   


                                                                       









Or you can use an alternate web browser, Firefox or Internet Explorer

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

BB Collaborate Audio/Video Issues

I cannot hear the people talking during a web conference?
Check your audio set up. You may have more than 1 mic (i.e. headset and web cam) connected to the computer. You should only have 1 audio unit connected to   the computer. DO NOT CONNECT A HEADSET (WITH A MIC) AND A WEB CAM (WITH A MIC). The computer will not know which mic to use. Make sure your speakers are set up in Collaborate.

I cannot see the people on camera during a web conference?
Make sure your video button is turned on in Collaborate. Make sure whoever is talking has their mic turned on.

What happens if my recording playback does not display the Application Sharing and or Web Tour content that occurred in the live session?

There are two workaround solutions to view application sharing or webtour:
A. Playback menu option OR   B. Timeline bar option



Playback Option

Click to highlight Application Sharing Started within the listed items in the Kind column.  Then click Seek at the bottom left of this window.  Close the window using the "X" or by clicking Done on the bottom right. This starts the recording at that point when the Application Share began.



Timeline bar option: Once archive is open, manually move the timeline slider at the bottom of the window to the point in the recording where the Application Share began.  This will display the Appshare content that was visible in the live session.


For Web Tour: Follow instructions above; choose Web Tour vs. Application Sharing. We understand that this is an inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we work on a final solution.


Solution:
To avoid this error and view your recording use one of the following options:
·         Launch the recording using the session URL/link
·         Use the JNLP file; however only use it once

What if during a session the video does not switch when a different person starts talking?

If you only have 2 people participating this will happen, the video will not switch when there are only 2 people. If you have more than 2 people participating and this happens:

*Click on Tools>Click on Video> Make sure “Have camera follow Speaker” is checked.


What happens if I receive an error message “unable to play”?

This error is due to the security improvements made to JNLP files on the Session Administration System (SAS) and Blackboard ELM. In ELM, the "one time use" JNLP file setting is optional and enabled by the Administrator.


What if I hear an echo during a session?

Echo is caused primarily from sound being replayed back through a microphone and or can be related to latency with the connection.

These issues are typically solved with a couple different methods and via best practices for using our tools.


1) Important, when finished speaking, hit the talk button again to turn off your microphone.  This will prevent the #1 reason for echo, which is the sound of another person's voice re-playing back through the open microphone.

2) Latency related to the Internet connection of the user.  Recommend adjusting the connection speed lower, for example, for some users, a move from LAN to wireless makes a big difference. That change can be made by the user from within the session.
Click on--Preferences --> scroll down and highlight "Connection"; adjust this lower, ie from LAN to Cable/DSL, or Wireless.  Experiment with what works.

3) Related to #2 above, be sure Internet connection is sufficient for the bandwidth requirements of the session. If using wireless, ensure signal strength is excellent. Weakness here causes issues.

4) Due to bandwidth intensive nature of the certain tools, be aware of bandwidth usage when using video and application sharing.


5) Ensure computer resources besides bandwidth are free for the tools the session requires. Close any programs not required for use in the session to free up memory and processing power.


***One note of hope for echo issues.  We are working on echo cancellation for a future release of the software as we recognize the need to help our users mitigate this problem.

Can I use any type of headset?

No. It is recommended that you use a USB HEADSET! If you use other headsets you may have audio problems.

When do I need to plug in my headset?

Plug in your USB Headset BEFORE you log in to a Collaborate session. It is important to do this because if you wait to plug in your headset after the session has started you may not be able to hear people speaking during the session. Your computer has to recognize your headset device before you log in.


















Tuesday, May 22, 2012

BB Collaborate Whiteboard Issues



If you type a link in whiteboard but it does not open when you click on it?

**Make sure you typed (http://), otherwise the link will not open in whiteboard.


My link that was loaded in PowerPoint does not work now that I loaded my    PowerPoint into whiteboard.

**Links in PowerPoint DO NOT work when the PowerPoint IS loaded in whiteboard


Why do I see I see a black box on my screen within the application sharing window?
**If the moderator is application sharing one application, for example Adobe reader to display a PDF file, any application window that the moderator puts on top of the Adobe window is not shared, and will appear as a black box to the participants.
To avoid this, do not cover the shared application window with another application or share the entire desktop. If the entire desktop is shared, your participants will see everything open on your desktop.

What happens if I get this error message "Unable to load PowerPoint"?
**This is often caused by having more than one copy of Microsoft Office installed on your computer. The PPT converter does not know which version of Office to run. So, there are several options for how to proceed here: 

The simplest is to uninstall one of the versions of Office, be sure to restart your computer      prior to attempting to upload a PPT again.  If you still receive the error after uninstalling  one  version, you may also need to run the Microsoft Office Cleaner utility to remove registry entries that might also cause confusion for the PPT converter.
1) Go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 and pick the appropriate version of Office to uninstall to get the Cleaner Utility.  You can also visit http://support.microsoft.com/mats/Program_Install_and_Uninstall for automated Microsoft fix it utilities.
2) If you want to keep both versions of Office. You can continue converting the slides to images prior to uploading them to Web Conferencing.
3) You can try using OpenOffice, which can be downloaded from http://www.openoffice.org/ for  free. Open your existing Powerpoint files in OpenOffice to make sure they are still formatted correctly.Then close OpenOffice and upload the files to Web Conferencing. You should be prompted whether or not to use PowerPoint or OpenOffice for the conversion, use OpenOffice.

Is there a limit to how much information I can post on whiteboard?
**Yes. In most cases, the Whiteboard has a limit of 10 megabytes at any given time. If a new file would exceed that limit, an error dialogue will appear with specific details pertaining to your upload, such as by how much it exceeds the current limit.


              Workarounds
·        If the limit is breached by a single presentation, you can re-save that presentation as multiple files that can then be loaded separately.
·        Reducing the size of the Whiteboard canvas can dramatically reduce the file size of a presentation, often with only minimal impact on image quality. Click here to learn how to reduce the size of the Whiteboard canvas.
·        Slides that have already been presented to your participants can be removed from the whiteboard to free more space.

Note: The size of your native files (such as an image file or Powerpoint presentation) is not necessarily indicative of the size of those files once they have been imported to the Whiteboard. All files placed on the Whiteboard are converted to .wbd files, which are often much smaller (although not always) than the source file.
Further Details
The maximum capacity of a Web Conferencing session actually varies depending on how your institution manages Web Conferencing rooms.   

·         SAS Open Access - 10 MB
·         Elluminate Live! Manager (Default settings) - 10 MB
·         vClass - 10 MB
·         vRoom - 10 MB
·         vOffice - 20MB








  

Monday, May 21, 2012

BB Collaborate System Errors

Suggestion When Using Collaborate
  

APP SHARE DOES NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS 8!

BB Collaborate Application Share does not support Windows 8 right now. This is expected to be resolved in May 2013. 


Clear Cache and Cookies if you have trouble with Collaborate, to do so:

Here are instructions for various browsers:

Firefox 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ... for Windows

  1. If the Tools menu does not appear at the top, press the "ALT" key on your keyboard.
  2. From the Tools menu, select "Clear Recent History".
  3. From the "Time Range to clear" drop-down, choose "Everything"
  4. Under "Details" check "Cache" and "Cookies".  Click "Clear Now"  

Firefox 2, 3, 3.5 for Windows (version not recommended for Blackboard)

  1. If the Tools menu does not appear at the top, press the "ALT" key on your keyboard.
  2. From the Tools menu, select "Clear Private Data", and then choose Cache.
Google Chrome (all versions)
  1. From the Wrench menu (upper-right), click Tools > "Clear Browsing Data..."
  2. Check "Empty the Cache" and "Delete Cookies..." and click the "Clear Browsing Data" button.

Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9

  1. Push the ALT key on the keyboard to reveal the menus at the top.
  2. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options...
  3. Choose the General tab.
  4. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  5. Next to "Temporary Internet Files", click Delete files...
  6. Click Close, and then click OK to exit.

Internet Explorer 6 (not recommended for Blackboard, please update browser)

  1. Push the ALT key on the keyboard to reveal the menus at the top.
  2. From the Tools menu (for version 4.x, the View menu), select Internet Options...
  3. Choose the General tab.
  4. In the "Temporary Internet Files" section, click Delete Files...
  5. To confirm the deletion, click OK.
  6. In the Internet Options dialog box, click OK.

Firefox 1, 2, 3, 4 for Macintosh

  1. From the Firefox menu, select Preferences...
  2. From the sheet that drops down, select Privacy. In 2.0, click Clear Now. In 1.5, click Clear Cache Now. In 1.0, next to Cache, click the Clear button, and then OK.

Safari for Macintosh (not recommended for use with Blackboard)

  1. From the Safari menu, select Empty Cache...
  2. When prompted, click Empty to confirm that you want to empty the cache.

What should I do if I am using Internet Explorer and when I click on the link to launch the session, nothing happens?

There is a setting in Internet Explorer that needs to be adjusted to ensure automatic launching of java web start (JNLP) files that are necessary to open an Elluminate Live or Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing 11 sessions.  Enabling this setting will allow the meeting.jnlp file to automatically prompt for file download. The following steps typically solve this issue, also reference screen shot.

Open Internet Explorer; Go to Tools > Internet Options > Security Tab, click on the "Custom" button.

This will open a second window, "Security Settings", scroll down to "Downloads" and under "Automatic prompting for file downloads" click enable. This will allow you to properly launch meetings.Click OK in that window and the Internet Options window.

Close and reopen Internet Explorer re-launch the session link.