Blackboard Collaborate Reviews & Product Details

At my institution we use Blackboard Collaborate as a plug-in within our learning management system, Canvas, which makes its use simple and easy. I use the tool to host virtual meetings and events with the students involved in career development and career advancement activities. The ability to invite external guests (like employers) makes this tool an important resource in providing students with exposure to a variety of speakers and topics. Overall, it is very easy to set-up sessions, start and end them, and to create recordings of the meetings and events for archival use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

This tool does what is supposed to in a very easy way and as a add-on resource to Canvas, I don't really have much to say about it in terms of dislikes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the ease of use of Blackboard. Everything is in one place. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish it were easier to communicate with peers. I don't like how the email server is set up. The email portion of Blackboard is embedded with in the application. I wish the application would allow to open the mail application on the computer allowing it to be easier to read and the format being comparable to what I am familiar to using on an everyday basis. Additionally, I wish I had the ability to not have the email carbon copied to myself. I can understand in order to have a paper trail to look back upon. Instead I believe it should be an option, as it is in a typical email as well weather we send a carbon copy to ourselves as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The platform is solid and stable, and works with a number of devices and platforms. Support is usually responsive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Obfuscated billing - the new per minute billing seems to put clients at a disadvantage. Large classes are still not easy to setup (> 500 users in a session). Would suggest having your own arrangement for storage of recordings, as the contracted amount can balloon quickly forcing you do delete / move on short notice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the way that different programs are able to be incorporated. It's simple to use breakout rooms and use polls within the program. I also like that all the tools that you can use are on one page. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The entire program can be a bit sloppy at times. The video quality can often be choppy. The audio sometimes can go in and out as well. The price of Blackboard Collaborate is a bit higher than other options in the same class. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like the best is the fact that you can figure it out everything in this application in a couple of minutes, each clic is an answer. The design is quite clear and very intuitive, maybe that is the reason of the success of this platform among others that are being using because of the COVID - 19. You won't have to be worried about the fluency of the app and switching between menus is just smooth, lag does not exist in this app. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Maybe the amount of internet that it uses, sometimes the strength of the internet get lower and lower, but it should be solved if your internet connection is enough. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that Blackboard Collaborate allows users to meet in a shared space within the LMS platform. This allows for meetings to occur in a space that users are already familiar with. As an instructional tool students gain access from the moment that they are enrolled in the course. For the purpose of synchronous instruction it is a wonderful and highly useful tool that is very user friendly.

Features that I enjoy the most are the ease at which meeting sessions can be created, the ability to repeat sessions and therefore eliminate the need to setup recurring sessions, the ability to allow for participants to have early entry into a meeting at intervals up to an hour before start time and the ability to share attendance within the Learning Management System. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I currently do not have any dislikes I have found this tool to be exceptional in meeting my instructional needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Seamless integration with Blackboard Learn LMS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not yet as fully featured as other collaboration products, such as Zoom. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The level of flexibility it gave to control the way interactions with students can be done, for both the TA and Professor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes the UI felt clunky and clicking on certain elements did not register well enough to be confident that something was happening. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that students have the option to indicate their hand is raised during class. I can also post a mini survey during class as an understanding check. You are also able to create breakout groups so students can participate in small group discussion. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

In order for me to observation breakout groups I have to join each individual group. That means I cannot easily move from group to group. Also, I cannot read what the group members previously posted in the small group discussion. Also, if a student comes late to class then they are not automatically added to a group so you need to keep an eye to make sure you don't have an stragglers or else they will just be left in the main room. If everyone has their microphone on then there is also a ton of feedback. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blackboard Collaborate is great for virtual learning especially at a time like this when many students are learning virtually. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The share screen feature does not always work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The able to communicate with my teachers and be active in live lessons Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Everything is organized on the application. I never run into tech problem or issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's secure and you're able to get onto Zoom meetings with the teacher through Blackboard Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's hard for elementary school students to remember the steps to navigate these online learning tools without help from an adult Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I enjoy that Blackboard Collaborate offers this a powerful immersive software experience in through your computer, tablet, or mobile device. It can be easily accessed anywhere. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

When accessing the Discussion Board the app dropped out from under me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

All-In-One set up.

Lectures, Notes, Assignment, Discussion Boards...it's all in there. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Login challenges. Not always easy for all teaching and student staff to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blackboard collaborate is a very user-friendly service. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It can be difficult/tedious to look back on your previous posts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Blackboard Collaborate has become our community college's go-to tool for many reasons:

*It is already present in each Blackboard class, so faculty can easily set up a Collaborate room for synchronous class sessions, student presentations in an online environment, virtual office hours, or small group meetings when students at a distance need to work on a project together. You may think any webinar tool can do this, but the presence of the whiteboard, file sharing, and breakout rooms makes it much more robust for teaching.

Almost all of our tutoring departments now have rooms set up for students who cannot get to campus to attend mandatory tutoring sessions for their classes, or for those who just need a little help. The tutor just sends the student the guest link to the room, and they set an appointment to meet. The students can share their work, allowing the tutor to see where they need assistance, and can make markup comments on the work for visual clarity. The sessions can also be recorded for the student to view later if they need to re-visit the topics covered.

More an more of our formerly ITV classes are switching to Collaborate, as they see the benefit to the students. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Having used the previous version of Collaborate before they left the Java platform, there is not much I dislike...if you used it then, try it again! However, I do miss the availability to invite more than one section of a class to a scheduled session. We do not have SAAS, so I am not sure if this is available in that version of Collaborate, but it was nice if we needed to hold an orientation or have a guest speaker to have the ability to invite more than one section to attend. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have used Blackboard Collaborate over that last several years. I have always found it to be easy to use and very user friendly. If you know the term "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Why should I use another one. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I did not see any negatives. It is all positives. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that it works for presentations and small group discussions Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don’t like that it loses functionality when groups get larger. It’s difficult to manage bigger groups Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's easy to use and the feature that i like a lot is the breakout rooms for any group work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's very pricey and sometimes the video quality is bad. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that Blackboard provides a professional platform with Blackboard Collaborate for instructors and students to voice, video, and type chat. I like that I can add in new students so that I can create groups or meet individually with a student. I also like that it is possible to just voice chat or just type chat since I do not always have the opportunity to video chat with students and many students do not wish to video chat. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Similar to Blackboard Learn, I find Blackboard Collaborate a bit difficult to use and not particularly user intuitive. I prefer using the Google Hangouts platform, though a bit less professional, because of how easy to use it is for my classes. However, as a student coming into the class, it is easy to use since they can simply use the four buttons at the bottom for video, voice, and type chatting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The options and user interface are great. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The design is less user friendly than some other programs for beginners. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Collaborate has grown over the years and is almost to a really reliable product. I like that there is now a browser based version and that you can have breakout rooms! The polls, quizzes, and other functionalities have really improved the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are frequent needs to update your system at times to allow for this product to run. If you do not have IT privileges on your machine you might have to work with an IT person at your job. The web based version seems to avoid most of these downfalls. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Easy communication and excellent interactive learning experience between instructors and students. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It doesn't have mobile app support nor is it new tech friendly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability to integrate it in Moodle course areas, so that there's no untidy logging in using passwords. The software is relatively cheap for a license and does everything we need it to do (sharing content with students, forming break out groups, recording sessions, etc) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There's not much I don't like. I guess if it was free, then that would be amazing, but other than that there's not much to fault! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.