Chapter 4
Collaboration
The Collaboration tool provides instructors with two different options: Lightweight Chat and Virtual Classroom. The Lightweight Chat is a text-based tool that gives you the ability to send private messages, view user information, and set archiving controls. The Virtual Classroom has all the features of the Lightweight Chat but also provides a comprehensive Classroom Tool Box.
Collaboration section of the Control Panel.
By default, each course is created with two default Collaboration sessions: Lecture Hall (Virtual Classroom) and Office Hours (Lightweight Chat). Instructors can begin by modifying either of these sessions or creating a new session. Notice the two default sessions do not have a start or end date. However, instructors can create sessions with timed availability and the dates will appear on this screen. The creation of multiple sessions will allow instructors to better organize archives of different chats on different days.
To Create a New Session:
- From the course Control Panel, select "Collaboration" under Course Tools.
- Click on "Create Collaboration Session" in the upper left corner.
- Under Item 1, provide a name for your session (e.g. Test Chat 1).
- Under Item 2, select the dates your session will be held. (If you do not choose a date, your session will be ongoing.)
- Click the "Yes" radio button to make the session available.
- Under Item 3, choose the type of chat function that you wish to use for your session (Lightweight Chat or Virtual Classroom).
- Click the "Submit" button.
- Click "OK" to acknowledge the receipt of your changes.
- Click "OK" or use the breadcrumb trail to return to the Control Panel.
When selecting times for chat sessions, allow at least one hour ahead of the schedule This permits students to test-use the chat system.
You will now see the information displayed for all your sessions: Session Name, Tool, Start Date, and End Date. You will also see tool buttons to the far right of each session name: Join, Manage and Remove. The "Join" button will only be visible for those sessions (rooms) that are currently available (open) for discussions. To change the settings for one of your sessions, just click on the "Manage" button. The "Remove" button deletes a session from the Blackboard system and cannot be undone.
Archiving is not an automatic process in the new Collaboration tools. For Lightweight Chat or Virtual Classroom, instructors must specify where to begin and end the archiving of information. This is done by clicking on the buttons in the upper right corner of the session page. Instructors can also add bookmarks to the archive session.
In the Lightweight Chat, participants can join the session and see conversations that have taken place prior to joining a specific session (unless the instructor/moderator clears the display).
To Join the Lightweight Chat Session:
- Click on the "Join" button for the Office Hours session. Participant information will be listed on the left panel and conversations will be listed on the right panel.
- To Participate in the dialogue, type your message in the text box to the right of the "Compose" button and then click the "Send" button.
- To paste text from other applications, click the "Compose" button and paste into the window and then click the "Send" button.
- To send a private message to a participant, highlight their name in the participant panel and then click on the Private Message button. A new screen will appear for you to type and send your message. Remember to start the archiver when
All formatting will be lost when pasting text from other applications. Hence, it is recommended large sections of text be sent paragraph-by-paragraph.
Remember to start the archiver when beginning a chat.
The Virtual Classroom facilitates real time discussion and lessons. In the Virtual Classroom, the Tool Box panel on the left provides several features:
- Course Map: View and display course contents while in the chat session.
- Whiteboard: Includes a Tools Palette to present information by drawing or entering text or equations, and allows for multiple pages to be created.
- Group Browser: Preview and display specific web pages while in the chat session.
- Ask Question: Visible only to users who have permission to ask questions.
- Question Inbox: Manage and respond to questions, in sequence, without any overriding dialogue that may occur.
To Join the Virtual Classroom Session:
- Click on the "Join" button for the Lecture Hall Virtual Classroom that has been created for your course. Participant information will be listed in the left panel and conversations will be listed in the right panel.
- To Participate in the dialogue, type your message in the text box to the right of the "Compose" button and then click the "Send" button.
- To paste text from other applications, click the "Compose" button and paste into the window and then click the "Send" button.
- To send a private message to a participant, highlight their name in the participant panel and then click on the Private Message button. A new screen will appear for you to type and send your message.
Remember archiving is not an automatic process.
Instructors have the ability to control user rights and to assign roles to class
participants. To control user rights, click the "Controls" button located at the top of the
chat window and choose the abilities for each role. To assign roles to specific students,
select a name from the participant list and click one of the role icons.
Additionally, in order for any archived sessions for either chat tool to be visible to participants, the instructor must change the archive settings to "available."
To Make an Archive Available:
- Click on the "Archives" button to the right of the Session Name.
- At the next screen, click on the "Manage" button to the right of the Archive Name.
- Under Item 2 (Availability to Students), click the "Yes" radio button to make the archive available to students and then click the "Submit" button.
- Click "OK" to acknowledge the receipt of your changes.
- Click "OK" to return to the Collaboration Session page.