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Collaborate is a video conferencing tool built into Blackboard. It’s kind of like Zoom, but it’s tailored for collaboration between instructors and students in an educational environment. This guide will show you how to join a Collaborate session in Blackboard Ultra! 

How to Join a Collaborate Session

  1. Login to Blackboard at learn.uark.edu with your UARK email and password.
  2. Click the Courses tab in the left-hand navigation panel.
    Click Courses
  3. Click on the name of the course where the Collaborate session is scheduled.
  4. Click Join Session located under the Details & Actions panel.
    Click Collaborate "Join Session" button

Note: A small drop-down menu should appear, and it will list all available sessions in that course. “Course Room” is most commonly used, but instructors may choose to manually create sessions with custom titles & expiration dates. If you don’t see any available sessions, and you believe one should be available, please reach out to your instructor!

  1. From the resulting drop-down menu, click on the session as designated by your instructor.
    Select Collaborate Session from Dropdown Menu
  2. You should see a black screen with a purple circle indicating that the session is buffering or loading.
    Buffering Screen
  3. You have now joined the session!
    Joined Collaborate Session

Note: You may also be prompted to allow your browser to use your microphone and/or camera. If this is not permitted by your computer’s permissions, you won’t be able to use Collaborate.
Microphone & camera access prompt

Taking the Collaborate Tutorial

If this is your first time using Collaborate, you may be prompted to begin a brief tutorial that will show you how to use Collaborate.
Prompt to begin tutorial

We recommend taking the tutorial if you have time, but you can always access the tutorial from the Session Menu at the top-left corner of the screen (illustrated below).
Click the Session Menu

Click "Tell me about Collaborate"

Click "Introduction to Collaborate"

Now you know how to use Collaborate!

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