Decommissioning of Blackboard Collaborate

UCL will cease to support and license Blackboard Collaborate from the end of the academic year 2021-22. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are UCL’s recommended platforms for live online teaching. The Education planning 2021-22 web pages offer fully up-to-date resources and guidance to support colleagues to teach remotely across a variety of approaches, including lectures, seminars and group study, tutorials, and project supervision. You may find the section on Choosing the right platform for live online teaching particularly helpful.

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Blackboard Collaborate is UCL's web conferencing or online classroom platform. It is integrated within Moodle as an activity, providing access to a range of different functions in a live, or synchronous, learning environment. These features include:

Audio and video conferencing;
Presentation and whiteboard facilities;
Application sharing;
Text chat for student discussion and questions;
Tools for hand-raising and reactions;
Polling;
Breakout rooms for small group activities.

Collaborate can be used for a variety of teaching and learning activities, including seminars and interactive group study, Q&A discussions, guest lectures, and tutorials. It can also act as an informal course meeting space and be used with participants from outside of UCL.

The maximum number of participants for a given session (including moderators and presenters) is 250. If you require greater than 250 participants but less that 500 please follow the guidance on Collaborate Large Sessions