Step-By-Step
Group Collaboration Virtual Classroom
(Text version)

1. Instructors and TAs have the option to allow groups to access a Collaboration function. If your instructor has created group pages and allowed the Collaboration function for your group you can access that function by:

• Log into Blackboard as usual.
• Click on Communications / Group Pages and click on the name of the group of which you are a member. Your instructor or TA should let you know which group they have given you access. This displays your group's Group page.
• Click on the "Collaboration" link. This displays the Collaboration Sessions page for your group.

2. The Collaboration Sessions contains two types of synchronous communication tools.

• First, is a simple chat room, called by default, "Lightweight Chat". This chat room operates similar to a common AOL Instant messenger chat function.
• Second, is a multi-featured chat room, called by default, "Virtual Classroom". This chat room allows users to present ideas on a virtual white board, display web pages or display the Blackboard course content written to a text box.

3. One example of each type of the chat room is available to join by default. These two chat rooms are named, by default, "Office Hours", which is a Lightweight chat and "Lecture Hall", which is a Virtual Classroom chat. These two chat rooms are always available to all members of the group.

4. Group Collaboration sessions are different that the class-wide collaboration session in that all members of the group are given administrative access to the collaboration sessions. Any member of the group may create and schedule new collaboration sessions. To create and schedule a new collaboration session:

• Click on the "Create Collaboration Session" button located on the top of the page. This will display the "create collaboration session" form.
• Type in a new name for the session in the box marked "Session Name" under section #1.
• Set the Start, and if you want, end, dates and times for the new session under section #2. If yo choose an end time make sure to checkmark the "end after" box.
• Use the dropdown list under section #3 to choose either Lightweight Chat or Virtual Classroom for the type of collaboration tool.
• Click on the "Submit" button on the bottom of the page. A receipt will be displayed telling you that the collaboration setting has been created. Click on "ok" to return to the Collaboration page.
• The session name is now listed on the Collaboration Sessions page. If the start time you set for the session is sometime in the future the "Join" button will not appear on this page until that date and time has arrived.

5. When many sessions are added to the site you may want to use the search options to locate a collaboration session.

6. To join a collaboration session just click on the "Join" button next to the name of the session. The first time you do this, you may have to download some software and install it on your local computer. This usually happens automatically. Answer any questions that may be asked of you during the download and install process. Once the software is installed on your local computer, the chat room should open in a new window. Note that Macintosh users running OS X and Netscape should run Netscape 7. On Macintosh computers, Netscape may put the Collaboration window in the background. If this happens, check under the Window menu for the chat room window. Blackboard does not support the Safari browser.

7. Each collaboration session listed on the Collaboration page has a "Manage" button, located to the right of the session name, which any group member can use to change the sessions name, date,time and type. Each session also has a "Remove" button, also located to the right of the session name, which any group member can use to remove the session from the list.

8. To participate in a group's Virtual Classroom:

• Log into the Blackboard course site as usual.
• Click on Communications / Group Pages and click on the name of the group of which you are a member. This displays your group's Group page.
• Click on the Collaboration link. This displays the collaboration page.
  
• Click on the "Join" button, located to the right of the Virtual Classroom session. Note that since there may be any number of chat sessions available. You may have to inform other members of the group by e-mail which chat session to use and what date and time to "join" the session. After a few seconds the Virtual Classroom will open in a new window.
  
• The Virtual Classroom is divided into 6 sections. On the top of the window is a menu bar with a number of icons that control various aspects of the chat room. On the top left is a a set of Classroom tool that display different types of content in the content display window. Below that, on the middle left is a control panel that will change depending on the Classroom tool you have selected. Below that, on the bottom left is a user panel that will list the name of each person that has joined the chat room. This list will automatically update as new users join the chat. On the top right is the content display window and below that, on the right, is the message window and composition area.
  
• To participate in the chat session simply type in your comments in the composition area on the bottom right of the chat room window and click on the "Enter" key on your keyboard (or click on the "send" button). This will display your comments in the message window and the message window of all those that have joined the session. There is a limit to 1000 characters per "send". As more comments are added to the message window the messages will begin to automatically scroll so that the latest message is always on the bottom.
  
• Unlike the class-wide Virtual Classroom, all participants in the the group Virtual Classroom are listed as active members and have administrative access. This means that there are no controls to limit any group member's participation in the chat. All of the "active" and "passive" controls in a Groups's Virtual Classroom have no effect on limiting any group member's participation.
  
• Any Group Virtual Classroom participant can activate the White Board function by clicking on the "White Board" tool in the Classroom tool box on the upper left. This activates that participant's white board tools and options in the control box on the middle left.
• Click on the Controls Tab. To display the default page 1 of the White Board click on the "Display" button. This will display Page 1 of the White board to all participant's content display.
• Click on the Tools tab. The white board tools panel contains pen, line, shape, equation and text tools. Choose a tool and draw or drag it on the content display window. The result will be displayed on your display and on the display of all participants. To use the Text tool, first choose the tool then click on the white board. a dialogue box will open allowing you to type in text. Click on "Insert". To use the Equation tool, first choose the tool then click on the white board. a dialogue box will open allowing you to select and combine equation symbols. Click on "Insert".
• You can adjust the line and shape color and thickness as well as the font and font size using the dropdown boxes in the whiteboard toolbox.
• Click on the Controls tab of the White Board controls. You can add additional white board pages by clicking on the "plus" icon. To display the new page to all participants select the page and click on the display button. You can delete a page by selecting the page and clicking on the "X" icon.
• To move items on a white board, select the item with the arrow tool and drag it to a new position.
• To erase the current white board on all participant's displays click on the eraser tool at the top of the white board window.
  
• Any Group Virtual Classroom participant can activate the Group Browser function by clicking on the "Group Browser" tool in the Classroom tool box on the upper left.
• In the Group Browser control box on the middle left type in any valid URL then click on the Go button. This will display web page in your content window and the content window of all the participants. As an alternative you can use the dropdown box in the Group Browser controls to preview the page in a separate window.
• Note that scrolling the web page in one user's window will not make the web page scroll in any other participant's display window.
• All internal links within the web page are active however clicking on an internal web page link in one participant's display window will not affect the display in other participant's display window.
  
• Any Group Virtual Classroom participant can activate the Course Map function by clicking on the "Course Map" tool in the Classroom tool box on the upper left.
• Use the Course Map in the middle left box to locate any piece of content currently on the Blackboard course site. Select the course map reference and click on the "GO" button. This will display the content as it is displayed in the button/folder structure.
• If the content uploaded to the course site is in the form of attached files, only the link to that attached file will be displayed in the content display area. Clicking on a course content link in one participant's display window will not affect the display in other participant's display window.
• Content displayed on the course site via a Blackboard text box or content added in a Blackboard WYSIWYG editor is displayed on all participant's display window.
• Note that scrolling course content in one user's window will not make the content scroll in any other participant's display window.
  
• Any Group Virtual Classroom participant can activate the Ask Question function by clicking on the "Course Map" tool in the Classroom tool box on the upper left. This opens the Ask Question box on the middle left. Type in your question and click on the "Send" button.
• Because all participants in a Group Virtual Classroom session have administrative access, all participants will have access to all questions and all participants can respond to all questions. To view and answer a participant's question, click on the "Question Inbox" function in the upper right. This will list the names of all participants that asked a question. To view a question, select the person's name and the question will be displayed in the box below the list of names. To answer the question, type in the answer in the compose box on the bottom right of the chat window and press "enter" on your keyboard or the "Send" button. Note that by answering in this manner all participants will see the answer. As an alternative, you can answer the question using Private Messaging"
  
• To send a Private Message to someone participating in the chat, select the person's name from the list on the lower left then click on the "Private Message" button on the bottom left. This will display a private message box. Type in your private message and click on the "Send" button in the bottom right-hand corner of the private message box. Your message will be displayed on your chat message display and on the display of the person you sent the message. It will not be displayed on any other participant's message display.
• It is possible to split your message display so that all private messages are displayed on one side of the message display and all other comments are displayed on the other side of the message display. To do this, click on the "View" button at the top of the chat window. Under Private Messaging, select "Show in separate frame" and click "OK". Your message display is now split into two sections. One side will display all of the general comments and the other will display any private messages sent to you or those you send.
  
• To clear your message display or the message display of all of the participants, click on the "Clear" button located at the top of the chat window. This will display a "Clear Display" dialogue box. select either "Clear local display" or "Clear all user's display" and then click on "OK".
  
• Any Group Virtual Classroom participant can activate the Breakout function by clicking on the "Breakouts" tool located on the top of the chat window. Clicking on the Breakouts button displays a dialogue box with the names of all of the current chat room participants. Checkmark the participants you want to include in the Breakout and click on "OK". A message will then appear on the display of each selected participant telling them that they have been asked to join a breakout session. Answering "OK" to this message will open a new Virtual Classroom chat session window with those selected as the participants. All of the functions available in the original Group Virtual Classroom chat session are now also available in the Breakout session.
  
• Group Virtual Classroom sessions are, by default, not recorded or archived. Any participant in a Group Virtual Classroom can initiate a recording of the chat session. To begin recording a chat session click on the "Record" button located in the upper right of the chat window. A dialogue box will appear requesting a name for the archived recording. Type in a new name or accept the default and click on "OK". All messages (except private messages) will now be recorded. Any participant in a Group Virtual Classroom can pause the recording by clicking on the "Pause" button. Any participant in a Group Virtual Classroom can stop the recording by clicking on the "Stop" button. Any participant in a Group Virtual Classroom can insert a bookmark into the recording by clicking on the "Insert Bookmark" button. When the "Insert Bookmark" button is pressed a bookmark dialogue box appears. Type in a name for the bookmark and click on "OK".
  
• Any participant in a Group Virtual Classroom can end the chat session by clicking on the red "End" button located at the top of the chat window. Clicking on the "End" button displays an End Session dialogue box warning that this action will end the entire chat session for all of the participants. Clicking "OK" will display an information box on all participants displays telling them that the chat session has been closed.
• If you wish to leave a chat session without ending it for all of the other participants, simply close the window by clicking on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the chat window.
  
• To view the archives of the chat session go to the group's collaboration page. Any session that has been recorded will have a "Archives" button to the right of the session name. Click on the "Archives" button. This will display the Sessions Archive page. Click on the name assigned to the archive. This will display the archive for that session.
• Any member of the group can access and manage all collaboration session archives, manage all collaboration settings and remove any collaboration setting by clicking on the appropriate button located to the right of the collaboration listing.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this Step-By-Step procedure contact the Tufts Blackboard Administrator at: nhirsig@tufts.edu