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Northern Illinois University

Teaching with Blackboard

Virtual Classroom

Find More Information FAQ

View answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff.

Creating a Virtual Session

  1. In the Control Panel click Course Tools and click Collaboration
  2. Click to add a session:
    collaboration session
  3. Name the session and select dates or availability.
  4. Determine whether the session will be CHAT or VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
  5. Submit.

Entering a Virtual Classroom/Lecture Hall Session

  1. Find the collaboration session you wish to join.
  2. Click the Join button to the right of the collaboration session name. You will see a page that says "Chat Loading." Depending on your connection speed, it may take a few minutes for everything to download.
  3. A new window will appear

This is the Virtual Classroom. The Virtual Classroom window has four major panes. On the upper left, you see a list of all the tools available in the Virtual Classroom. On the upper right, you will see a Display area that can be used to share information. On the lower right, you see all messages sent to the group. On the lower left, you are shown a list of all users currently in the chat room.

Virtual Classroom / Lecture Hall

virtual classroom / lecture hall

Lightweight Chat

Lightweight Chat

Changing Your Viewing Options for Private Messages view

You can set your chat window to display private messages either inline (with the other messages you send and receive) or in a separate frame (which creates a new pane in the Virtual Classroom window containing only private messages).

  1. Click the View button.
  2. A new window labeled Session Options will appear.
  3. Select the radio button next to Show in-line or Show in separate frame.
  4. Click the OK button

Configuring Access Rights for Active and Passive Users controls

You can determine what parts of the Virtual Classroom users have access to, and you can differentiate between Active and Passive users. By default, Active Users have access to everything except the Question Inbox. Passive Users have access only to the Ask Question area.

From the Virtual Classroom:

  1. Click the Controls button.
  2. The Session Controls window will appear.
  3. Click the boxes next to each feature you want Active Users and Passive Users to have.
  4. Click OK.

Sending a Private Message private message

  1. Click on the name (or User ID) of the participant you wish to sent a private message to in the lower left pane.
  2. Click the Private Message button and type your message.
  3. Click Send.

Changing a User's Status changing user roles

You can change any user (or a group of users) from Active to Passive users and back again. This will change their access rights, depending on how you have configured access rights.

  1. Click on the Name of the participant whose status you wish to change.
  2. If you need to select more than one user, you can shift click or control click on the additional users you need to select.
  3. Immediately to the right of the Private Message button, you will see a button with the Active User icon (which looks like a profile of a person) and another button, the Passive User icon.
  4. Select the appropriate image.

User Info user info

From this button you can send a private message to the user, set the role and if users are being disruptive you have the option to expel them from the collaboration session. You can't block them from re-entering, however, unless you remove them from your course completely.

Recording an Archive

Archives let you record what people say in a chat session. Once you have recorded an archive for a particular chat session, you can review, sort, modify, and remove archives - for more information on this, please see the documentation on Managing Communication Archives. Note: archiving does not happen automatically. The Faculty Member must remember to start recording the archive at the beginning of the session.

  1. Press the Record button in the upper right corner.
  2. The Name Archive window will appear.
  3. Enter the name for the chat archive. The default is the current date and time.Click OK .
  4. When you have finished recording your archive, press the Stop button. You can leave the virtual classroom without stopping the archive, it will continue recording.

Course Map

The Course Map tool lets you display pages from the content areas of your class to all users in the collaboration session. Displaying Content from your Course to Users:

  1. Click the Course Map button in the Classroom Tool pane (upper left).
  2. Click on folders to open them.
  3. Click on the content you wish to display. It should be highlighted in purple.
  4. Select Display to Class in the drop-down menu.
  5. Click Go.

Whiteboard

The Whiteboard lets you draw, write, and create slides for your class.

Group Browser

The Group Browser lets you display web pages for your class. Unlike previous versions of Blackboard, however, the Group Browser does not display a new page for everyone if you click on a link—you must enter each page separately.

  1. Click the Group Browser button in the Classroom Tool pane (upper left).
  2. Enter the URL you wish to display in the Address field.
  3. Select Display to Class in the drop-down menu below the address field.
  4. Click Go!

Ask Question Tool

The Ask Question tool is designed for students to ask questions of the Faculty Member. These questions are stored in the Question Inbox tool and are not displayed to all users until they are answered by the Faculty Member.

Breakout Sessions

You can create a Breakout Session during a Collaboration Session. This is a new Virtual Classroom window that can be used for a smaller group discussion.

  1. Click the Breakouts button.
  2. Select the users you want in the breakout session from the list by checking their names.
  3. Click OK.
  4. This feature periodically bumps students from the main class group or causes confusion as there are several windows open simultaneously.

Sending a Collaboration Message

  1. Click in the blank field just to the right of the Compose button
  2. Type your message and click the Send button (or press return).

Ending a Collaboration Session

When you have finished a collaboration session with the Virtual Classroom tool, you have the option of expelling all users as you close the session. Press the End button. end

Blackboard Frequently Asked Questions FAQ


Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to Blackboard communication tools? Review the answers to frequently asked questions regarding the communication tools in Blackboard. Also, consider attending one of the upcoming Blackboard workshops.

Last Updated: 09/05/2007