Troy University
eTROY Colloquium
April17-18, 2012


Troy University enabled Blackboard Collaborate
during Term 2 of 2011
Blackboard Collaborate consists of several
additional tools
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Blackboard IM
Voice Board
Voice Direct
Voice Email
Voice Presentation
Voice Podcaster
College of
Arts/Science
College of
5%
27%
Communication
32%
College of Education
College of
Health/Human
14%
14%
8%
Services
Sorrell College of
Business
Etroy Training








Adult Education
American Sign Language (ASL)
International Relations
World Affairs
Public Administration
Counseling and Psychology
Finite Mathematics
History







Student Presentations
Instructor Lectures
Signing /Foreign Language
Office Hours
Group Meetings
Faculty Training
Meetings between Departments










Whiteboard
Web Conferencing Recordings in Instant Message
Instant Videos, Directly in Chat
Customize Clipart Library
Insight into Student Activity w/ Page Explorer
Load Engaging Activities in Multiple Breakout Rooms
Breakout Room Activities Made Simple w/Compound
Actions in your Plan
Add Closed Captioning
Give Your Test a Voice of its Own
Voice Podcasts Delivered to Inbox or iTunes Library



Troy University runs both Wimba and Blackboard
Collaborate Web-Conferencing platforms.
TROY has this option only until the end of 2014
Both platforms were enabled February 1, 2012
 Due to technical issues

Running both platforms allows instructors to
choose what interactive tool best fit their needs






Participants in Collaborate sessions are unable to call in to
attend unless eTROY purchases a separate telephone service that
connects with Blackboard Collaborate.
Instructors cannot save archived recordings in other formats
without assistance in Collaborate.
The creation of Collaborate sessions or archives can only be
altered by the individual who created it.
Archives disappear from Blackboard Collaborate’s “Previously
Recorded” tab after a few days.
Instructors cannot pre-load content into Collaborate eliminating
the opportunity to “prep” before class sessions.
Unable to send external invites to multiple outside users



Instructors can pre-load content into
Collaborate Classrooms using Publish.
Instructors can save archives as MP3 or
MP4 using Publish.
External Invites to outside users.
Blackboard Collaborate announced an update to
Collaborate. The release includes:




Performance Enhancements
Introduction of Russian Translation
Audio Translations for existing languages
Audible Notifications




The Troy University Blackboard server will be
upgraded to Service Pack 8 during the first
week of August.
This will require at 2 days of downtime.
The Blackboard Outcomes System will be a part
of this upgrade.
Look for training material coming soon on SP8

New features of SP8 include:






Merge Enrollments
Multi-Section Management
Activity Reports
Automated Regrading
Negative Marking
Goal, Content Alignment, and Course
Performance Reports




Login credentials same as production for
TROY faculty.
You will notice the green banner and
bright yellow writing on the Test Server.
Test server will be available as a
“sandbox” for you to work in SP8 until the
upgrade in late July.
Look for training information on SP8
coming soon.
http://troystaging.blackboard.com