Using Chat/Virtual Classroom

1. Log into Blackboard and proceed to your course site
2. Click the Communication button
3. Click the Collaboration link
4. Click the Join button next to Chat or Virtual Classroom (for differences, see below)
5. A window will pop up. If you have pop-ups blocked in your web browser you will need to enable pop-ups
6. To post a chat message, type your message in the Compose text field and click the Send button
7. In the top right-hand corner of the window, there are four VCR-type buttons (shown at right). These allow you to record a transcript of your chat session. To begin recording, click the circle button. Recording can be paused and stopped manually as well, and the recording will end when you close the chat window
8. To send a private message that will only be displayed to a specific individual, highlight the user's name in the Participant list and click Private Message. Another window will pop up allowing you to type in the text of your private message

Additional Virtual Classroom Features

Virtual Classroom has all the features Chat does, but provides more interactive tools to aid your online teaching experience:

1. Map
   • Share a site map of your Blackboard course
   • Navigate to content from your course from within the site map
2. Whiteboard
   • Write out formulas or draw diagrams on the fly
3. Group Browser
   • Navigate to a URL (web address) within the shared space of Virtual Classroom
4. Ask Question/Question Inbox
   • Students may pose questions which will accumulate in a queue for the instructor to respond to

Notes

Blackboard's Collaboration features run on Java. If the chat rooms are not loading properly, you may need to update Java on your computer.