Setting Up a Collaborate Ultra Link in Your Blackboard Course

Although Collaborate Ultra is available in all Blackboard courses, a link to the tool must be made available for students to access it.

There are two ways to create a link to Collaborate Ultra: you can either place the link directly in your Blackboard course menu, or you can create a link in any content area (for example, course content or assignments & tests menu area).

Go to Option A to create a Collaborate Ultra link in the Course Menu, or go to Option B to learn learn how to create a Collaborate Ultra link in a Content Area.

O Option A: Creating a Collaborate Ultra Link in the Course Menu

Option A: Creating a Collaborate Ultra Link in the Course Menu

If you want to add a link to Collaborate Ultra directly to your course menu as shown above, please follow the directions below.

A  Adding a Tool Link

Adding a Tool Link

To add create a Collaborate Ultra Tool Link:

  1. Hover your computer's cursor over the "+" icon located in the upper-left corner of your Course Menu: a drop-down menu of options should appear.
  2. From the drop-down menu of options, click on Tool Link: you should now see the Add Tool Link pop-up window shown below.

A  Add Tool Link Pop-up Window

Add Tool Link Pop-up Window

To create the Collaborate Ultra Took Link:

  1. Type in a name for the Link, for example "Collaborate Ultra."
  2. Click on the drop-down menu and select Blackboard Collaborate Ultra from the list of options.
  3. Click the checkbox next to Available to Users to make the link immediately available to your students. If you don't check this, the link will not be visible to your students, but you can always edit the Show/Hide option for the link later.
  4. Click the Submit button to create the link or Cancel if you wish to start over.
  5. The Collaborate Ultra link you just created should be at the bottom of your Course Menu, but you can now drag-and-drop the tool link wherever you would like it to appear in the Course Menu.

 

O Option B: Creating a Collaborate Ultra Link in a Content Area

If you want to add a link to Collaborate Ultra in a content area as shown above, please follow the directions below.

A  Adding a Collaborate Ultra Link Using the Tools Menu

To add the link in a Content Area:

1. Hover over the Tools menu at the top of the window.

2. When the Tools menu expands, click More Tools.

3. Select Blackboard Collaborate Ultra from the list of tools that appears.

    Getting the Collaborate Ultra Link Options

Setting the Collaborate Ultra Link Options

On the Create Link: Blackboard Ultra screen, you can set a number of options as described below:

  1. Rename the link if desired (by default, the link is named Blackboard Collaborate Ultra).
  2. Choose a color (black by default) for the link name by clicking the drop down menu just to the left of the word Black.
  3. Type an optional description for the link using the text box provided.
  4. Choose whether to make the link you are creating immediately available (the default is Yes).
  5. Choose whether to have Blackboard Track Number of Views for this link.
  6. Enter a set of Date Restrictions for this link. If the checkboxes next to Display After and Display Until are not checked and date/times entered, then the link will be available for the entire duration of the course (assuming that the Available option has been set to Yes to display the link.
  7. Click the Submit button to complete creating the link. You should then see the link and the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra icon in your Content Area.