News and Announcements

Blackboard Collaborate - Service Update Blackboard Collaborate Launcher for Windows

Posted: 2014-12-09 13:30:00   Expiration: 2015-01-05 18:00:00

Disclaimer: This news item was originally posted on 2014-12-09 13:30:00. Its content may no longer be timely or accurate.

Blackboard has released a new tool to make the process for accessing Collaborate meeting rooms on the Windows OS easier. Users will be prompted to download and install the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher when attempting to access sessions starting the afternoon of December 22, 2014. NOTE: Users may access an available session (or a test session) in advance to perform this action.

The following message is from the vendor, Blackboard:

As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the user experience for participants attending Collaborate sessions and recordings, we are updating your service to use the new Blackboard Collaborate Launcher 1.2 on December 22, 2014. 

The Blackboard Collaborate™ Launcher was released last summer for Mac OS 10.8.4+ users.  Because of its success, we are now pleased to release a new Blackboard Collaborate™ Launcher utility for users on Windows systems.  The Blackboard Collaborate™ Launcher simplifies the process for joining Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing sessions and recordings.

Several updates to Java issued by Oracle, coupled with Apple's new security measures around Java on the Mac, created a barrier for participants to easily attend Collaborate sessions and resulted in an increasingly disruptive user experience.

In response, we developed the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher for Windows and Mac systems, to help alleviate the problems associated with dependencies on system Java and the impact of Java updates. The Launcher includes a known, stable version of Java that is tested and compatible with the Collaborate service.  Users will no longer need system Java installed or maintained on their computers to use Collaborate web conferencing.

Using the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher

When a participant clicks on a session or recording link, Blackboard Collaborate checks to see if you have the launcher installed and, if you don't, prompts you to download it.

When the launcher is installed, clicking a session or recording link triggers the download of a .collab file.  This .collab file will be used to launch your session or recording.

The Launcher download can be done in advance or just prior to attending the Collaborate session.

Availability

The Blackboard Collaborate Launcher will be released to all US-SAS (Virginia Hosted) customers on December 22, 2014.

-- Blackboard Collaborate Service