Use of Blackboard Collaborate at UCL to end in May 2022

Over the course of the pandemic, use of both Zoom and Microsoft Teams at UCL has risen significantly, especially for hybrid teaching. However, the use of Blackboard Collaborate has not grown in the same way over the past 12 months and is now used by fewer staff than the other platforms.

After much discussion, ISD has decided to concentrate on supporting the most heavily-used collaboration platforms. As such, the licence for Blackboard Collaborate will not be extended when it comes up for renewal this summer.

From 25 April, the system will be considered ‘Non-active’. From that point, whilst you will still be able to access Collaborate, we cannot guarantee that recordings made on or after 25 April 2022 will be archived. Therefore, we advise you to use an alternative platform from the start of Term 3.  

There will be no access to the Blackboard Collaborate platform or content stored there after the licence expires on 17 May 2022.

We understand that while it is not as popular as the other options, Blackboard Collaborate is still the preferred online teaching platform for some staff and this will be a disappointing decision for them. Concentrating resources on the most heavily used systems will enable ISD to continue expanding the functionality of the more popular platforms, resulting in an improved user experience for everyone.

What you need to do

We appreciate that some Blackboard Collaborate users will have media content you would like to download from the platform to save for future use. By notifying you now, we are ensuring you have time to do this if you so wish.

If you would like to retain a personal copy of any recordings stored on Blackboard Collaborate, we recommend that you download and store them on your OneDrive. This option means you can also share the files with others, if required. 

ISD will ensure that an archive of all media files and recordings will be created. A copy of all Blackboard Collaborate recordings and content is stored on UCL servers as per the retention policy from the date of the original recording.

You will be able to request future access to these files by contacting the Educational Media team.

Sharing recordings

If you would like to share your downloaded Blackboard Collaborate recordings with students, you can upload them to Lecturecast for viewing through Moodle. See the Lecturecast wiki guidance for further information.

To make your teaching recordings accessible to those without a UCL login / password, you can upload them to Mediacentral.  See the Mediacentral guidance for further information.  

Please note that neither of these services should be used for medium/long term storage. We recommend you use OneDrive for longer-term personal storage. 

Help using alternative platforms

Zoom has proven to be the most popular option for hybrid and online teaching as it is seamlessly integrated with Moodle. For an overview and comparison of all alternative options, see Choosing the right platform for live online teaching.  

ISD’s Digital Education and Digital Skills teams are both on hand to support colleagues who have not yet made the switch to Zoom or MS Teams for teaching:

• Visit the Zoom Resource Centre or MS Teams Sharepoint site for step-by-step guides to using each platform.   
• Book onto a Digital Skills Development workshop focused on interaction and collaboration tools, for example, Managing & Participating in Meetings.
• See also ISD’s advice on using collaboration tools.  

For any questions, please contact the Educational Media team.