Man video conferences on laptop with headset

Expanded gallery view feature coming to Blackboard Collaborate

An important aspect of live synchronous sessions is the expectation and hope that instructors will be able to connect and engage with students in real time. Research supports the idea that being able to see students’ facial expressions, body language, and whether or not they are understanding the material (i.e. visual cues) is critical to being able to respond and adjust in a timely and appropriate manner.

Gallery View in Blackboard Collaborate now allows viewing for up to 25 video feeds per page during a live session. According to Blackboard, this is the ideal maximum number of videos to show at one time to still be able to see enough detail for non-verbal feedback instructors are looking for. For classes with more than 25 students, moderators can click on the arrow on the right-hand side of the session window to advance to the next page of video feeds.

Blackboard Collaborate Gallery Images Screenshot

By clicking on the upper right-hand corner of the Collaborate interface, you can select between  Gallery View (see 25 participants per page) or Speaker or Tiled views, which emphasize who is speaking (showing up to 4 videos with one video larger than the others).

This expanded capability is similar to other web conferencing platforms, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. However, Collaborate is already integrated into the Blackboard Learning Management System and may be more familiar to longtime Blackboard users.

Initially, the Moderator will be able to switch from sharing content to viewing all videos from the bottom right corner of the interface. However, with further updates, videos and content will be viewable side by side. Although this expanded Gallery view feature is currently available only to Moderators, upcoming releases will extend this capability to students as soon as scalability monitoring permits.

For more information on the Blackboard Collaborate Gallery view, view this brief video tutorial.

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