How to Set Up a Blackboard Collaborate Telephone Conference Bridge

Transcription

1 How to Set Up a Blackboard Collaborate Telephone Conference Bridge (revised: 21 September 2011) LINGOs has been able to successfully configure a telephone conference bridge with Blackboard Collaborate using a free telephone conference service called FreeConferenceCall.com. The following instructions outline the process used to connect a FreeConferenceCall.com telephone conference account with a Blackboard Collaborate session. NOTE: If you use a different telephone conferencing system, instructions may vary slightly. Also, at the current time Blackboard Collaborate does not support telephone conference bridges for non US/Canada phone numbers. Only telephone conference service numbers in the format 1 XXX XXX XXXX can be used. 1. Log in to your Blackboard Collaborate session as moderator. 2. Click the options drop down box in the Audio & Video panel, then click Configure Telephone Conference (see below):

2 3. In the Teleconference Connection window, enter the participant and moderator teleconference phone number and the appropriate PIN. In the PIN field, it may be necessary to also enter teleconference commands. For example, FreeConferenceCall.com participants must enter an asterisk (*) after their PIN number and moderators must enter a pound sign (#) after their PIN number. Information entered in the Participant Information section will be shown to participants and moderators when they indicate that they wish to use a telephone for audio. Information entered in the Moderator Information section will only be shown to moderators when they indicate that they wish to use a telephone for audio. You will also need to enter the teleconference phone number in the Telephone field of the Session Information section along with the moderator PIN number. Information entered in the Session Information section is used by Blackboard Collaborate to connect to the telephone conference. In the case of FreeConferenceCall.com, enter three commas (,) in front of the moderator PIN, the PIN, a pound sign(#), another comma (,) and the number one. The three commas tell Blackboard Collaborate to pause a few seconds before entering the PIN. This allows time for the system to call the telephone conference number and for the initial greeting to play. The system then submits the PIN (987654), a pound sign (#) to let the system know the PIN has been submitted, then pauses again for a few seconds (as indicated by the comma). Finally, the system sends the number one (1) to confirm that the PIN entered is correct. NOTE: Your particular telephone conference system may require more pauses and additional/different commands than FreeConferenceCall.com. When finished entering connection information, click Save & Connect. (see below)

3 4. Via your headset or your computer speakers, you should hear Blackboard Collaborate connect to your telephone conference system. Once connected, click Confirm (see below). Once Blackboard Collaborate has connected to the telephone conference, a user named Teleconference will appear in the participants list. (see below) NOTE: FreeConferenceCall.com plays hold music until a second user has dialed into the telephone conference system. If you, as moderator, do not join the teleconference via phone, all participants in the Blackboard Collaborate session (even those not using the teleconference number for audio) will hear the hold music even when you, as moderator, speak until a second user has joined the telephone conference. To circumvent this, do one of the following: a. Right click on the Teleconference user and click Audio to mute the audio from the teleconference (see below):

4 Once muted, the Teleconference user will have an icon indicating that audio is muted (see below): Right click the Teleconference user again and click Audio to unmute the audio from the telephone conference. NOTE: When you unmute the Teleconference user, if a second user has not joined the telephone conference, the hold music will continue to play. b. Use the telephone conference for audio instead of using your headset. c. Have a colleague join the telephone conference before participants start joining your Blackboard Collaborate session. When participants join your Blackboard Collaborate session, they can indicate that they will be using the telephone conference for audio by doing the following: 1. Click the options drop down box in the Audio & Video panel, then click Use Telephone for Audio (see below): 2. A screen will appear with instructions for the user to follow to join the telephone conference. (see below) The icon will appear next to the user s name indicating that the audio portion of the Blackboard Collaborate session is being delivered via telephone conference for that user.

5 For more information regarding configuring a Blackboard Collaborate session to use a telephone conference to deliver audio, consult Blackboard Collaborate support at