Synchronous live sessions are online meetings, webinars or collaborative sessions that take place in a video or audio conferencing tool. They are especially important when learning takes place mostly online, but are also powerful in complementing face to face sessions. You can use synchronous live sessions to:
Students can also use them amongst themselves to collaborate on tasks.
For online or blended learning, aim to include at least one synchronous session per week with students on each unit for an interactive taught session. Make the most of synchronous lecture sessions by including engaging interactions, such as polls or chat throughout. Use engaging and meaningfull tasks before or after a session, to draw out existing knowledge and views, or consolidate and build on the material discussed, respectively. Record these live sessions to provide an asynchronous option for students who cannot attend. This will maximize inclusivity and flexibility, as students will be able to learn from the sessions, even if they couldn't join at the time.
Collaborate, Teams and Zoom include chat, a whiteboard, polling, hand raising, screen, application and file sharing. However the detail of how these work may vary, so you should try them out to ensure they meet your requirements before use.
| Features | Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main support website | Class Collaborate Ultra help | MS Teams help | Zoom help |
| UoB Support materials | Collaborate | Teams for teaching | Zoom help from IT services |
| Accessibility | Collaborate accessibility pages | Microsoft Teams accessibility pages | Zoom accessibility pages |
| Chat | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hand raising | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Polling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Breakout rooms (group work) | Yes | Yes (max 50) | Yes |
| Share white board | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share/download files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Screen sharing capabilities | Yes | Yes – in a chat or a meeting | Yes |
| Attendance tracking in Blackboard | Yes | No | No |
| Features | Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max simultaneous webcams | 25 in Gallery mode | 49 on screen | 49 on screen |
| Max. no of simultaneous audio | 5 | 49 | 49 |
| Max. no participants | Standard: 250 – full functionality. Large: 500 – limited functionality, see large event option. |
1000 (standard), (breakout rooms up to 300). |
300 participants. (Up to 50 separate break-out rooms is possible, but with 50 breakout rooms, there is a max of 200 participants.) |
| Large event option | Up to 500, but with limited tools. Non-presenters cannot share audio, video, or draw on whiteboard. No breakout groups or polling, but chat can be activated for Q&A. | Yes | Can have large meeting capacity or webinar. Both options allow 500 / 1000 attendees. |
| Features | Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple moderators | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Control features | Chat – private for moderators only
Mute/Unmute Invitee permissions can be set by organiser |
Chat - public or private Mute/unmute audience microphones/cameras Invitee permissions are set by organizer Waiting lobby room |
Chat - public or private Mute/unmute audience microphones/cameras Invitee permissions are set by the owner Waiting lobby room |
| Features | Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supported browsers. Latest browser versions are recommended | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge Chromium | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE Chromium | Chrome, Firefox, Edge Chromium, Safari |
| Browser based (no download required) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app/client available | No (web based) | Yes (Mac, Windows, Linux (X86)) | Yes (Mac, Windows) |
| Bandwidth information for audio with video. In general, when more bandwidth is available, quality and usage will increase to deliver the best experience. | Up to 360 kbps (presenter) and 1488 kbps (participant) | Up to 2 mbps per second recommended for presenter/participant  | Up to 2 mbps per second recommended for presenter/participant single screen |
| Licence status | Bundled with Blackboard licence | Institutional licence for all staff and students | Institutional license for all staff and students |
| Features | Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can record session | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Recording downloadable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Recording format | MP4 video | MP4 video | MP4 video |
| Edit video recordings | No | Yes, edit in Stream | Yes, can be trimmed in Cloud |
| Automated Live Captions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manual closed captioning | Yes (captioner role) | Yes (captioner role) | Yes (captioner role) |
If you need to video conference in a teaching space, you can use your own computer, or a video conferencing room (Surface Hub or Logitech Meetup enabled).
In teaching spaces, audio from microphones or from computers is channeled to speakers in the room and to the Re/Play recorder. It is not designed to be channeled back into computers, which would be required for video conferencing. There are also no cameras in most teaching spaces, apart from a few required by maths-based subjects that use chalkboards. Class Collaborate, Zoom and Microsoft Teams are not installed on teaching PCs, as without audio or video they would not work (and might popup messages during teaching).
