Both Collaborate Ultra and Teams are built for facilitating online meetings/teaching. UAL has positioned Collaborate Ultra as it’s primary online teaching tool and Teams for staff meetings and small group teaching (up to 7 people). This is not a hard and fast rule and it is important to know some of the benefits and pitfalls of each system so you can make an informed choice. For information about Zoom please see the additional information below.
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Pros: Collaborate Ultra Integrates seamlessly with Moodle. Easy for staff to set up and for students to locate and if the teaching session is recorded, it automatically appears in Moodle. Collaborate Ultra also supports breakout rooms which is currently not available in Teams. In addition to this, when viewing the recorded lecture, it has a very nice navigational feature. Basically, any text added to the chat during the session becomes a hyperlink marker from which the viewer can directly access the recording.
Cons: Only displays 4 video windows. Collaborate Ultra is designed for education rather than business and can feel very hierarchical in terms of permissions.
Microsoft Teams
Pros: A real plus is that you can see more people (participant windows) than in Collaborate Ultra. You are also able to add Apps such as Mural and Trello so you can work collaboratively through Teams. Students have also reported that Teams feels less hierarchical and closer to a social media experience.
Cons: You are not able to share slides from within Teams. You can share your screen but in doing so you are unable to see any chat in the chat window. Teams sessions can be recorded but the recording needs to be manually added to Moodle.
Additional information
UAL and the use of Zoom (Weblink)