Student Guides and Documentation

Sharing your Screen or Applications

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This guide will demonstrate how to share your desktop or applications with other users during a Collaborate session.

In order to share content, your instructor or session moderator will need to assign you to the presenter role.

If you are using MacOS 10.15 Catalina or higher, and you are having difficulty with accessing desktop sharing, you may need to allow permissions for this in System Settings > Security and Privacy > Screen Recording.  Click the slider to allow Google Chrome or Firefox to share your screen. More information about this issue can be found at this link. You may need to reload your Collaborate session for the change to take effect.

Accessing the Collaborate Panel

Image of the Blackboard Collaborate interface with an arrow pointing to the Collaborate Panel button.

To share an application or desktop, you will need to open the Collaborate Panel. To open the Collaborate Panel, click on the purple button in the bottom right corner.

Starting Application Sharing

image of the Collaborate panel showing the following items: 1.In the Collaborate Panel, click on the Share Content tab.2.Select Application Sharing from the menu.
  1. In the Collaborate Panel, click on the Share Content tab.
  2. Select Share Application/Screen from the menu.

Selecting Content to Share

Image of a dialog box asking if you want to share the entire screen or just an application

If you are using Google Chrome as your browser, a dialog box will pop up on screen with the options to share a Chrome Tab, Window, or the Entire Screen.

Sharing options may appear different in other web browsers.

Sharing a Full Desktop
Image of the share desktop dialog box with an arrow pointing to the share button

To share your entire desktop:

  1. Select the Entire Screen option at the top.
  2. Select the desktop you wish to share.
  3. Click Share to start sharing.
Sharing an Application or Window
image of the share application dialog box with an arrow pointing to the share button.

To share a window or application:

  1. Click on the Window option at the top.
  2. Select which window or application you wish to share
  3. Click the Share button to start sharing.
Sharing a Chrome Tab

Your shared application will now appear in the Collaborate window. Any action you perform in the application will be shown to participants. To end application sharing, click on the Stop Sharing button in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Image of the Share Chrome Tab dialog box

Conducting and Concluding and Application Sharing Session

To share a Chrome Tab:

  1. Select the Chrome Tab option at the top.
  2. Select which tab to share from the list on the left side.
  3. Share tab audio: Check this checkbox to share audio to participants from the selected tab.
  4. Click the Share button to start sharing.
Image of the collaborate window with an arrow pointing to the stop sharing button.
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