What is the Webex Education Connector?

The Webex Education Connector is a Blackboard LTI that allows faculty and students to virtually attend class sessions, participate in class discussions, access recorded class sessions, and schedule office hours.

Table of Contents

• Navigate to Blackboard
• Add Education Connector in Blackboard
  • Blackboard Original
  • Blackboard Ultra
• Authorize the LMS
• Set up Virtual Office Hours
• Start a Meeting from the Education Connector

Navigate to Blackboard

To add the Webex Education Connector LTI in your Blackboard course:

1. Navigate to Blackboard. Log in using your YSU credentials.

2. Select Courses in the navigation pane.

Add Education Connector in Blackboard

This section details how to add the Education Connector to a course in Blackboard. To add the Education Connector into a Blackboard Original course, refer to Add Education Connector in Blackboard Learn. To add the Education Connector into a Blackboard Ultra course, refer to Add Education Connector in Blackboard Ultra. 

3. Add the Webex tool to the desired course in Blackboard.

   1. Add Education Connector in Blackboard Learn Original

      1. Navigate to your Blackboard Original course.

2. Expose the Tools drop down menu. Select More Tools.

3. Select Webex.

4. Configure the link for the Webex Education Connector.
   1. Link Name is the name of the folder as it appears in your course.
   2. Color of Name is the color of text.
   3. Text is the description of the folder as it appears in your course.
   4. Available determines the link's availability to students. If you select "No", students will not see the link's folder.
   5. Track Number of Views tracks how many times students in your course view the link. 
   6. Date Restrictions implements a date range when the folder is shown to students. 

5. Select Submit.

6. The link will appear in your course. Select the link.

A window to set-up the Education Connector should appear. Advance to Authorize the LMS to continue configuring the Education Connector.

2. Add Education Connector in Blackboard Ultra

   1. Navigate to your Blackboard Ultra course.

2. In the left navigation menu, select View course & institution tools.

3. Select the "+"  icon to add the Webex tool to the Ultra course.

4. A Webex folder will appear in the course content section. Click the ellipses next to tool. Select Edit.

5. Configure the Webex folder.
   1. To edit the folder's name, hover over "Webex" and select the pencil icon. 
   2. Configure the visibility.
      1. Visibility to students allows all students to view and access the Webex folder. 
      2. Hidden From Students hides the Webex folder from all students.
      3. Release Conditions limits access to the Webex folder based on the set conditions.
   3. Add a description (optional).
   4. Select Save.

6. Select the Webex folder in the course's content section.

Authorize the LMS

Faculty must authorize the use of Webex within their Blackboard course. 

4. Ensure you are on the Setup tab and in the Authorize with LMS section, select Authorize. Use your YSU credentials to log into Webex to permit Webex access to your Blackboard course.

5. Select the correct time zone. Select Save.

Set Up Classroom Collaboration

Classroom Collaboration generates a general space/team for your course that adds all enrolled students. Faculty can create additional spaces that include specified students where students can send messages, meet, and share files. To view more information about configuring and using the Classroom Collaboration feature, please refer to The Webex Education Connector for Teachers on the Webex Help Center.

Set Up Virtual Meetings

Virtual Meetings schedules virtual meetings for faculty and students to join during specified class times with configured meeting links. If recorded, the recordings can be accessed from the Recordings tab. To configure virtual meetings:

6. On the Setup tab, select the Virtual Meetings check box. Select Apply.

7. Once the Virtual Meetings tab appears in the ribbon, select it.

8. Select New Meeting.

9. Configure the meeting schedule:
   1. Enter the name of the meeting in the Name field. 
   2. In the Meeting date drop down, select the first day of the course. Configure the course's starting time.
   3. Choose Meeting as the session type.
   4. Choose Weekly for the Recurrence type. 
   5. Additional configuration options should appear. 
      1. For Every 1 week, select the day(s) your course meets. 

Note: If your course has different meeting times on the scheduled days, configure each day seperately. For example, if your course meets Monday 1:00pm-1:50pm and Wednesday 1:00pm-2:15pm, configure Monday's meeting pattern by completing steps 8 - 9. Then, configure Wednesday's meeting pattern seperately beginning from Step 8.

2. Select the Ending date radio button. In the drop down menu, select the last date and time your course meets.
   1. Show the advanced options.
      1. Select Guests can join the meeting. This allows students to join the Webex meeting using a personal email address. Select Guests wait in the lobby until host admits them allows guest accounts to wait in a virtual lobby area until the host grants them access to the Webex meeting. If you prefer students to only join using their YSU email addresses, select Guests can't join the meeting. When selecting this option, instruct students to log into Webex using their YSU credentials.
      2. Configure an automatic lock to close your meeting after it starts. This is useful for faculty who track and grade attendance.
      3. Select Automatically start recording when the meeting starts to produce recordings of each meeting for students to revisit. 
   2. Select Create Meeting.

For more information about starting a meeting from the Education Connector, refer to Start a Meeting from Education Connector. To start a meeting inside a Webex Classroom, refer to Webex Classroom: Present from the Webex Education Connector in Blackboard.

Set up Virtual Office Hours

Office Hours allows students to schedule and manage virtual meetings during the faculty's specified office hours. To configure virtual office hours:

10. On the Setup tab, select the Office Hours check box. Select Apply.

11. Once the Office Hours tab appears in the ribbon, select it.

12. Configure the standard schedule for office hour appointments.
    1. Select the meeting duration.
    2. Select a meeting buffer. This will add time before and after each appointment.
    3. Configure the date range for office hours.
    4. Set weekly hours when students can schedule virtual office hour appointmets. To add multiple time ranges for a single day, select + Add availability below the desired day (as shown below for Thursday).
    5. Select Save.

Start a Meeting from the Education Connector

Faculty should use the Education Connector tool to start all virtual meetings. For more information about starting a meeting from the Education Connector, refer to Start a Meeting from Education Connector. To start a meeting inside a Webex Classroom, refer to Webex Classroom: Present from the Webex Education Connector in Blackboard.