Students attempting to access Collaborate sessions from links added to content areas in Blackboard sites will receive an error. This issue is a consequence of the Blackboard upgrade that took place on 11-13 July 2014, and is being worked on as a matter of urgency. In the meantime, if you have Collaborate sessions that you wish students to participate in, please provide them with the guest link to access the session. To find the guest link to a Collaborate session:

1. In your Blackboard site, expand Site Tools under Control Panel and click Blackboard Collaborate
2. On the Blackboard Collaborate page, ensure the Scheduled Sessions tab is selected
3. Locate the Collaborate session and hover over its name. Click on the chevron that appears and click on Allow Guests from the list of options

4. On the Allow Guest pop-up window, change the Allow Guests option to ‘On’ by simply clicking ‘Off’
5. Right-click on the Public URL link and select Copy Shortcut, and then close the pop-up by clicking ‘Done’

6. You can then paste this link into an email to students participating in the session, or as an external link in your Blackboard site.

We will inform you when this issue has been resolved.