Comparison of Virtual Meeting Tools: Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom
The following breakdown compares the features available in the following live collaboration / virtual meeting tools available at NIU: Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
| Task/Feature | Blackboard Collaborate | Microsoft Teams | Zoom Meetings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability | Available to all NIU faculty, staff, and students | Available to all NIU faculty, staff, and students | Available to all NIU faculty and instructors |
| Schedule a Session | Via a Blackboard course or organization | Via Microsoft Outlook or a Blackboard course | Via a Blackboard course or organization or at niu-edu.zoom.us |
| Integration with Blackboard | Yes, integration for scheduler, recordings, attendance, and poll reporting | Yes, basic integration to schedule sessions | Yes, integration for scheduler and recordings |
| Desktop/Laptop Access | Entirely in browser | Can join via browser, best experience via Teams app | Requires Zoom Launcher to be installed |
| Mobile Access | Launch sessions directly in mobile browser on iOS and Android | Use Microsoft Teams app | Use Zoom Cloud Meetings app |
| Simultaneous Participants | 250 (500 if the session is designated as a large session) | 300 (update to 1000 expected by end of 2020, larger sessions possible by creating a Live Event) | 300 |
| Audio | Built-in telephony to participate via phone | Built-in telephony to participate via phone | Built-in telephony to participate via phone |
| Simultaneous Video with No Shared Content | up to 25 on a page in the Gallery View, in alphabetical order (fewer if the side panel is open) | up to 49 (depending on local connection & device) |
up to 49 on a page (depending on local connection & device) |
| Chat with Participants | Available | Available | Available |
| Share a Document or File in a Meeting | Display PowerPoint or PDF files with ability to annotate on them | Use share tray to share a PowerPoint file or share your screen to share any open file | Use share your screen |
| Share Screen to Demonstrate a Task | Application share | Share tray | Share your screen |
| Control Another Person's Screen to Demonstrate a Task | Not available | Request Control | Request or Give Control |
| Breakout Groups | Available | Available | Available |
| Session Recording |
Recording saved to Collaborate, automatically available to students in Blackboard course Can be downloaded as mp4 |
Recording saved to OneDrive or Stream, can be posted to Blackboard course via a link Can be downloaded as mp4 from OneDrive or Stream |
Recording saved locally or to the cloud; limited cloud storage for recordings Local recording can be uploaded to Kaltura and posted to Blackboard course via a link |
| Collect Information / Assess Participants |
Available, created “on the fly” Poll results available as a report |
No polls |
Polls, created in advance Poll results available as a report |
| Faculty Training | Regularly scheduled group training, custom group training on request, and one-on-one consultation | None | Public webinars facilitated by Zoom |
| Student Support | NIU Service Desk (815-753-8100 or it.niu.edu) | NIU Service Desk (815-753-8100 or it.niu.edu) | None |
For more details or to discuss further using virtual meeting tools for your course, reach out to the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, citl@niu.edu.
This work was created by the NIU Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.