Zoom Outage Contingency Plan - College of Law

While Zoom has typically been quite stable, the possibility exists for an interruption in service to disrupt our normal classroom operations.  Should this occur, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra will function well as an emergency backup system.

The connection instructions below apply for both faculty and students.  Faculty members:  In the event that Collaborate is needed, please direct your students to this page.  The link can be copied from this paragraph and pasted into an email using the steps below.  https://answers.syr.edu/display/law/Zoom+Outage+Contingency+Plan+-+College+of+Law


Faculty - Quickly providing the link to your students

  • Copy the link for this page
  • Visit https://blackboard.syracuse.edu, sign in as normal, and navigate to your course
  • Click the Tools button in the left-hand menu
  • Select "Send Email"
  • Select "All Users"
  • Insert an email subject line
    • e.g. "Zoom outage - alternate link for today's class"
  • Paste the link for this page
    • Right-click inside the message composition area, and choose "paste" - or -
    • Click inside the message composition area, then press Ctrl+V (PC) or Command+V (Mac)
  • Click Submit to send the message


Faculty and Students - Connecting to Blackboard Collaborate

  • Visit the Blackboard page for your course
  • Click the Tools button in the left-hand menu
  • Select "Blackboard Collaborate Ultra"
  • Click the white door icon next to the text "[ course name ] - Course Room"
  • In the menu that pops in from the right-hand side, click the button labeled "Join Course Room"
  • Follow the prompts as necessary to dismiss any tutorial popups, and to allow access to your camera and microphone
  • Use the buttons at the bottom of the screen to activate your camera and microphone as needed


Faculty - Sharing content and recording the class

  • To share video content such as a PowerPoint presentation
    • Click the purple arrow icon at bottom right of the screen
    • Click the Share Content icon at bottom of screen
    • Select source to share and follow prompts
  • To record the class meeting
    • Click the black menu icon at the upper left of the screen
    • Choose Start Recording