Session Definitions

In Blackbard Collaborate, Sessions are what lies at the center of everything. This is the virtual room that you enroll users to, share content, and host your live course events. The purpose of this document is to define the settings available to you, the developer, when you create a new session through the Collaborate REST API.

For illustration, here is a sample session event that would be sent to POST /sessions.

{
  "name": "My Collab Room",
  "description": "The room I use for Collab meetings",
  "startTime": "2020-03-27T16:00:00.000Z",
  "endTime": "2020-03-27T17:00:00.000Z",
  "noEndDate": true,
  "createdTimezone": "America/New_York",
  "courseRoomEnabled": false,
  "boundaryTime": "15",
  "participantCanUseTools": true,
  "occurrenceType": "S",
  "recurrenceRule": {
    "recurrenceEndType": "on_date",
    "daysOfTheWeek": ["mo"],
    "recurrenceType": "daily",
    "interval": "1",
    "numberOfOccurrences": 0,
    "endDate": "2020-03-27T17:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "allowInSessionInvitees": true,
  "allowGuest": true,
  "guestRole": "participant",
  "canAnnotateWhiteboard": true,
  "canDownloadRecording": true,
  "canPostMessage": true,
  "canShareAudio": true,
  "canShareVideo": true,
  "mustBeSupervised": true,
  "openChair": true,
  "raiseHandOnEnter": true,
  "showProfile": true,
  "sessionExitUrl": "https://myeventsurvey.school.edu"
}

The following table defines the available settings in the sample JSON package above:

Setting	Description	Example
name (required)	The name of the session, displayed in the header of the room	“My Collab Room”
description	A description of the room	“The room I use for Collab meetings”
startTime (required)	The ISO-formatted date to start the session as a string	“2020-03-27T16:00:00.000Z”
endTime	The ISO-formatted date to end the session as a string	“2020-03-27T17:00:00.000Z”
noEndDate	Boolean describing whether the room has an end date	TRUE
createdTimezone	The time zone to create the room in	“America/New_York”
courseRoomEnabled	A Boolean specific to Blackboard Learn that describes whether this room is automatically associated with a course	FALSE
boundaryTime	Number of minutes a user can join a session before the start time. Must be 0, 15, 30, 45, or 60.	15
ParticipantCanUseTools	A Boolean that describes whether a use can use tools, such as application sharing, screen sharing, timer, and polls	TRUE
occurrenceType	Single-Use or Perpetual session. Must be “S” or “P”	“S”
recurrenceRule	A JSON object describing recurrence rules for a session
recurrenceEndType	The method to describe the end of the sessions recurrence. Must be “on_date” or “after_occurence_count”	“on_date”
daysOfTheWeek	The days of the week this session will occur. Must be “mo”, “tu”, “we”, “th”, “fr”, “sa”, or “su”	[ “mo”, “we”, “fr” ]
recurrenceType	How often to repeat your session. Must be “daily”, “weekly”, or “monthly”	“daily”
interval	The number of days, weeks, or months between occurrences, as defined by recurrenceType.	“1”
numberOfOccurrences	If recurrenceEndDate is set to “after_occurence_count,” this is the number of occurrences to have	5
endDate	If recurrenceEndDate is set to “on_date,” The ISO-formatted date of the last session.	“2020-03-27T17:00:00.000Z”
allowInSessionInvitees	A Boolean describing whether a presenter can send invitations from within the session	TRUE
allowGuest	A Boolean describing whether guests can attend a session	FALSE
guestRole	The role to assign to guest attendees. Must be “participant”, “presenter”, or “moderator”	“participant”
canAnnotateWhiteboard	A Boolean that describes whether users can annotate the whiteboard	TRUE
canDownloadRecording	A Boolean that describes whether users can download the recording	FALSE
canPostMessage	A Boolean that describes whether users can post chat messages	TRUE
canShareAudio	A Boolean that describes whether users can share their audio	TRUE
canShareVideo	A Boolean that describes whether users can share their webcam	TRUE
mustBeSupervised	A Boolean that describes whether users must be moderated in chat	TRUE
openChair	A Boolean that describes whether users that join should be made moderator	FALSE
raiseHandOnEnter	A Boolean that describes whether users will automatically raise their hands when they enter the session	FALSE
showProfile	A Boolean that describes whether users can share their profiles with other users, including their avatar	TRUE
sessionExitUrl	A url to redirect users to on session exit. This should be a string	“https://myeventsurvey.school.edu”