Comparing Collaboration Tools
Overview
The University of Alaska provides a number of collaboration services to the university community. Students, staff, and faculty can take advantage of one, some, or all of these tools. If you are not sure which one to choose for a specific task, please review the feature comparison chart below.
Please note: While many of these services offer similar features and capabilities, none of them are a 100% replacement for the other. When deciding which collaboration tool to use, consider your needs for that specific type of event/meeting, and/or group and then select the most applicable one, be aware that the tool you select may change over time as the needs change.
Feature Comparison Chart
| Blackboard Collaborate Ultra | Microsoft Teams | Zoom | Microsoft Skype for Business | Google Hangouts Chat | Google Hangouts Meet | |
| Number of Participants |
250 |
5,000* in a team; 250 2-way meeting participants * Starting at the end of April '20 and expected to be completed by the end of May '20, Microsoft will be increasing this limit to 10,000 |
300, 2-way Participants | 250, 2-way Participants | 8,000 | 50 |
| Individual Meetings/Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Breakout Sessions | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Phone Conf. Bridge Included | Yes | Available to UA Employees, contact UAA Tech. Support Center for assistance. Toll-fees apply. |
Yes, toll-fees apply | Yes, contact UAA Tech. Support Center to verify your account | No | Yes, toll-fees apply |
|
Quick, Easy Instant Messaging |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
|
File Transfer via Chat Window |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Screen Sharing |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
|
Whiteboarding |
Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
|
Audio/Video Calls |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, Launches Google Hangouts Meet | Yes |
|
Record Meeting |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
|
Virtually Raise your Hand |
Yes |
Yes* * Rolling out mid-April '20 |
Yes | No | No | |
|
Collaborative Tools |
Yes | Yes; Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Online | Yes; annotation and co-annotation | No | Yes; Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides | No |
|
Chat with Event Attendees |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Supports Live Events/Webinar |
Yes; 500 attendees | Yes; 10,000 attendees; duration of event 4 hours | No | Yes; 10,000 attendees | No | No |
|
File Storage |
Yes | Yes, Up to 25 TB per team | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
Live Automatic Captioning |
No |
Yes* * Preview feature available in English (US) only |
No | N/A | Yes | |
|
Security Documentation |
Securing Your Zoom Meetings |
Need additional help or have issues
For additional assistance contact the IT Services Technical Support Center via phone at (907) 786-4646, toll-free at (877) 633-3888, or email at uaa.techsupport@alaska.edu.