Blackboard Faculty Manual

Overview | Course Planning and Design | Content Areas | Communication Tools | Assessment | Monitoring Student Progress | Course Rollovers

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1.0 Content: Course Documents & Course Information

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1.1 Add an Item

Items are general pieces of content that can be added to any content area in a Blackboard course. Items can reside on their own in main content areas or within folders in a content area.

1. Turn on Edit View by clicking the Edit Mode button in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Click on the Menu Bar button and then on the folder (if applicable) under which you would like your content to appear.
3. Click the Build Content button that appears at the top of the page.
   
   
   
4. Choose Item from the gallery of choices that appear.  You will see the Create Item page appear.
   
   Section 1: Content Information
   
   
   • Name: Type a name for the content item.
   • Text: Add a description or other information
   
   Section 2: Attachments
   
   
   • Attach File: Click the 'Browse My Computer' button and locate the file you wish to attach.  Click the 'Browse Content Collection' if your file is stored in this location.  Locate the file and click Open.  You can add multiple files if you wish.

Section 3: Options

• Permit Users to View this Content: Click "Yes" to allow students to view this item
• Track Number of Views: Click "Yes" if you want to see a tally of the number of times the item is viewed. Default is No.
• Select Date/Time Restrictions: If you don't want the item to be immediately available, add a checkmark in the appropriate boxes and indicate date/time restrictions.  You must provide both a display after and display until date/time or your content may lock up.  (Note: You must have clicked 'Yes' in the first item in this section - Permit Users to View this Content - for the date restrictions to work.)

Section 4: Click Submit.

 

1.2 Add a Folder

Folders allow instructors to organize materials in logical chunks, such as by weeks, modules, units, chapters, etc. Each week's folder can contain the lecture materials, readings, assignments, assessments and/or a link to a discussion forum, for that week - resulting in a modular structure.

1. Turn on Edit View by clicking the Edit Mode button in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click on the menu bar button under which you would like your folder to appear.

3. Click the Build Content button at the top and then choose Content Folder.

4. Complete the Create Folder page.

Section 1: Content Folder Information

• Name: Type a name for the folder
• Text: Type a description of what is in the folder (optional)

Section 2: Options

• Permit Users to View this Content: Click "Yes" to allow students to view this folder
• Track Number of Views: Click "Yes" if you want to see a tally of the number of times the item is viewed. Default is No.
• Select Date/Time Restrictions: If you don't want the folder to be immediately available, add a checkmark in the appropriate boxes and indicate date/time restrictions. (Note: You must have clicked 'Yes' in the first item in this section - Permit Users to View this Content - for the date restrictions to work.)

Section 3: Click Submit.

 

 

1.3 Add an External Link (URL)

Instructors can add External Links to online databases, articles, journals, online labs, and textbook web sites, adding richness to the distance learning experience and supplementing textbook or other course materials.

1. Turn on Edit View by clicking the Edit Mode button in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click on the menu bar button and folder (if applicable) under which you would like the external link to appear.

3. Click the Build Content button at the top and then choose URL.

4. Complete the Create URL page:

Section 1: URL Information

• Name: Type the name which will appear as the linked text
• URL: Type the URL for the external link

Section 2:  Description

• Text: Add a description or other information about the link in the text box. (Optional)

Section 2: Attachments

• Attach File: Click the 'Browse My Computer' or 'Browse Content Collection' button and locate the file you wish to attach.

Section 3: Options

• Permit Users to View this Content: Click "Yes" to allow students to view this item.
• Open in a New Window: Click "Yes" and the website will open in another browser window. (Recommend to leave the default 'No' so that the website opens within the Blackboard site. It will help prevent students from getting lost.)
• Track Number of Views: Click "Yes" if you want to see a tally of the number of times the item is viewed. Default is No.
• Select Date/Time Restrictions: If you don't want the item to be available immediately, add a checkmark to the appropriate boxes and indicate date/time restrictions. (Note: You must have clicked 'Yes' for the first item in this section - Permit Users to View this Content - for the date restrictions to work.)

Section 4: Click Submit.

 

1.4 Add a Course Link

Adds a link to another section of the current course.

1. Turn on Edit View by clicking the Edit Mode button in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click the Build Content button at the top and then choose Course Link.

3. Complete the Create Course Link page.

Section 1: Course Link Information

• Choose Item:  Click the Browse button and look through the course map that appears to locate the desired folder or item that you want to link to.  Click on it to select it.
• Name: Type a name for the link
• Location:  This should automatically populate after you've selected your item above.
• Text: Provide information or a description of the link. (Optional)

Section 2: Options

• Permit Users to View this Content: Click "Yes" to allow students to view the content item.
• Track Number of Views: Click "Yes" if you want to see a tally of the number of times the item is viewed. Default is No.
• Select Date/Time Restrictions: If you don't want the item to be available immediately, add a checkmark to the appropriate boxes and indicate date/time restrictions. (Note: You must have clicked 'Yes' for the first item in this section - Permit Users to View this Content - for the date restrictions to work.)

Section 4: Click Submit.

 

1.5 Create a Learning Module

A learning module is content items that are set up within Blackboard to be viewed either sequentially or in a non-linear order. Any type of content item (i.e. external links, assignments, assessments, etc.) can be included in a learning module.

A learning module is basically a shell to which other content is added. The content within a learning module can be managed like content placed in a folder.

PART 1 - Create the shell of the learning module by following these step:

1. Turn on Edit View by clicking the Edit Mode button in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click the Build Content button and then click Learning Module.

3. Complete the Create Learning Module page:

Section 1: Learning Module Information

• Name: Type a name for the module
• Text: Provide more information or a description of the module. (Optional)

Section 2:  Availability

• Permit Users to View the Content Item: Click "Yes" to make this available to students to view.
• Select Date/Time Restrictions:  If you don't want the item to be available immediately, add a checkmark to the appropriate boxes and indicate date/time restrictions.  (Note:  You must have clicked 'Yes' for the first item in this section - Permit Users to View this Content - for the restrictions to work correctly.)

Section 3: View

• Enforce Sequential Viewing? Click "Yes" to force students to move through the material in a linear order. (Note: Students will not be able to advance a page without having viewed the previous page.) Click "No" to allow them an option to view the information in any order.
• Open in a New Window? The default "No" results in the learning module being opened within the Blackboard window. It will help prevent students from getting lost. Clicking "Yes" causes it to open in a new browser window.
• Track Number of Views: Click "Yes" if you want to see a tally of the number of times the item is viewed. Default is No.

Section 4:  Table of Contents

• Show Table of Contents to Users:  Leave the default "Yes" if you want students to view a table of contents for each learning module
•  Hierarchy Display:  Specify what type of outline you want for the table of contents, if any.

Section 3: Click Submit.

 

PART 2 - Add Content to the Learning Module

1. Click the name of the Learning Module to open it.

2. Click Create Item. Complete the Add Item page (see section 1.1 above for specific instructions). Content can be added directly into the text box, as attached files, links to other resources, or a combination of these.

3. Once all content is added, set the sequence of the items by dragging and dropping them into place.

 

 

1.6 Add a Content Link within the Visual Text Box Editor

For any content item in your course, you can include a content link within the text that you have typed in your visual text box editor.  This is an alternative to attaching the local file to the item.

1.  From within the Visual Text Box Editor, click the Attach File icon.

 

 

2.  The Insert Content Link window opens.

Section 1 - Select Content Link

• If the content item is on your computer, click the Browse My Computer button and locate your content.
• If the content item is in a collection on Blackboard, click the Browse Content Collection button.
• If the content is on a website, click the Source URL button and specify the website URL.

 

A small dialog box opens under the Attached Files section:

• In the Name of Link to File text box, type the name of the link as you want it to appear within your text.
• Alt Text - for accessibility reasons, supply descriptive text if this is a graphic file.
• Launch in a new window- default is 'Yes'

Section 2 - Click Submit.

 

 

3.  Click Submit again when the Add Content Link window appears.

4.  Your content link will appear within the text box editor.  Students can click on the link to open the file.

 

1.7   Adaptive Release

Adaptive release controls when content in your course site is released to students based on a set of rules that you set up.  It should not be confused with setting date restrictions on a piece of content.  If you simply want an item to appear on a given date and remain available until another date, you should set a Date Restriction by choosing Edit from the item's drop-down menu.

Adaptive release is usually used when an instructor wants students to have access to a piece of content only after they have completed or reviewed another item in the course.

To set up Adaptive Release:

1.  Go to the item in the course that you want to be 'released'.

2.  Click the down-chevrons next to the name of the item and choose Adaptive Release.

3.  In the Adaptive Release screen, set rules based on:

• Date
• Student name
• Group membership
• Grade received on an assignment or exam
• When the student marks a piece of content as 'reviewed' 

There can only be one rule per criteria but a user must meet all criteria before the item becomes available.  (For example, a rule could be created that requires a student to be a member of Group A and receive more than 70% on the last quiz, for this piece of content to become available to them.)

4.  Click Submit.

5.  You will now see a note below the item that says Enabled: Adaptive Release.

To set more sophisticated combinations of  release rules, choose 'Adaptive Release: Advanced' from the drop-down menu next to the item's title.

Note: The item availability setting supersedes all Adaptive Release rules.  If the item is 'unavailable' it will be unavailable to all users regardless of any rules that have been created.

 

1.8 Using the Equation Editor

Tutorials for students

1.9 Uploading and unpackaging zipped files

In your Blackboard course site  –

1. Go to the Control Panel and click Content Collection.  Choose the first link (represented by the course number) to open the course’s content collection.

2. Create a folder in the content collection into which you can unzip your files.  (Click Create Folder button and name it.)

3. Open your new folder and click Upload > Upload Package

4.  Browse for the zip file on your computer, leave the default settings, and click Submit.

5.  Now go to the location in your course that you want the image or file to appear and add content as you normally would (Build Content > Item).

• Be sure to browse the Content Collection rather than your computer to located the unzipped file.
• If the file is part of a series of linked files (as in a screencast or series of webpages), choose the file that should be the first to launch (i.e. index.html).
• Leave the File Action as 'Create a link to this file'.

 

Blackboard Version 9.1