Adding Information into the Content Area of Blackboard 7

Step 1. Go to the Control Panel

Step 2. Select the Content area to which you wish to add information.

Your content area may look different from this view. Go to the Blackboard Support Document Customizing the Blackboard Course Menu to find out how to design your menu for your specific course.

Step 3. In the course content area (here Course Documents was selected), click on one of the Add Buttons.

Add Item: Use this to add text or other files or to attach word, excel, powerpoint, or other content files to your page.
Add Folder: Note that if you wish to organize your files into folders, that you MUST create the folders first, then open the folder and click on the Add Buttons inside the folder.
Add External Link: Use this to add a web link to your page.
Add Course Link: Use this to link to another area or document within your current Blackboard course.
Add Test: Use this to add a test/quiz.

Add Item: Now there are several options for adding content into your Blackboard site using the Add Item button.

Option 1: Adding text into the Text box.
- On a PC, with the WYSYWIG editor enabled (you have to have at least Windows 2000), a textbox opens with a menu like that of a Word document. You can type your document into it and format it as you do in Word. You can also copy a Word document and paste it right into the text box and it will stay formatted.
- On a Mac or an older PC, text you input is simple and unformatted text. Since you can not tab, it is a good idea to double space to separate paragraphs. You can also copy and paste text from another document, but the formatting will be lost.
- The Smart Text option recognizes html coding and URL formates. <b> bold text</b> is the html code to turn on and off the bold command for the text between the on and off tags and would result in bold text. Similarly if a URL is typed http://www.bethel.edu anywhere in your text, it will become a link if you leave spaces in front and behind the URL. http://www.bethel.edu
- You can also copy html code from a Microsoft Word file that has been Saved as WEB PAGE (= saved as HTML). In this case be sure to check the HTML text choice at the bottom of the text window.

WYSYWIG WORD-LIKE MENU

TEXTBOX (if html editor is disabled)

Saving a MS Word file as HTML from within MS Word

In an MS Word document, select Save as html or Save as web page under the File menu. The document will be saved as an html file. You can then copy the html source code from Word and paste it into the Text box or upload the html document as described below. Formatting is pretty accurate if you use simple formatting or use tables to organize your charts/tables instead of the tab key.

MS Word View Menu

To see or copy the html source code in an MS Word document that has been saved as HTML, in Word go to the View menu and select HTML Source. Then select and copy all the text and code (Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy)

Option 2 : Uploading Documents

Browse your drives to find the file you wish to attach (upload).
You can upload many kinds of files. Some examples are: Word files (.doc or .htm or .html), web pages (.htm or .html), PowerPoint files (.ppt) or Excel files (.xls)
Name of Link to File:
- Enter the name of the link that students click to access the attached file. **A name is required in this blank or no link will be made to your file.
Special Action: Select the special action for the link from the option pull down menu:
Current Attached Files:
- The attached files are listed here.

NOTE: You must be certain that you follow naming protocol for all files. Use only letters and numbers. Use NO spaces or other characters. ALWAYS append the file type to the file (.doc - word, .xls - excel, .ppt - powerpoint, .pdf - acrobat, .jpg - jpeg image, .gif - gif image)

Create a link to this file: Selecting this option attaches the file to the Blackboard document. A link is automatically inserted below the document title to access the file.
Display media file within the page: Selecting this option embeds certain kinds of media within the page itself instead of creating a link. Supported digital media formats are:
- Graphics: GIF and JPEG
- Video: MPEG, Quicktime, AVI
- Audio: WAV and AIFF
- Multimedia: Shockwave Flash
Unpackage this file: Selecting this option indicates to the system that the file must be unpackaged before displaying.

CAUTION: Set the options.

Make content visible: Make the content visible or your students won't be able to see it.
Track Views: If you want to see if students (and which) access the material.
Display after/until: If you check these, make certain that you set the dates that you want to show your material. If you want it to just "be there" don't check either choice.

Add URL: Add a web page to your content area.

Type the name of your link as you want it to appear in the Name:
Type (or paste from your browser address bar) the web address (URL) in the URL:
Type an optional description of the site or your purpose for putting the link on the page.
Set the options (see above)

Add Test: Add a test/quiz/exam to your content area. See the Creating and Adding tests to Blackboard instructions in the Bethel Blackboard Support site.

Repeat these steps to add content into any of the content areas (Course Information, Syllabus, *Assignments, Course Documents, and External Links).
* Assignments - when you add assignments this way, however, your assignments are not connected to the grade book and you will need to create the assignment grading area into the grade book. There is a different way to create assignments so they are linked the gradebook. Please refer to "Adding Assignments into Blackboard" section below for instructions.

Adding Assignments into Blackboard: Add an assignment that links to the grade book. From the control panel, click on Assignments under content area. On the right side of the page (not the left side where you add items) you will see the select option as the one above. Scroll down the menu to 'Assignment' then click "Go". Type in the assignment name and then enter the points possible in the Points area. Then add text in the Text box or upload a document as described above. Once the process is complete, the assignment will appear in the assignments area and in the gradebook area. Students will click on the "View/Complete Assignment" as seen across to submit their assignments. Once a student submits assignment, there will be an exclamation (!) mark as seen across that will indicate the assignment needs grading.

Updated August 20, 2006

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Adding Information into the Content Area of Blackboard 7