Blackboard – Adding Items and Content Folders to your Course

Contents

You may have concerns about copyright issues surrounding materials that you place on a Blackboard course. We recommend that you contact the Library for advice on such issues, the library can provide you with advice and guidance on the issues surrounding copyright.

One of the most frequent uses for Blackboard is adding items to hold course materials such as text and attachments. Follow these instructions to add course materials to your Blackboard course.

Add Item

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

2. Choose the Content Area to which you wish to add your content. All the content areas work in the same way, if you have renamed or added content areas to your Blackboard course the screenshot above may vary from what you see.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over Build Content and then click on Add Item.

4. Begin completing the form according to your preferences. Note that further down the form you can attach a file, so if you wish to do this you could use the Text box to enter some contextual information about the file you will be attaching.

Add attachment within the item

5. Click on Browse My Computer to locate the file you wish to attach.

6. In the Link Title box the filename will automatically be populated. If you wish you can change it to something more meaningful depending on the nature of the original filename.

7. In most cases you will only be able to select Create a link to this file. If the file is a media file that can be embedded you will be able to choose an additional option. The two options are described below.

Create a link to this file
Selecting this option attaches the file to the item. A link will automatically be inserted below the item title to provide access to the file. The student will then be able to click on this link to view the file that you uploaded.

Display media file within the page
Selecting this option embeds certain kinds of media within the page itself instead of creating a link. This is for picture, video and sound files. The student will see the media file embedded in the page. Adding video files is better done by following this guide.

8. Set the following options according to your preference.

Permit Users to View this Content
Do you want students to be able to access this content? Selecting No would prevent your students from viewing it, but you would still be able to view it while Edit Mode is ON. The date restrictions option below is a more powerful way of doing a similar action. The default for this option is Yes.

Track number of views
Select Yes to indicate that the system is to track the number of times a user accesses this item.. Select No to indicate that the number of times this page is accessed will not be tracked. Only use this option when you particularly require tracking information. A general report on Course Statistics provides tracking information for the whole course and is available from the Control Panel.

Select Date and Time Restrictions
If you wish you may restrict when this content will appear. Tick the boxes and determine times and dates as appropriate. Ticking Display After will mean that the content will appear from the time and date that you select. Ticking Display Until will mean that the content will no longer appear (disappear) after the date and time selected has passed. This only affects the way the material appears to students. As a course instructor you can change this setting at any time and the content will always be available to you.

9. Click on Submit.

Reviewing and editing an existing item

Your content has now been added. You may click on the Modify button for further options if you wish.

Note that Blackboard has taken a copy of any material you attached to the content item. If you change the original file you should update the copy on Blackboard too (see next slide).

Editing/overwriting files added as an item

If you wish to overwrite or edit settings for any file(s) you have added, click on the Modify button beside the file to see further options.

Note that if you choose the ‘Overwrite File’ option, you should only choose a file of the same file-type as the file you are overwriting. Choosing a different file-type will result in an error when users try to open the file. If you wish to replace a file with a different file-type (for instance replacing a Word document with a PowerPoint document) then you should add a new item and delete the existing item.

Add Item Folder

Folders can be useful to provide a meaningful structure to your course. Folders can be used to store items. You can also have folders within folders. Make sure to decide the folder structure you will use in your course before adding content, this results in a more structured course from the outset.

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over Build Content and then click on Content Folder.

4. Begin completing the form according to your preferences. Use the text box to describe what students will find within the folder.

5. Set the options according to your preferences.

Permit Users to View this Content
Do you want students to be able to access this folder? Selecting No would prevent your students from viewing it, but you would still be able to view it while Edit Mode is ON. The date restrictions option below is a more powerful way of doing a similar action. The default for this option is Yes.

Track number of views
Select Yes to indicate that the system is to track the number of times a user accesses this folder. Select No to indicate that the number of times this page is accessed will not be tracked. Only use this option when you particularly require tracking information. A general report on Course Statistics provides tracking information for the whole course and is available from the Control Panel. For more information about this feature check the link on the right under “What’s Related”.

Select Date and Time Restrictions
If you wish you may restrict when this folder will appear. Tick the boxes and determine times and dates as appropriate. Ticking Display After will mean that the content will appear from the time and date that you select. Ticking Display Until will mean that the content will no longer appear (disappear) after the date and time selected has passed. This only affects the way the material appears to students. As a course instructor you can change this setting at any time and the folder will always be available to you.

6. Click on Submit.

Reviewing and editing an existing folder

7. Your folder has now been created. To access options click on the Modify button.
8. To enter the folder click on its name.

Using the text editor (WYSIWYG)

You can format the text as you wish, and also add images and embed other media.

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