Blackboard – Create a Blackboard Lesson Plan

The lesson plan content type allows you to create online lesson plans complete with accompanying content resources.

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

2. Choose the Content Area into 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 Lesson Plan.

4. Enter a name for the Lesson Plan.

5. Choose a colour if you wish.

6. Enter a description.

7. Complete the descriptive information. If a box is not relevant you may remove it by clicking on the x icon. If you wish to add a section but there is no category, the next slide explains how to add new categories.

8. If you wish to share the information with students who view the lesson plan tick the relevant “Share with students” boxes.

9. If you wish to add extra detail to the lesson plan click on Add Lesson Plan Section and choose the relevant section.  Note that Custom Fields are available on the far right of the box; these allow you to create sections of your own choice.

10. Set the options according to your preferences.

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 for materials for which 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 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.

11. Click on Save and Continue.

12. You are now at the Curriculum Resources section. Here you can add any electronic files or features that will be used in the lesson. You can add them in the same way as you add content to a folder.

13. To check how the material looks from the student point of view turn Edit Mode off.