Adding Content to a Blackboard Course

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There are a few different ways of adding content to a course. While they all share some common procedures, the difference between them is how the material is presented to the learner. The three basic ways of adding content to your course are:

Add an Item

Once you have logged into Blackboard and opened your course, click on a content area on the left hand side of the screen, for example, Course Documents .

From the Course Documents page, click on Create Item.

If you do not use a unique name, all items added will be called Course Documents.  To avoid confusion, it is best to give each item a specific name.  You can also add a short description of the file to give students an idea of what the file contains.  Be careful not to make the text description too long because if you have several files and each file has a long description, students may encounter difficulty in finding the correct files to view.

After naming and describing the file, you will next need to upload the file to the Blackboard.  To do this click on the Browse button.

The Choose File window will open and you will need to locate your file in your computer, select and click Open.

After selecting the file, it is a good idea to fill in "Name of the Link to File".  If you choose not to do this the file name will appear in Blackboard.  Giving the link a name that makes sense will be more helpful to students, rather than a file name that may make no sense to the learner.

To enable students to view the content, yes must be selected for visibility.  You can select yes for the first option and still limit student viewing by using date restrictions: display after and display until.

If you set up date restrictions, make sure to set up both start date and end date and you should select the date through calendar rather than enter it manually.

After completing these three steps, click on Submit to finish the process.

Blackboard will then inform you that the file has been successfully uploaded.  To see how this looks click on the link. You should see the file you just uploaded.

Add a Folder

If you need to add several related files for a single unit or module in your course, it may be better to group them together in a folder.  A folder in Blackboard works much like a folder on your own computer.  It can hold several files and different file formats.  However, the most efficient and stable file type to use in Blackboard are .htm or .html files. To add a folder, enter your course and click on Course Documents. In Course Documents page, click on the Build button to expand the options and then click on Create Folder.

Most likely you will have several folders so you can give each folder a unique and descriptive name.  You can also add a short description to clarify what is in the folder or when it should be viewed or used.

Note: If you have multiple files that you want to release for a specific period of time, you can put them all in one folder and restrict the date the folder is available.  You do not need to set the date restrictions on each item in the folder.  If the students can not view the folder, they can not view the items, so by setting date restrictions on the folder you have effectively set restrictions on all items in the folder as well.

Remember: if you set up date restrictions, make sure to set up both start date and end date and you should select the date through calendar rather than enter it manually.

Once you have set the options, click on the Submit button.

Now that you have successfully added a folder you will need to add files to the folder.  To do this click on the folder link you just created.

The name of the folder will be at the top of the new screen.  To add items (files) to a folder use the same procedures as before. To add files click on Create Item.

Each item should have a unique name and a short description.

Next, you will need to upload the file to the Blackboard.  Click on the Browse button, select the file, and click Open.

Fill in "Name of the Link to File"

Because the item is in a folder you can make the item visible, but still restrict the folder visibility, thus effectively restricting item visibility.

If you set up date restrictions, make sure to set up both start date and end date and you should select the date through calendar rather than enter it manually.

When you have completed these steps, click on Submit at the bottom of the page.  Keep repeating these steps until all of the files needed have been uploaded to the folder.

To check how this looks, go to your course and click on Course Documents.  You should see your folder.  Click on the link and you will see the files you just added to the folder.

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