Course Content and Design
Le Design
Copying course content from a previous course site into a current course site
Importing course content from an exported course package
Adding content to a course site
Moving items from one content area to another within a course site
A word on WYSIWG
Course and file size
Exporting a course / saving a back-up copy
Le Design
Blackboard allows for an instructor to be able to express a little of their artistic flair and exercise some personalization over a course site. Course sites are created on a basic template. By all means leave the design to those who think they have an eye for color and use the simple yet perfectly coordinated templated design. If you are feeling adventurous however you can change the look and color of your course menu and add a course banner. To do this:
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From the Control Panel click on Course Design under the Course Options
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Click on ‘Course Menu Design'
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Select either Buttons or Text using the radial button
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Select the style and color properties for your course menu.
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Click ‘Submit' to save the changes
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To add a banner that will display along the top of the Announcements page click on Course Design under the Course Options
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Click on ‘Course Banner'
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Using the ‘Browse' feature select the picture or banner you wish to display.
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Click ‘Submit' to save
When selecting colors for your course menu please do consider those students who may have visual impairments - if you have trouble viewing the course text chances are your students will also. Select text color that shows up succinctly on the background color.
Copying course content from a previous course site into a current course site
If you "own" both the previous course site and the current course site then you can copy content from the old into the new. Please remember that Blackboard course sites are proprietary and therefore if you are copying someone else's content without permission you are in violation of copyright. If you wish to copy someone's old course site please send an email to minnocent@sf.edu requesting access; the owner of the course site must also send an email containing their permission and confirm their approval to have the requestor added as an instructor to their old course site.
To copy content from an old course site into a new course site:
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From the Control Panel of the previous (old) course site, click on Course Copy under Course Options.
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Click on ‘Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course'.
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Enter the current course you wish to copy content into in the Destination Course ID field. It must be entered in the correct format for the process to work. Alternatively search for your course by hitting the Browse key, change the Search by radial button to Instructor and type in your last name. It will then show all of the courses for which you are listed as an instructor. Select the course you wish to copy the content into. Click Submit to close out the Browse window. Your course will be populated into the Course ID field.
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Check the items you wish to copy, (DO NOT SELECT ENROLLMENTS as this will copy old users into the new course site) and click ‘Submit'.
The key with course copy is to remember to be in your OLD course site, the one that contains the content you wish to copy into the new course. The copy process can take a while, particularly if you are copying a course site with a lot of content or large multimedia files, so don't worry if you don't see everything in your new course straight away. If, after 24 hours however, you still don't see all of the content you indicated to copy please send an email to minnocent@sf.edu so that the delay may be investigated.
Importing course content from an exported course package
You also have the option of importing course content from an old course, which has been saved or exported, into a new course.
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From the Control Panel of your current course, click on 'Import Package' under Course Options.
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Locate your exported zip file on your computer and double click on the file.
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You'll see the populated file in the course package field.
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Select those course materials items you wish to upload into your course site.
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Click 'Submit' and 'OK'.
See above regarding the length of time course content copy/import can take.
Adding content to a course site.
A good place to start is to think about what content area you wish to have in your course site. The content areas are designated by the buttons or links in the course menu located on the far left-hand side of the course pages. To add or remove a content area go to the Control Panel and click on Manage Course Menu, located under Course Options. Using the icon menu click on Content Area to add another content area such as Course Documents, Assignments, etc. To remove a Content Area already part of the Course Menu click on Remove next to the Content Area. The page will refresh and the Content Area gone. N.B. If you remove a Content Area that contains content (files, folders, items, etc) it will also remove all of the content contained within that content area.
Once your course menu is set you can add content by going into your specified content area (Syllabus, Lectures, Assignments, etc), located under the Content Area section of your Control Panel. To add content use the icon menu and click on the following:
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Item: Use this to add text or other files (e.g., Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pdf) to your page.
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Folder: If you want to organize added items and files into folders, you must create the folder first, then open the folder and use the icon menu to add content inside the folder
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External Link: Use this to add a web link to your page.
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Course Link: Use this to link to another area or document within your current Blackboard course.
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Test: Use this to add a test/quiz from the Test Manager.
Please be aware that you can post most types of files extensions into Blackboard however your audience must have the ability to read the file extension. If your students are having problems opening or viewing files that you have added to your course site make sure that they have the relevant program installed on their computer to view/open the document. There are a number of free applications/plug-ins that students can download in order to view/open documents. Students may also be reminded that they can purchase Microsoft Office products at hugely discounted prices from the University Campus Shop.
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RealPlayer (Windows & Mac)
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Microsoft Excel Viewer (Windows)
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Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer (Windows)
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Microsoft Word Viewer (Windows)
Moving items from one content area to another within a course site
Imagine you just added all your course items, Word documents, PowerPoints, podcasts and now you realise that you've put them all in the wrong content area. Fret not! Blackboard easily allows you to copy and/or move content to another content area.
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From the Control Panel, go to the content area that contains the items you wish to move.
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Click on the ‘Copy' button next to the item and select the destination from the dropdown list.
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Click ‘Browse' to select the folder where the item should be moved to.
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Select the ‘Yes' radial button after ‘Remove item after copy' if you want the item deleted from its original location.
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Click ‘Submit'
A word on WYSIWYG
On a Windows PC if you are using Windows 2000 or above and Internet Explorer as your browser, the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor appears with a menu that looks like that of a Microsoft Word document. You can type your text into it and format it. 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 Windows PC the WYSIWYG editor will not appear. Any text you type in the text box will be simple unformatted text. Since you cannot 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. Choose "Plain Text" for your formatting, unless you wish to add HTML.
Course and File size
There is currently no limitation on the size or space used for a USF Blackboard course site, nor for files being added. However it is recommended that if you are adding large files, over 40 MGB, that you either compress them or add them in a zipped format. If you don't want to purchase WinZip there are a few free options available for download:
Exporting a course / saving a back-up copy.
Saving a copy of your Blackboard course site is not only helpful for use in future course sites but is critical for data maintenance and integrity. A Blackboard course site is proprietary; it only makes sense that you should ‘own’ a back-up of it too. Be responsible for all the hard work you put into a course site. Be safe and save it!
The best time to export a course site, (and you can actually export a course site as many times as you wish at any time) is at the end of semester when it is fully loaded with all the content, you have the settings just so and the course site is ‘complete’.
To export a course site:
- From the Control Panel click on ‘Export Course’ under the Course options section.
- Click on the ‘Export’ icon.
- Go ahead and check every item listed under Select Course Materials.
- Click ‘Submit’ and ‘OK’.
- You may need to come out of the Export Manager and go back in. The export process can take a few seconds.
- Once the export package is complete you’ll see something that looks like this ExportFile_BBAdvancedCourse_20070607105233.zip
- Right click on the file and select ‘Save Target As’.
- Select where you wish to save the compressed file. If you save it to your hard or network drive I also recommend saving a copy on a CD or flash drive. Rename it if you want but remember you’ll want to identify easily so include at least the course prefix, i.e. Engl10101 and the semester you taught it, 2007Fall. Click ‘Save’.
- That’s it! You have a complete saved copy of your Blackboard course site.
The nice thing about having an exported copy of your Blackboard course site is that you can then easily import it, or parts of it, into a new course.
