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Computing

There are four ways to add content to your Blackboard course site:

  1. typing text information
  2. using HTML
  3. attaching documents
  4. attaching groups of documents

1. Typing Text Information

Blackboard allows the user to type non-HTML text into the Enter Info Below: box and Blackboard will display the information for you. Default text is formatted to left-justified, 12 point Arial.

If you use HTML to format the text and select the HTML button below the Enter Information Below text box; then the text default will be voided and all the text must be formatted with HTML tags.

To add text to a course element:
Blackboard's "Enter Information" box

  1. From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.
    NOTE:     While the course element will change depending on which area you enter, Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments, the process and concepts of entering text remains the same.
  2. Select the Add File option.
  3. In the Enter Information area, select an appropriate document title from the drop down box or create an original title by typing in the small text field.
    • The options in the drop down box will change to correspond with which course element is selected
    • The color of the title can be changed by select a different color in the choose a color for your title drop down box.
  4. Enter the text in the text box by either typing directly into the box OR, if you already have a word document or HTML file:
  5. Switch to an open word processing or HTML processing program, copy the desired text, and return to Blackboard and paste the content into the text box.
  6. If you paste HTML coded materials, be sure to select the HTML option to maintain the formatting. Also do not copy the <html>, <title>, or <body> tag into Blackboard. Only copy the HTML between the <body> tags and paste it into the box. More information about this process is below in the Copying HTML section.
  7. Select which type of text you have entered:
    • Smart Text = if you type the path for an image file using HTML syntax (e.g. <img src="image1.gif"> or the URL for a web site in the box (http://www.website.com), the image or link to the web site will appear.
    • Plain Text = contains no html tags
    • HTML = all text contains html tags
  8. Choose Submit to complete the process.
  9. A receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or return to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

2. Using HTML

Using the HTML view to select the source code of an HTML document.

Copying HTML

  1. If you have an existing HTML document you'd like to include, select the HTML text between the <body> tags and paste it into the box.
  2. If there are images within the HTML, you will need to upload them into the Blackboard database. After you have clicked on the Submit button Blackboard will bring up the Content Options page. Click on the Browse button and find your image (gif or jpg). Then click on the Submit button.
The Content Options screen.

Creating HTML with Word, Dreamweaver, or other HTML Editors

• Microsoft Word

For information converting a Word document to HTML, see the Using MS Word to create HTML tutorial.

• Dreamweaver

  1. Create a web page in Dreamweaver.
    NOTE: Not only can you copy and paste the HTML from Dreamweaver, but you can also upload the HTML file into Blackboard. This is example is in the next section 4.0.
  2. Once all the text is written, go to the Window menu and choose HTML. This will display the HTML code for this page. Select all the text between the <body> tags, then from the Edit menu chose Copy. Paste the code into the Blackboard document box.
  3. Below the text box, select the HTML option.
  4. Click on the Submit button.

3. Attaching/Uploading Documents to a Course

Attaching a Document

It is often more effective to attach a document rather than enter the text directly into Blackboard. This is very useful when:

To upload or attach a single document:

  1. From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.
    Note: while the course element will change depending on which area you enter, Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments, the process and concepts of attaching files remains the same.
  2. Select the Add Document option, and locate the Content Attachments area.
  3. Choose Browse to locate the appropriate file from the computer's hard drive, network, or disk.
  4. In the Name of Link to File field, type the text that students will click on to access the uploaded file. The text added can be the actual file name, such as Week1report.doc, or it can be the type of file, such as Excel Worksheet.
  5. Designate the Special Action (Create a link to this file or Display this file within the page) by selecting an option from the drop down menu.
  6. Select other appropriate Options.

    7. Other options include: add ofline content, track usage, add metadata, and dates of availibility.
  7. Choose Submit to complete the process.
  8. A receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or return to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

4. Attaching a Group of Documents

There is an option available that permits instructors to upload a group of files into Blackboard. This is particularly useful when uploading a PowerPoint slide show or a web site that contains many files with internal reference links.

To insure that each file in a group is treated in the exact same manner, and placed in the appropriate directory, all files must be compressed into a .zip or .tar formats before uploading.

Software for Compressing Files
If you are working on a: Compress With: Acceptable file extensions:
Macintosh OS Stuffit Deluxe or DropZip .tar or .zip
Macintosh or PC with Windows or NT WinZip or PkZip .zip
Unix Platform GnuZip, Compress .tar .gzip .z

To upload or attach many files:

  1. Create and compress the files.
  2. From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.
    NOTE: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter, Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments, the process and concepts of uploading documents remains the same.
  3. Select the Add Document option, and locate the Content Attachments area.
  4. In the File to Attach area, click Browse and locate the name of the directory to upload.
  5. In the Name of Link to File field, type the text that students will click on to access the uploaded file.
  6. In the Special Actions area, select Unpackage these files from the drop down menu.
  7. If necessary, designate other Options associated with the file
  8. .Other options include: add ofline content, track usage, add metadata, and dates of availibility.
  9. Choose Submit.
  10. When the prompt appears, designate the "launch" file for the compressed group.
    For Example: If the group of files is a web site, designate the first page of the site (ex: index.html).
    11. A list of potential files is given so you can choose the starting point.
  11. A receipt will appear to confirm the process.

This document created by Blackboard Support at the University of Miami

 

This page was last updated on 8/31/05.