Blackboard – Adding Content

Readings, lecture files, and other course materials are typically added to a Content Area. The default Course Materials menu item is an example of a Content Area, as is the Syllabus. Other Content Areas can be added to the menu by managing your course menu.

Adding Folders to a Content Area

If you plan to upload a lot of content to your course, you’ll probably want to organize it into folders.  To add a folder,

1. Proceed to a content area and click on “Build Content“.
2. Click “Content Folder“.
3. Enter a name for the folder.
4. Click “Submit“.

You can now put content in this folder by clicking on it to enter it, and then using the Build Content tool to add materials.

Adding Items or Files

What’s the difference? Item allows you to type text that will appear directly on a Blackboard page, such as an introductory paragraph, a list of tasks, or even an entire written lecture. Item also lets you attach one or more files, such as a PDF article, a document, and Powerpoint slides. The student will see the text you typed as well as links to the files you attached.

File creates a link to a SINGLE specific file such as a PDF, document, spreadsheet, or Powerpoint, etc. with no accompanying text.

Adding an Item

1. Go into a Content area in your course, such as “Course Materials” or “Syllabus.”
2. Click on “Build Content.”
3. Click on “Item.”
4. Enter a name for the “Item” (e.g. “Readings”).
5. Type or paste your text into the Text area.
6. To attach one or more files to that “Item,” click the “Browse” button to add a file from your computer.
7. Click the “Submit” button to publish the Item to your course.

Adding a File

1. Go into a Content area in your course, such as “Course Materials” or “Syllabus.”
2. Click on “Build Content.”
3. Click on “File.”
4. Enter a name for the File (i.e. “Reading 1”).
5. To attach a file to either an Item or a File, click the “Browse” button and find the file.
6. Click the “Submit” button to publish the Item or File to your course.

Editing an Item or File

1. Go into a Content area in your course, such as “Course Materials” or “Syllabus.”
2. Hover over the Item or File to be edited and from the drop-down menu that appears, choose “Edit.”
3. Click the “Submit” button to republish the edited Item or File to your course.

Embedding a Link to a File in Text

If you want to place a link to a file within any text in Blackboard, follow these steps:

1. While you are typing in the text editor anywhere in Blackboard (e.g., discussion post, item, or announcement), click the plus icon (+).
2. In the window that pops up, select “Insert Local Files”, and click “Open.”
3. If you want to change the displayed text of the link, right click on the link and select “Link…” to edit the text, and click Save.
4. Click Submit.

Adding a Web Link

Sometimes you may wish to link to an article that is not in Blackboard.  To do this,

1. Go to the Website to which you want to link.
2. Copy the full URL from the address bar, e.g. http://www.nytimes.com/.
3. With the address copied, go to your Bb course content area.
4. Under the “Build Content” button, choose Web Link.
5. Give the link a title, e.g. “New York Times”
6. Paste in the URL in the next field.
7. Click Submit.

or
If you want the link to appear within the text in an item,

1. Go to the Website to which you want to link.
2. Copy the full URL from the address bar, e.g. http://www.nytimes.com/.
3. With the address copied, go to your Bb item where you want the link to appear.
4. Type the words that will become the link, such as “see this link on the New York Times site.”
5. Select or highlight the words you typed for the link and click the chain link icon at the top of your text block.
6. In the window that pops up, paste your URL into the URL field.
7. Click Submit.

Adding Text

The “item” is an area where many types of content may be displayed, such as text, images, and videos. To add a text item, click the “Build Content” button and choose “Item.”

Adding Images

Images, (or video and audio files) can be added to your course in a variety of ways. You can embed them within an item and you can add them on the page directly with the Build Content button. To learn more about this, see adding images.

See Also: Adding Content Areas to the Course Menu

To add additional Content Area pages to your menu, find out how to manage the Course Menu.

See Also: File Management

The “Files” area in the course Control Panel makes it easier to organize and update the files that you attach to your course, such as images, PDFs, and Word documents. To learn more see this article on the course files area, or view this video tutorial created by Blackboard about uploading files.