DCAD Digital Help Guides

This guide will outline:

• the differences, benefits and relative suitability of Learning Modules and Folders;
• how to create Learning Modules, Folders and Documents.
• how you can organise content and activities within Blackboard using Learning Modules, Folders and Documents;

If Learning Modules and Folders are so functionally similar, then does it matter which one I choose?

• For maximum flexibility and the best student experience, we advise that Learning Modules are used at the top level of the module to encapsulate blocks of associated content (e.g. a week, unit, topic or ‘phase’ of learning).
• Folders are best used to add an additional layer of organisation within a Learning Module, or to house connected materials that do not need to be accessed sequentially (e.g. assignment briefs and submission points.)

For example, you may use a Folder to collect information pertaining to assignment submission for the module, whereas you may use a Learning Modules are used to group learning and teaching materials by topic/unit/phase of learning.

Within your Blackboard Course:

1. hover over anywhere within the ‘Course Content‘ section and click on the ‘+‘ icon and select ‘Create‘
2. Select ‘Learning Module‘ from the list.
3. Enter a Name and a plain text Description for your Learning Module which outlines clearly what it will contain.
4. add a thumbnail image (optional) to your Learning Module by scrolling to the bottom of the options menu and selecting ‘Add Image’.
5. Select ‘Save‘

You can enforce a Sequence on a Learning Module to make students engage with material in the order that you present it in (for instance, if you wanted your students to view the pre-seminar reading before viewing the seminar materials).

To enforce a Sequence on a Learning Module

• Select the elipses (…) next to your Learning Module
• In the right-hand pane window, scroll down to ‘Advance in Sequence‘
• Select ‘Forced Sequence‘
• Press Save.

Within your Blackboard Course:

1. select ‘+‘ icon and select ‘Create‘.
2. Select ‘Folder‘
3. Enter a Name and a plain text Description for your Folder which outlines what it will contain.
4. Select Save

Within your Blackboard Course

1. click on the ‘+‘ icon and select ‘Create‘
2. Select ‘Document‘
3. Enter a Name and a plain text Description for your Document which outlines what it will contain
4. Press Save

For more information, see Anthology’s Blackboard Guidance on Documents. opens a new window

• Content to open the text box editor. Here you can add text, hyperlinks or embed videos from Panopto or Reading List items from Talis Aspire using the ‘Content Market‘
• HTML to enter custom HTML, or embed items from third party sources.
• Knowledge Check to create a simple single quiz question. You can find out more about knowledge checks here.
• File Upload to upload Documents, PDFs, PowerPoint Presentations or Images from your harddrive.
• Cloud Upload to browse for files in your Durham University One Drive account.
• Content Collection to re-use content that you have already uploaded to your Blackboard Course
• Convert a File to produce an alternative format of a file using Blackboard Ally. You can find out more information about alternative formats here.

To add text to a document:

1. Open the document.
2. Click Edit Content to activate the text editor. 
3. Hover over a block of existing text and select the purple ‘pen‘ icon.
4. Type directly into the text editor, basic editing tools are displayed along the top of the text editor. 
5. Click Save when the editing is complete.

To add a hyperlink to a document:

1. In the text editor, select the text you would like to use as the link.
2. Click the Hyperlink button on the toolbar.
3. Paste in the URL (web address) and click Insert.

To add a file as an attachment, e.g. Word Document, PDF, JPG, MPEG file within a document:

1. In the text editor, place the cursor where the document is to be displayed.
2. Click the Attach button on the toolbar.
3. In the Browse window, navigate to the file, select it and then click Insert. 
4. Note: Images will be displayed at their actual dimensions, you will need to edit these files to be a viewable size before attaching. Images which are larger than the width of the screen will be shrunk to fit.

To add an image or media file:

1. Select the ‘image’ icon from the text editor toolbar.
2. Select the type of content, e.g. Image from the internet.
3. Paste in the URL and type in Alt text.
4. Click Save.

To upload a file to the document:

1. Click the plus sign, select Upload from computer.
2. Select the file from the browse window.
3. The file will then be uploaded.
4. Set the access to the document, this can be View and download, View only, Download only.
5. Click Save.

Adding Content from the Content Collection

The Content Collection is a storage area where you can upload files related to the course. These files can then used when creating learning modules and can be inserted into documents.

To upload content to the Content Collection:

1. On the main menu on the left of Blackboard, select Tools and then select the Content Collection icon.
2. There will be folders for each of your courses, select the folder for the relevant module from the list.
3. If you wish to organise your files in folders, click New Folder, give the new folder a name and then select the folder.
4. Click the Upload button and select either Files or Zipped Folder.
5. Navigate the Browse window to select your files, then click Submit. The files will then be uploaded to the folder.

To insert content from the Content Collection:

1. Open the text editor in the document, click the plus sign at the far right of the toolbar.
2. Click Content Collection.
3. From the Browse window, navigate to the file(s) to upload, tick the check box next to these items and click Submit. The files will now be visible in the text editor. The student will need to click on the icon for the file to open and read it.