Adding Content to Your Course and FAQS

FAQs

Adding Content to Your Course

There are two steps to creating a course in Blackboard. Step one is organizing your course materials. Step two is uploading those materials to your Blackboard site. The more time you spend on step one, the easier step two will be. In addition, the more organized your materials are, the easier it will be for your students to find them on your course site

1. Organize Your Materials
   • Gather your course materials and content in a central location. Include items such as the syllabus, handouts, slide shows, lecture notes, projects, assignments, quizzes and discussion topics
   • Decide where everything is going to go within the course site. Remember that creating folders will help you organize your materials so your students can easily find them. We recommend that all non-content related materials (like your syllabus) be placed in the Course Information section and that course content be placed in the Course Documents section
2. Add Your Course Materials
   • Create folders and upload documents
   • Start with the Course Information section. Enter your syllabus, and any other course information that is not content related.
   • Enter all the content materials (electronic versions of lecture notes, readings, slide presentations, etc.) into the of the content areas You may create additional content areas for more organization if desired. This is a good place to use folders. Create a folder for the different types of materials (lecture notes, slides, graphs, etc.) then add new documents within those folders. Remember: to add information to a folder click on the underlined name of the folder from within the Page Editors
   • Remember you can continue to add materials and documents throughout the semester
3. Create an Introductory Announcement
   • Post an introductory message in the announcements area. Welcome the students to your course, direct them to the Course Information area to obtain the syllabus, and indicate the location of the first class assignment or reading
   • Announcements are listed on the front page of your course site for one week and are great attention grabbers!
4. Add External Links
   • The Internet and World Wide Web are huge repositories of information, but unfortunately the majority of the information is unmonitored. Use the External Links section to post Internet resources that you have reviewed and approve of
   • You could also locate a number of external websites that relate to information you are teaching. Place these in the External Links area and recommend students explore these sites on "virtual fieldtrips"
   • Another way to use the section is to structure an assignment that incorporates researching and reporting information from these fieldtrips
5. Preview your Course
   • Preview course materials by checking each link, proofreading descriptions, and viewing the course from a student perspective
   • Ask a colleague or teaching assistant to preview the course as well. They may notice something that you missed. The goal is to create a course where students can easily find the information they need
6. Introduce Blackboard to Your Students
   • While many students used Blackboard last semester at SDSU, you should introduce it to your students at the start of each semester. It is recommended that you also show your student the SDSU Blackboard Student Support site and Student FAQs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of files can I upload to Blackboard?
Uploading just means putting your document "up" onto the Blackboard server or any Internet server. You can upload just about any file type to Blackboard, however the type of document that you upload affects how your students can view it. If you upload documents that were created and saved in specific software programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.), your students will have to have that particular software to view the documents.

For example, if you upload a PowerPoint document (as a .ppt or .pps), your students will have to download the file and then open it in Powerpoint or the PowerPoint viewer. This is also the same for media files. If you upload an Excel spreadsheet, your students must have Excel to view the file.

Note Regarding Electronic File Names: Because Blackboard is cross platform (works on Macs and PC's) and also cross browser (Netscape and Internet Explorer) any file you wish to upload, whether it is for download or on screen viewing, must have a three or four letter file extension (such as ".doc" or ".html") which designates its type. The PC will automatically add the extension for you, the Mac OSX will add this extentsion as well. Mac OS 9 users must manually add the extension to all documents.

Are files uploaded to Blackboard automatically checked for viruses?
No, there is no easy way to check for viruses on the Blackboard server or any Internet based server. The best way to protect yourself is to have a virus protection program on your personal computer. SDSU Faculty can request virus protection software from their college computing consultant. Students will have to purchase virus protection software.

How should I save my graphics?
The most universally supported file formats on the Web are GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format. The basic guideline is to use .gif format for graphics that have few colors, graphics that contain text or type, or graphics that have large areas of a single color. Use .jpg format for graphics that have many colors and lots of fine detail, such as photos.

It is important to remember that Blackboard will upload all graphics in their original size. Make sure that you have sized and saved your graphics in an appropriate size for your course site. Call the Blackboard Help Desk if you need help sizing or finding out the size of a graphic, 594-0270. Large or high resolution graphics can take a very long time for your students to download.

How fast (or slow) will my files be downloaded?
When developing your course materials, remember that the students may be connecting to the Internet via a modem. Files should be kept small enough so users with slower connections will still be able to access the files in a reasonable time. If this is not possible, try to minimize file size by using a file compression tool such as WinZip or DropZip. These are often available free online or for a small fee.

If you cannot keep the file size down, an alternative is to provide the student with information describing what the file is and why it is important. Often, simply letting a student know that the download may take longer than usual will diffuse any frustration associated with the long process.

Use this chart as a reference when determining the download times for files:

	K/sec	100K File	1MB File	5MB File	10MB File	30MB File
56K Dial-up Modem	14	14 sec	2.5 min	13 min	25 min	75 min
ISDN	64	6 sec	1.5 min	6 min	11 min	33 min
T1 Cable or greater (fast connection)	1554	<1 sec	5 sec	26 sec	53 sec	3 min

Keep in mind that times will vary based on Internet traffic and connection speed.

Additional Tips:
• Use the smallest possible graphics and sound files.
  Technical example: 8-bit graphics display and animate more quickly and occupy less memory than 24-bit graphics, which are three times larger.
• Breakup the file into smaller files and have students download it piece by piece.
• Compress the files. A compressed file is a little larger than half the size of the original version. Compressed files must be decompressed before you or your student can open them.