The Basic Process

After you add a Content Area to the Course Menu, the next step is to add items to this empty shell. You can add items containing text or file attachments, tools, folders, tests, external links, and course links. Here is the basic process for sharing materials with students:

1. Add a "Content Area"
2. Add the Content Area from the "Course Menu". Ensure that Edit Mode is "ON" to see all of the instructor's functions.
3. Add "materials and tools" to the Content Area
4. Organize your Content Area by "editing the links" to the materials and tools, and creating folders.

Adding Items to Content Areas

You may have existing content you want to share with students, such as:

• Class notes
• PowerPoint presentations
• Image files

You can add content by adding an item. An item can contain a file, text you enter, or both. In the image below, the item consists only of text formatted using the Text Editor within Blackboard.

You can also include images, links to external websites, and file attachments in an item. The image below provides an example:

Adding Items

1. In "Edit Mode", access the "Content Area" from the Course menu.
2. On the Action Bar, click "Create Item".
3. On the "Add Item" page, enter the item's "name" and enter "text" to the Text Box and format is if using a word processing program. You can easily add links and images, as well. The content appears directly in the Content Area.
4. To "add a file", click "Browse" to locate the file. Add multiple files using the Text Editor's "Attach File" function.
5. Under "Options", select "Yes" for "Permit Users to View the Content" Item to make the item available to students.
6. Click "Submit".

Organizing Content Areas

After you have finished adding materials to a Content Area, you can edit the links:

• Name - Review the link names and, if necessary, rename them so they are short, concise titles that can be easily scanned.
• Availability - If you have not finished developing the content, or making the updates, make the link unavailable to students.
• Order - Review the content and, if necessary, rearrange it so it's presented in a logical fashion. For example, present the most frequently used items first.

A. Use the drag-and-drop function to reorder links on the Course Menu.

B. Alternatively, use the Keyboard Accessible Reordering Tool to recover the links.

C. Click a link's Action Link and select Hide Link to make a link unavailable to students.

NOTE: In Edit mode, an unavailable link title appears with a square icon with a diagonal line through it.

Folders

If your Content Area is starting to appear cluttered, use folders to organize the content. It is good practice to group similar types of content together and to give folders intuitive and descriptive names.

* Create a folder in the Content Area and then copy or move items to it. For Example, the NASA Photo Essay of Saturn and images of Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus can be moved to the folder Planet Images.

Select Yes to Delete Item after Copy to move the item to the new folder. Select No to make a copy of the item in the new folder, leaving the original in it's present location.