Navigation & Editing

Layout & Navigation

• Carefully review the screen shot below to become familiar with the various icons you may click on while navigating through your Blackboard course.

• Each of the icons circled in red above is used repeatedly throughout the Blackboard interface and is a critical aid to you as you build your Blackboard courses.

Build Tab
Edit Your Site

Use the Build tab to create and edit the content of your Blackboard course. Under this tab you may add or remove tools, create and modify assessments, assignments, learning modules, etc, and manage your files with the File Manager.

NOTE: To Preview many of the functions you will create in your course, use the Student View tab.

• To edit your web site, click on the Build tab.

• The Formatting Menu on the top of a page in the Build Tab allows you to make changes to the current page.

Adding a New Tool

• Click on Manage Course, then click Tools.

• From the list of tools, click on the check box next to the name of the tool you wish to add.
  
• Click Save.

Editing the Course Menu

• To edit the Course Menu, click on the Build or Teach tab
• Click Manage Course (located on the left)
• Click on Course Menu.

• The General Settings menu will allow you to:
  • Select whether to display the links as Icons, Text or both.
  • Orient the Course Menu.
  • Display or hide the Course Content map on the Menu.
• From here, the Order and Visibility section allow you to:
  • Re-arrange links
  • Show or hide links
    When a Show Link button appears next to a menu item, this indicates that the link is hidden. To show a link and allow your students access to it, change the button from Show Link to Hide Link by clicking on it. Another way to tell if a menu item is hidden is to look at the left menu and see if the item has an (H) to its right. The (H) indicates that the item is hidden from students.

Add/Edit Content

• Many Blackboard tools provide a form field in which you may add descriptions, instructions, and general content. Content added to these form fields is treated as plain text unless you check the Use HTML box provided or press the Enable the HTML Creator button to enter your content using the built in HTML editor. Please read the Session Timeout information provided below to learn the preferred way to create and modify content for delivery to an Internet application such as Blackboard.

WARNING: Avoid using special characters ( @ # % & ; ) in filenames and titles.

Add/Edit HTML formatted Content

Many Blackboard tools have an HTML Editor built in. This allows you to create and edit web content with normal "Word processor-like" functionality (i.e. bold, change colors, insert images, choose fonts, etc.)

•  From an edit screen, press the Enable HTML Creator button

• An important feature of the HTML Editor is the Full Screen mode. To access it press the Frame Window Mode icon.

• A resizable window will pop-up for you to work in.

• When you're finished, press the Leave Window Mode button on your original Blackboard Screen, or just close the editing Window.
• Your content will automatically be transferred to the original page.

• Press Save (or Send/Post depending on the tool) to complete the edits.

Teach Tab
Grade Your Students

Use the Teach tab to access the teaching and grading features of Blackboard. Through this tab, you will be able to work with the grade book, grade assessments and assignments, track your student's progress, manage groups, maintain selective release settings, and reset your course at the end of each semester.

• To edit grades and other teaching functions, click on the Teach tab.
• Also see the Grade Book how-to