Organizing your Blackboard Course
Before bringing files into Blackboard, you should develop a plan for organizing your course. This pre-planning will save you significant time developing a new course or transitioning a course from another course management system.
Several navigational/organization features are provided by Blackboard. This guide briefly points out the basics for the following features:
Left Side Navigation Menu
A default course shell is created for every course in Blackboard. The shell includes a standard navigation menu in the left column (as seen below).
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Because Blackboard provides a great deal of flexibility, instructors can easily change this navigation menu to suit individual courses. However, instructors might want to consider organizing their courses in a similar pattern to the provided menu so students can easily locate necessary course components in each of their COD courses. However, if an instructor does not plan on using a particular navigational component, the link should be hidden or removed so students do not encounter empty pages. |
The table below describes each of the default navigation menu items
and explains the recommended use for each:
| Announcements | Post important information about the course, such as assignment due dates, content changes, test deadlines, and other timely information in this area. |
| Syllabus | Post your syllabus here. You may create a syllabus using the built-in Blackboard editor, or simply link to an existing document. |
| Course Information | This area can be used to organize your course content into folders. Your course might include lecture notes, photos, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, outlines, study guides, audio files, etc. Your folders can organize your content by units, modules, chapters, weeks, or even by topic. |
| Assignments | Homework or other activities that students must complete may be stored in this area. Assignments allow instructors to create activities and manage the grades and feedback for each student separately. Instructors may create assignments that list the name, point value and a description; files may also be attached. After an assignment is added to a content area (such as Assignments), students may access the assignment, complete it in a separate file, and send it back to the instructor. The instructor may respond to each student separately, sending comments about their individual assignment and attaching files, if necessary. |
| Assessments | Exams, quizzes, and surveys may be organized in this area. Options may be set concerning time, multiple attempts, passwords, and gradebook recording. |
| Discussion Board | Use the Discussion Board for asynchronous class discussions. Student interactions with the Discussion Board are a permanent record of participation. You have the option to grade students at the forum level or at the thread level. Additionally, students can participate in rating posts or in peer review of assignments. |
| myCOD Email | This navigation link opens a new window for the myCOD student portal. Students may login and access their e-mail. |
| External Links | You may list helpful URLs for your students in this content area. |
| COD Resources | This navigation link opens a new window. The COD Resources page lists helpful information and tips for COD students. |
| Instructor | This section is provided for you to provide information about yourself. You may include a picture as well. |
Folders
Folders are used to organize course materials in Blackboard. You can create a series of folders for each unit. Or, you can organize your course by chapter, week, or by topic.
Once a folder is created, course materials and additional subfolders may be added to it. Any of the Content Types available in Blackboard’s content areas may be added to a folder.
Use the folder description field to explain what students will find in a folder if the title itself is not descriptive.
Below, you will see an example of a course page. The page is what students first see when they click the "Course Information" link (in the left navigation menu).
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This is the first page a student sees in the Course Information section. Unit folders have been created to hold chapter lessons. Students click on the underlined link to open a folder. The folder link for Unit II is highlighted. |
| When a student clicks the Unit II link,
a series of sub-folders is displayed (right). The sub-folder Chapter
4 is highlighted.
Clicking any of the Chapter links displays a page of the instructor’s chapter comments. In this course, the Discussion Board link takes students to discussion instructions. A link directly to the discussion board could be included as well. Clicking the Unit II Exam link opens exam instructions (with passwords, helpful hints, etc.). Or, a link could be created to open the exam directly. |
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Recommendation
Learning Units
A learning unit is a presentation method used to organize a collection of related course materials for your students. Content within a learning unit is added and managed just like content in a folder, but the learning unit controls the order in which the course materials are accessed by students. All types of content, such as items, assignments, and assessments may be included in a learning unit.
Use a learning unit if you want to create a structured path for progressing through materials.
Learning units come with their own navigation. See the screenshot below:
You can tell immediately that it is a learning unit from the gray header that Blackboard automatically created. Notice that this learning unit has eight pages. (It was created using 8 items.) To progress from one page to another, the student must click the arrow button. To see the title of each section in the learning unit, the student may click the Contents button. However, the Contents button will be disabled if the instructor has specified students must view the pages in sequential order.
Items
Items are any course material added to a course (e.g., course notes, presentations, video, audio files, etc.). You can place one or many items in a folder or learning unit.
If you place one item after another in a folder, the items will display on one page. In the screenshot (right), there are three different items displayed. Notice the alternating gray band that Blackboard automatically created to separate the items.
Could a learning unit be used to display the three items instead? Sure
Could the information from the items be combined into one page? Sure
Blackboard allows a lot of flexibility. However, developing an organizational plan before placing course material in Blackboard will save time in the long run.