Adding Content > How to Add Content

The first step to adding content into your Blackboard site is first browsing to one of the sites content areas.

Log in and click on the "Control Panel" button on the lower left hand corner of the screen. This will bring you into the main "Control Panel" view. The content areas of your site can be found in the upper left hand side of the "Control Panel" view.

Click on the name of the Content Area that you wish to begin uploading content into. In the subsequent screen you will see a toolbar across the top of the page. In order to begin adding content into this area click on the button labeled "Add Item".

You will be brought into another interface where you will have a few different options for adding your content. Blackboard gives you the ability to:

A - Add content directly into a text box and then choose the way that you would like that content to be formated or,
B - Add your content as an "File Attachment"

ADDING CONTENT INTO THE TEXT BOX
To add your content directly into the system type, or copy and paste, the text of the item you wish to add directly into the text box. You have the option to name the item yourself or to choose from any of the pre-specified names provided in the drop down box.

At the bottom of the text box there are a few options for how you'd like to have your text processed - Smart Text, Plain Text, and HTML. Smart Text is the default option and will support some minor formatting, as well as explicit links. Plain text is a raw text format with no formatting support. If you know HTML you can write (or paste) your markup directly into the box and have it processed as HTML by checking off this radio button. When you are satisfied with how your content appears scroll down to the bottom of the page, adjust the availability settings accordingly, and then click submit.

**Blackboard 6 now has an integrated WebEQ equation editor built in. To create mathematical formulas click on the "Plus" button at the bottom of the text box to bring up the WebEQ editor.

When you have completed building your formula click the button labeled "Add". This will add the WebEQ markup into your text box. After inputting your equation scroll to the bottom of the page, adjust the availability options accordingly, and then click submit.

ADDING CONTENT INTO THE TEXT BOX
To add your content as a file attachment first specify the item name (or choose any of the pre-specified titles) and then scroll down the page to the section labeled "2 - Content Attachments"

Click on the button labeled "Browse" and find a file to upload to the system. This will open a file explorer window that will allow you to browse your hard drive for the location of the file that you wish to upload (similar to adding an attachment to an e-mail message). Any file you wish to upload should have a three or four letter file extension (such as ".txt" or ".html") which designates its type and is a commonly used extension name recognized by web browsers. For example: If you wish to upload a Microsoft Word document, it must be named similarly to "myfile.doc", ".doc" being the file extension for Word. Also, be sure to use sensible filename - no spaces or special characters .

Once you find the file select it and then click "Open". If you wish to provide an alternate name for the file you can type one in now. Choose the special action "Create a link to this file"; this is the default option and will be used a majority of the time when adding files to the system. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and adjust the availability settings accordingly, then click submit. You will receive a content receipt that you have added the document to the system. You students can now browse to this content area and click on the link to the file you have uploaded to view it. Blackboard supports a number of different file types. For more information see the "Blackboard Supported File Types Guide".

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Related FAQ's

Q: Can I add a Word document?

Yes. Please keep in mind that any file type that you add to your Blackboard site will require that your student have that underlying program in order to open it. If you post primarily Microsoft Office documents students will need the MS Office Suite to open them.

Q: How can students print my Powerpoint slides?

If you are posting Powerpoint slides it is always a good idea to post a "printable version". A great way to do this is to convert them to PDF. For more information on creating documents with PDF and posting Powerpoint files please refer to the "Adding Content" pages.

Q: I am receiving an error message when uploading content from home?

This is a common problem among home broadband users. If they have a home network, their router may be misconfigured, or they may need a firmware update. Both appear to be common problems with Linksys routers. In order to upgrade their firmware they can log in to the website of their router manufacturer and download the most recent drivers for the router and operating system in question. There are several bug fixes on manufacturer's websites that correct DHCP problems and provide general enhancements to their hardware.

After updating the firmware on the unit the user should access the configuration utility and find the fields labeled "Host" and "Domain". The user should contact their internet provider and get the exact information that they should be inputting in these fields. If these fields are blank, or if they have incorrect information the equipment can behave unpredictably and generate the error messages your students are reporting.

If your students are Windows users with DSL internet access Blackboard can often have problems with some incompatible network settings in Windows and some DSL implementations (especially with routers, but some PPOE clients may be affected as well.) MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) settings are too high, resulting in fragmented packets that never arrive at the server due to some extra bytes that are added during transmission. To remedy the problem the user can log in to the router configuration utility and set the MTU to 1362. This seems to fix the problem in most cases.

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