Adding Content > Tips for Uploading Content

When adding content to your course site please remember the following:

EASE OF NAVIGATION: Ideally you want your Blackboard site to be easy to navigate for all students that login. One way to accomplish this is to make a "course site map" on paper before you begin uploading content. Create this map in a hierarchical fashion; doing so will make it easier for you to transfer your course materials to the web. For example, break up your content into major categories and subcategories. Next, browse to the content area that you want to upload the content into and now create folders for all the major categories. Once you have your folder hierarchy developed then begin adding content into the folders. This makes your site easier to navigate.

CONTENT TYPES: When uploading content to Blackboard the concept of "Accessibility" should always be your primary concern. If you are uploading Powerpoint or Word files into your site you are working under the assumption that all students enrolled in your class will have access to the Microsoft Office Suite. In order to ensure maximum accessibility it is always a good idea to use HTML and PDF formats whenever possible. Most Office Suites allow you to save your content as HTML nowadays. If you are interested in creating PDFs you will need to purchase the Adobe Acrobat program, or you can experiment with the file format by using the On-Line ACCC PDF Distiller. Another factor to be concerned about is file size. Often times Powerpoint files with images can be very large (3MB>). These files are very hard to view over a 56kbps internet connection. You should always attempt to optimize the content you plan to post. There are several ways of doing this. For more information please view the "Adding Powerpoint" and "Scanning for Display on Blackboard" overviews.

DIGITAL COPYRIGHT: When uploading content to your Blackboard site you should always be sure to obtain copyright clearance for any intellectual property that does not belong to you. The UIC library has a great selection of on-line reserves and journals that can be used; in addition they will be able to assist you in obtaining copyright clearance. Another great resouce is the Indiana Univeristy Copyright Management Center.

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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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