Blackboard Learn Training
Blackboard Learn:
Essentials Part 1
Purdue University Calumet
Office of Instructional Technology
Last Revised - 11/8/2012
Blackboard Learn – Essentials Part 1
Table of Contents
Creating a Master Course .................................................................................................................................. 2
Working with Menu Items ................................................................................................................................ 3

Rearranging Menu Items ......................................................................................................................... 3

Adding a Menu Item ................................................................................................................................ 3

Hiding/Showing a Menu Item ................................................................................................................ 4

Renaming a Menu Item ........................................................................................................................... 4

What Do These Signs Mean? ................................................................................................................... 5

Example of a Customized Course Menu.................................................................................................. 5
Building Content.................................................................................................................................................. 6

Uploading a Syllabus ............................................................................................................................... 6

Creating a Content Folder for Module/Week/Unit ............................................................................... 6

Creating a Learning Module Folder for Module/Week/Unit ................................................................ 7

Creating an Item ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Creating a Web Link ................................................................................................................................ 9
Stretching Your Skills ...................................................................................................................................... 10

Making a Course Available/Unavailable............................................................................................... 10

Looking at Student View ........................................................................................................................ 11
Reference Tool - Common Terms and Tools ............................................................................................... 12
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Blackboard Learn – Essentials Part 1
Creating a Master Course
Creating a Master Course

1. Log in to Blackboard Learn at mycourses.purduecal.edu.
2. Click the Utilities tab located in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click the link for Create a Master Course.

4. Fill in the form with your information.
5. Click Submit.
6. You will receive confirmation that your master course was created successfully.
7. Click on the My Blackboard tab to view your available courses.
8. Click the name of your course to enter the course.
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Working with Menu Items
The course menu includes the links to content, Blackboard tools, and external
resources. You can add, delete, rename, and show/hide items for students. There are
different types of menu items, including content areas items and tool links.
Rearranging Menu Items
1. Enter your course by clicking on it.
2. Ensure that Edit Mode is On.
3. Hover over Discussions until you see a vertical two sided arrow.
4. Hover your mouse over that arrow until the mouse cursor change to a 4 way arrow.
5. Click the left mouse button, with your left mouse button still clicked, drag Discussions below
Groups.
Adding a Menu Item
1. Click the + icon at the top left corner of the course menu.
2.
Click Content Area.
3. Type Learning Modules in the Name Field.
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Blackboard Learn – Essentials Part 1
4. Click the Checkbox next to Available to Users.
5.
Click Submit.
Hiding/Showing a Menu Item
1. With Edit Mode On, click the double arrow icon
to the right of Email.
2. Click Show Link to make the item available to students.
3. Hover over Email and Click on the Edit Arrow to the right.
4. Click Hide Link to make the item unavailable to students.
5. Turn Edit Mode off and on to see what items look like when hidden and shown to students.
Renaming a Menu Item
1. With Edit Mode On, hover over Modules.
2. Click the Edit Arrow.
3. Click Rename Link.
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Blackboard Learn – Essentials Part 1
4. Type Learning Modules and click the green check box to the right.
What do These Signs Mean?
Example of a Customized Course Menu
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BUILDING CONTENT
Uploading a Syllabus
1. Hover your mouse over Build Content and select Item.
2. Name your item Syllabus.
3. In Step 2. Attachment, click Browse My Computer for the file for the syllabus.
4. Click Submit.
Creating a Content Folder for Module/Week/Unit
Reminder: A Content Folder is a way of organizing content items. Content Folders and
sub-folders set up a hierarchy to group related material together.
1. Mouse over Build Content and select Content Folder.
2. Type Week 1 Module as the name for the folder.
3. Add Content or a Link to the presentation.
4. Click Submit.
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Creating a Learning Module Folder for Module/Week/Unit
Reminder: A Learning Module is a collection of Content Items focused on a specific subject
that students can navigate at their own pace. For example, a Learning Module about the
solar system can include lecture notes, links to websites with pictures of all the planets, and
assignments. Instructors can create a structured path for progressing through the items.
The path can be set so that students must view content sequentially, or set to permit users
to view the content in any order.
1. Mouse over Build Content and select Learning Module.
2. Type Week 1 as the name of the module.
3. Determine if it needs to enforce sequential viewing of the contents, and if you’d like to show the
Table of Contents.
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4. Click Submit.
Creating an Item
Reminder: A Content Item is any type of file, text, image, or link that appears to users in a
Content Area, Learning Module, Lesson Plan, or Content Folder.
1. Enter the Content Folder/Learning Module by clicking on Week 1.
2. Mouse over Build Content and select Item.
3. Name your item Week 1 Overview.
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4. Enter some text in the text field for training purposes.
5. Attach a file as desired.
6. Click Submit.
Creating a Web Link
1. Hover mouse over Build Content and select Web Link.
2. Name your item Purdue Calumet Homepage.
3. Enter http://www.purduecal.edu as the URL.
4. Scroll to option 4.
5. Click the Yes radio button for the option to Open in New Window.
6. Click Submit.
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Blackboard Learn – Essentials Part 1
Stretching Your Skills
Making a Course Available/Unavailable
1. Log into the course.
2. Under the Control Panel, click Customization to expand that section, and then click Properties.
3. Scroll to Item 3 – Set Availability.
4. Select the radio button for No.
5. Click Submit.
6. Click on the My Blackboard tab and notice how your course has unavailable next to the
course name.
7. Repeat steps 1 and 2, then change the radio button to Yes.
8. Click Submit to make your course available again.
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Looking at Student View
1.
Under the Control Panel, click Course Tools to expand that section.
2.
Click Student View.
3. To go back to a normal view, click Teacher View in the course menu.
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Reference Tool - Common Terms and Tools
Add Interactive Tool
All of the Interactive Tools can be used to
collaborate with the students in your course. The
tools available in the menu include: Discussion
Boards, Blogs, Journals, Wikis, Groups, Chat, and
Virtual Classroom.
Assign Textbook
The Assign Textbook feature allows you to add the
textbooks that you use within your course as a
piece of content.
Assignments are a form of assessment that adds a
Column to the Grade Center. Use the Grade Center
to assign grades and give feedback to each
student.
The Build Content drop down list contains all the
types of content you can create within your
course. There are options to create content, create
a new page, or create a Mash-Up. All of this
content can be organized in folders to create a
structure and flow through the course.
Assignments
Build Content
Content Folder
A Content Folder is a way of organizing content
items. Content Folders and sub-folders set up a
hierarchy to group related material together.
Content Item
A Content Item is any type of file, text, image, or
link that appears to users in a Content Area,
Learning Module, Lesson Plan, or Content Folder.
A Link is a shortcut to an area, a tool, or an item.
Add a Link to a Content Area to provide quick
access points to relevant materials and tools.
Options for Links affect the availability and
tracking of the content items no matter where
they are accessed.
The types of assessments that you can add to your
course include: Tests, Surveys, Assignments, and
Self/Peer Assessments. All of these items will
automatically generate a column in the Grade
Center.
Use the File content type to add a file that can be
selected and viewed as a page within the course or
as a separate piece of content in a separate
browser window. Also, a collection of files or an
entire lesson, including cascading style sheets
(CSS), can be developed offline and uploaded into
a course from a local drive and viewed in order.
Course Link
Create Assessment
Create a File
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Create a Module Page
Module Pages are specialized content pages that
present content in discrete boxes. The modules
that appear on this page can be arranged in any
order.
Edit Mode
The Edit Mode button allows you to change the
view of content on screen from the instructor’s
view (Edit Mode: On) to the student’s view (Edit
Mode: Off).
Learning Module
A Learning Module is a collection of Content Items
focused on a specific subject that students can
navigate at their own pace. For example, a
Learning Module about the solar system can
include lecture notes, links to websites with
pictures of all the planets, and assignments.
Instructors can create a structured path for
progressing through the items. The path can be set
so that students must view content sequentially,
or set to permit users to view the content in any
order.
Lesson Plan
A Lesson Plan is special content type that
combines information about the lesson itself with
the curriculum resources used to teach it. Default
Lesson Plan sections include the instructional level,
grade level, goals, and subject area of the lesson.
Additional sections can be added to the Lesson
Plan, arranged to appear in any order and
optionally displayed to students.
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