FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Getting Started with the New Blackboard Course Template
-1-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Table of Contents
Getting Started with the New Blackboard Course Template
3
Transferring Course Content to the New Template
5
Exporting and Importing Assessments
8
Grade Center Column Cleanup
10
Cleaning Up the Course Menu
11
Cleaning Up Course Content
13
Glossary of Symbols
15
-2-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Getting Started with the New Blackboard Course Template
Starting in Fall 2012, new Blackboard courses will be built on a new organizational structure.
The new default template is designed to make creating and accessing content easier for you and your students,
and to help make your Blackboard course more interactive and effective overall.
In order to get started with the new template, you can add content from scratch, or you can import content
(such as lecture notes, readings, homework assignments, etc.) from a previous course.
These guides will walk you through the steps of importing and adapting your existing content for use in the
updated course structure.
There are four easy steps to building your course in the new course structure:
Export content
from old course
Import content
into new course
Clean up course
menu links
Clean up
course content
-3-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
Add new
course content
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Getting Started with the New Blackboard Course Template
Here’s an example of what you might see when exporting content from a previous course built on the old template:
Old default menu
(Spring 2012)
New default menu before
importing (Fall 2012)
New menu after importing
(Fall 2012)
For a step-by-step guide on how to reuse content from your previous courses, see the next guide, Transferring
Course Content to the New Template.
-4-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Transferring Course Content to the New Template
In order to copy your course content from your old course, follow these steps to export from the old course
and import into the new course.
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Exporting Content from an
old course structure
Once you’ve exported the .zip
file, you don’t need to open
it. It can be imported to your
new course in its compressed
state.
1. Log into MyPoly and enter
your previous course that you
would like to export content
from
2. Control Panel >
Packages and Utilities >
Export/Archive Course
3. Click Export
4. Choose which areas of the
course you would like to
export
5. Depending on the size of
the package, it make take a
few minutes to receive an
email notification with the
subject line “Export: [name
of course]”
6. Once you receive this
notification, refresh the
Export page and you should
now see a file called ExportFile_CourseName_DateAndTime.zip
7. Click the filename to save
this .zip file to your computer
-5-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Transferring Course Content to the New Template
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Importing Content into the
new course structure
When importing, the system
attempts to match content
area names in the old and
new courses. If a content
area of the same name is not
found, the system will generate one in the new course (see
green circle in the figure at
the end of this document).
1. Log into the new course
that you would like to import
content into
2. Control Panel > Packages
and Utilities > Import Package/View Logs
3. Click Import Package
4. Browse your computer to
where the Export file was
saved
5. Choose which areas of
the course you would like to
import
6. Click import. Depending
on the size of the package,
it may take a few minutes to
receive an email notification
with the subject line “Import:
[name of course]”
Your content has now been imported into your destination course. You will notice that any new content
areas are added to the bottom of the course menu. For information on cleaning up your course menu, see
the Course Menu Cleanup guide.
Once you have imported the content you wish to reuse from your previous course, you can get started building
new content in your new course. For tips on adding content or customizing your course’s structure, you
may find the video and text tutorials in FITL’s Blackboard 9.1 Training course helpful. Please contact us
to gain
access to this course.
-6-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Transferring Course Content to the New Template
Old default menu
(Spring 2012)
New default menu before
importing (Fall 2012)
-7-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
New menu after importing
(Fall 2012)
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Exporting and Importing Assessments
When Assessments such as assignments, tests, and SafeAssignments are created, or when Discussions, Blogs,
Journals, or Wikis are set for grading, a corresponding grade column is generated in the Grade Center.
In order to import Assessments from another course, both the Assessment item itself and the corresponding
Grade Center information must be included in the export/import process.
Manually created columns such as those for Participation, or graded items created outside of the Blackboard
environment (such as hard copy exams) can be exported and imported freely.
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Importing Assignments and
Grade Center Columns
After importing Assignments
to your new course, don’t forget
to update any due dates or
other date-sensitive
information.
1. Control Panel >
Packages and Utilities >
Export/Archive Course
2. Click Export
3. Select the content area
containing the assignment(s)
you wish to export, or choose
all Content Areas
4. Select Grade Center
Columns and Settings
5. Click Submit
Importing Tests, Surveys
or Pools and Grade Center
Columns
Tests are created within the
Tests tool, and then deployed
in a content area.
1. Control Panel >
Packages and Utilities >
Export/Archive Course
2. Click Export
3. Select the content area
containing the test(s) you
wish to export, or choose all
Content Areas
4. Select Grade Center
Columns and Settings
5. Select Tests, Surveys, and
Pools
6. Click Submit
To export tests in their
deployed location, as well as
corresponding grading
columns, you must export
three components: the Content
Area, the Tests tool, and the
Grade Center Information.
-8-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Exporting and Importing Assessments
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Importing Grade Center
items only
To export grade columns
generated by assignments or
tests, the origin assignment or
test must also be exported.
1. Control Panel >
Packages and Utilities >
Export/Archive Course
2. Click Export
3. Select Grade Center
Columns and Settings
4. Click Submit
Only manually created grade
center columns (such as Participation) can be imported
and exported individually.
-9-
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Grade Center Column Cleanup
All Blackboard courses are created with the default grading columns Total and Weighted Total. When
exporting and importing Grade Center information, you may find that these columns have been duplicated
in your new course.
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Cleaning up Grade Center
columns
Grade Center columns that
have been automatically
generated by Assessments
(assignments, tests, surveys,
etc.), cannot be deleted until
the original assessment is
deleted.
1. Control Panel > Grade
Center > Full Grade Center
2. Evaluate your Grade Center
columns to see if duplication
has occurred
If you have multiple columns
of the same name:
3. Click the Action Link at the
head of the column you wish
to delete
4. Choose Delete from the
contextual menu
If no duplication has occurred,
no action is required.
- 10 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Cleaning up the Course Menu
The course menu is the main point of navigation in your Blackboard course. Course Menu links can be renamed,
hidden, deleted, and re-ordered to establish the most effective organization for you and your students.
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Rename a course menu item
Rather than deleting a content
area like Assignments and
creating a new one called
Homework, you can simply
rename the existing content
area.
1. Click the action link and
choose Rename Link.
2. Type the new name and
hit Enter/Return or click the
green check.
Hide or show course menu
links
Course menu links to content
areas, tools, etc. can be hidden
from students, if they aren’t
ready for prime-time or you
don’t want them available until
later in the semester.
1. Click the action link
2. Choose Hide Link.
Deleting a content area containing content will delete the
items within (e.g. documents
or assignments). Once
deleted, these cannot be
recovered.
1. Click the action link for the
menu item
2. Choose Delete.
Delete a course menu item
Deleting a Tool link from the
course menu will simply delete the link, not the content
(e.g. past Discussion Forums
or Announcements will not
be deleted if you remove the
Discussions or Announcements
link from the course menu).
- 11 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
You’ll now notice a
symbol, indicating that the
link is hidden from students.
To make the link available
again, choose Show Link
from the contextual menu.
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Cleaning up the Course Menu
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Reorder links on your course
menu
New items added to the
course menu will always
appear at the bottom.
1. Click and hold the arrow
handle to the left of the item
name
2. Drag the link to the desired
position.
Alternatively,
1. Click the up/down arrows
(
, also known as the
Keyboard Accessible reordering
tool) at the top of the menu
2. In the small window that
appears, select the item you
wish to reposition
3. Click the up or down arrows
until it is in the desired position
Click Submit to finish the
reordering process.
- 12 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Cleaning Up Course Content
After performing the import process, you may need to clean up certain areas of the course such as extraneous
content areas, old documents, previous forum posts, etc. The following sections explain how to streamline
your course following an import.
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Bulk Delete
This tool can be used to
selectively delete content areas
(e.g. Information, Content,
Assignment) or other materials
(e.g. Announcements,
Discussions, Groups).
Once deleted, this content
cannot be recovered.
1. From the Control Panel,
expand Packages and Utilities
2. Choose Bulk Delete
3. Select the content areas and
other materials to be deleted
4. Type ‘Delete’ in the confirmation box to ensure that you
wish to delete these materials
5. Click Submit
Most items in Blackboard are
accompanied by the chevronshaped Action Link
.
1. Click the item’s Action Link
to open its contextual menu.
2. Choose Delete.
Deleting Items Individually
Not all items have a delete
option, such as grade columns
automatically generated by
Assignments. Once you delete
the Assignment, you will be
able to delete the column.
- 13 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Cleaning Up Course Content
Task
What You Need to Know
Steps to Accomplish
Reordering Items in a
Content Area
Newly items are automatically
added to the bottom of your
list of items. Once they are
added, you can rearrange the
items to suit your needs.
1. Click and hold the arrow
handle to the left of the item
name
2. Drag the link to the desired
position.
Alternatively,
1. Click the up/down arrows
(
, also known as the
Keyboard Accessible
reordering tool) at the top of
the menu
2. In the small window that
appears, select the item you
wish to reposition
3. Click the up or down
arrows until it is in the
desired position
4. Click Submit to finish the
reordering process.
- 14 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu
FITL
Center for Faculty Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Glossary of Symbols
Symbols used in these documents:
Symbol
Name
Purpose
Action Link
Clicking the Action Link for
a particular item opens that
item’s contextual options
menu
Menu Item Unavailable
This icon indicates that a link
on the Course Menu is
hidden, and will not appear to
students
Keyboard Accessible
Reordering Tool
The Keyboard Accessible
Reordering tool provides a
way to reorder items in the
Course Menu or a Content
Area using the keyboard, or
as an alternative to the
drag-and-drop method.
Content Item Unavailable
Content icons appearing in
gray indicated that they are
hidden, and will not appear to
students
Edit Mode
Edit Mode must be set to ON
to access the instructor tools
in Blackboard (e.g. for
building and modifying
content)
- 15 -
5 MetroTech Center - Dibner Library - LC 444 - Brooklyn, NY 11201 - fitl@poly.edu