Blackboard FAQ: Tools

What does the link checker do?
How can I put Images on the Announcements page of My Blackboard site?
How do I create a group or groups within my course?

What does the Link Checker do?

The Link checker checks the viability of your External links . It does not check links in other content areas of your course.

How can I put Images on the Announcements page of My Blackboard site?

That depends on the way you'd like the image(s) to display. Blackboard has a built-in feature that allows you to easily upload a banner, an image that will appear on the Announcements page above the tabs that allow you to select which announcements you want to view. You can also integrate images directly in the announcements you post, though this requires a bit of HTML. Each method is explained below:

Posting a Banner on the Announcements Page
Posting Announcements with Images In them

Posting a Banner on the Announcements Page

Note: To post a custom banner on the Announcements page of your site, you first must create the desired image file (.gif or .jpg format; recommended dimensions 450x90 pixels) and store it on your computer. (There are commercial sites dedicated to banner creation. A couple that are easy to use: FlamingText and CoolArchive .)

Go to Control Panel > Course Options/ Organization Options > Settings > Course Design/ Organization Design > Course Banner/ Organization Banner.
Select Browse.
Selecting Browse will spawn a window to allow you to navigate to the file on your hard drive. Depending on browser, you may have to change the Files of Type default at the bottom of this window from "HTML files" to all files. Once you locate the image you wish to upload as a banner (for example, top20.jpg) click on it and select Open (or just double-click it).
When you select the image file, the path to its name will appear in the white box next to the Browse button; press Submit . The new banner will appear on the Announcements page of your site.

Posting Announcements with Images in Them

Create a folder called "Course Images" in any content area, such as Course Information
Select "do not make visible" for this folder so that the students cannot see it.
Open the "Course Images" folder by clicking on its name.
Choose "Add Item."
In "specify your own name" box, type image name as Image: xxxxxxx
Browse and select image file next the "File to Attach."
Choose " Create a link to this file."
Under options, select "Yes" for " Do you want to make the content visible?", then press Submit .
When presented with receipt, click OK .
Now click on the link to the image (xxxxx.jpg).
In Netscape 7+ , right click on the image itself, and select "Copy Image Location" from the dropdown box. In Internet Explorer 5+ , right click on the image itself, and select "Properties" from the dropdown box. Then highlight the URL that is indicated in the pop-up box, and press "control + c" or "apple + c".
Now return to your Control Panel , select Announcements from Course Tools or Organization Tools are, then click "add Announcement." Give the announcement a name, and type in the text of your announcement.
Either before or after the text, depending on where you want the image, add the HTML code <IMG SRC="url">. Instead of URL between the quotes, press "control + c" or "apple + c" to paste the actual URL saved to your clipboard in Step 11.
Click the radio button next to HTML (below the text box) then press Submit .

How do I create a group or groups within my course?

Groups in Blackboard are often used to that in-class project groups have an area to communicate and do project work. There are two Methods of Group creation within Blackboard.

First, is the normal Manage Groups Method. Access the Control Panel >Manage Groups (in User Management Section) and click on the Add Group button.

Group Information: Type in a Name and Description for your group.
Group Options: Set whether you want to make the following available: Group Discussion Board, Group Virtual Classroom, Group File Exchange, Group E-mail
Then Choose whether to make the Group Available or not and hit Submit.

Use the Modify button and you can then Add Users to Group.

Second is the Advanced Group Management link in the Control Panel. Visit the Control Panel > Advanced Group Management (Under the Course Tools section) and click on the Add Group button.

Under Group Information set the the Group Name and Description as well as the areas you want to enable, make the group visible and press submit.

To add users to the group, select the group and choose the View/Assign Users button. The first screen you will see is a list of users, their role and whether or not they are in your group. You can add them to the group in 2 ways. To select a random group of users, choose the Randomize button. You then can set the total number of student to be assigned to each group and whether or not you want to allow overlaps. When you are ready, press Submit. To add the users individually use the Modify button instead, and select the checkboxes of the users you wish to add and press Submit.