Course Information, Course Documents, and Assignments

The three areas that are designed to hold the majority of prepared course materials are Course Information, Course Documents, and Assignments.

The materials posted here are typically much larger.
The materials posted here may already be created in a word processing or HTML program.
The materials posted here may be attachments that are not capable of being inserted directly into a text area or being viewed in a web browser.
The materials here may need to be organized into a hierarchical manner so students can clearly understand the associations for each item.

While you may choose to use the Course Information, Course Documents, and Assignments areas in many ways, the following conventions are recommended for some basic course components. When you choose to add materials to a particular area, a drop-down menu with recommendations is provided.

Item	Location
Syllabus	Course Information
Course Schedules or Calendars	Course Information
Lecture Notes	Course Documents
Handouts	Course Documents
Homework Assignments	Assignments
Supplemental Readings	Course Documents or Assignments
Worksheets	Course Documents
Tests, Quizzes, and Essay Questions	Assignments

Adding Information to a Course

Adding Text Information

To add text to a course element:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments. Note: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter (Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments) the process of entering text remains the same.

Example of Course Information screen:

Step 2: Select the Add Document option.

Step 3: In the Enter Information area, select an appropriate document title from the drop down box or create an original title by typing in the small text field.

The options in the drop down box will change to correspond with the course element is selected.
Selecting a different color in the Choose a Color for your Title drop down box will allow you to customize your title.

Step 4: Enter the text in the text box by either typing directly into the box OR Switch to an open word processing or HTML processing program, copy the desired text, and return to CourseInfo and paste the content into the text box.

If you paste HTML coded materials, be sure to select the appropriate checkbox to maintain the formatting. Do not enter Body or Header start/close tags.

Note: If you check the Convert line breaks to HTML breaks box, the HTML line breaks will be automatically inserted in the text upon hitting the Enter key.

If you check the Preformatted (Does Not Contain HTML) box, the <PRE> </PRE> tags will be utilized. This option is useful if the text contains HTML tags but you do not want the tags to be interpreted.

Step 5: You can upload a file and determine how the file should be handled in the Select Options area. This feature will be discussed in-depth in the Attaching/Uploading Files to a Course section of the manual.

Note: There are three options for handling an attached file:

Create a Link to This File
Display this file within the page
Unpacking These Files

See the Attaching/Uploading Files to a Course section of the manual. Step 6: Select the appropriate options from the Other Options section. (See the Additional Select Document Options section).

Step 7: Choose Submit to complete the process.

Step 8: A receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or return to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Modifying a Document Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments. Note: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter, Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments, the process and concepts of this process remains the same.

Step 2: Select the Modify Item option associated with the item to modify.

Step 3: Make the appropriate changes and choose Submit.

Step 4: A Content Updated receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or return to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Removing a Document Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments. Note: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter (Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments) the process of entering text remains the same. Step 2: When the appropriate Adding Content screen appears, select the Remove Item option associated with the document to remove.

Step 3: Answer Ok to the confirmation box.

Attaching/Uploading Files to a Course

Attaching a Document

It is often more effective to attach a document rather than enter the text directly into CourseInfo. This is very useful when:

The content is a large file that students will need to read and print.
The content is a worksheet, handout, or tip-sheet that students will need to save for future reference.
The content exists in a format other than HTML or a word processing document, such as Excel or PowerPoint (registered copyrights of Microsoft Corporation).
The content requires a specific embed tag to run properly.

Important: A file named index.html is included when you attach a zipped file to CourseInfo. It will be overridden by CourseInfo immediately. To upload or attach files:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments. Note: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter (Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments) the process of entering text remains the same.

Step 2: Click the Add Document button.

Step 3: In the File to Upload field, either type the name of the file, or choose Browse to locate the appropriate file from the computers hard drive, network, or disk. Note: If you upload audio, multimedia, or website URLs the link to the item will appear in the description on the Course Document start page. Step 4: In the Name of Link to File field, type the text that students will click on to access the uploaded file.

Step 5: Designate the File Handling by selecting an option from the drop down menu.

Note: There are three options for handling an attached file:

Create a Link to This File: This option will display a link to file on the content screen. Users can click the link to access the file. This is useful when attaching documents of RealAudio files.

Display this file within the page: This option will display the file on the content page. This is useful when attaching images.

Unpacking These Files: This option will unzip a zipped file. This is useful when the uploaded file is very large.

When compressing files, use this chart as a guideline:

If you are working on a:	Compress With:	Acceptable file extensions:
Macintosh or PC with Windows or NT	MacZip or PkZip	.zip
Unix Platform	GnuZip, Compress	.tar .gzip .z

Step 6: Select the appropriate Other Options.

Note: You can view the uploaded file in the Student View of the CourseSite. The Control Panel View will display the file as a zipped file instead of opening it and displaying the contents. Step 7: Click the Submit button to complete the process. Note: Keep in mind that the students must have the programs that your files are uploaded within. In the even that the student does not have the program, upload your file in HTML to be viewed in a browser. Step 8: A receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or by returning to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Additional Select Document Options

The Select Options area contains three additional designations for each content item place into the CourseInfo software. These include:

Availability Options: Control when a student can view/access an item.

Tracking Options: Reports usage statistics for individual content items.

Metadata Options: For use when instructors wish to classify content.

Online Content Option: For use when linking content offline.

Availability Options

There may be an occasion when you do not want to display a document immediately. This could be the case if students are not permitted access items ahead of schedule.

An instructor can create the entire course ahead of time, but still have the opportunity to make items available as appropriate, CourseInfo offers a method of "hiding" documents until it is time to display them.

To set the availability options:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments. Note: While the course element will change depending on which area you enter (Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments) the process of entering text remains the same. Step 2: Select the appropriate Add Document or Modify Item option, and locate the Select Options area.

Step 3: In response to the Do You Want This Information Available Immediately? value: Answer Yes if the document should appear to the student. Answer No if the document should be hidden.

Note: To change the availability option, locate the item, select Modify and change the availability option.

Step 4: If necessary, designate any Other Options associated with the file.

Step 5: Click the Submit button.

Tracking Options

CourseInfo provides instructors with the ability to track usage for specific content items. Instructors can see how many students view a specific document.

To set tracking options:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Select the appropriate Add Document or Modify Document option. Locate the Select Options area.

Step 3: Click either Yes to track document usage or No if the document should be hidden under Do You Want to Track this Contents Usage. Note: Items with a value of Yes will appear with an Item Tracking button next to the Modify Item and Remove Item buttons.

Step 4: If necessary, designate any Other Options associated with the file.

Step 5: Choose Submit to complete the process.

To view tracking information:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Locate the item that is being tracked and click the Item Tracking button.

Step 3: When the Content Tracking screen appears, view the content statistics. You can detail your tracking option by selecting the appropriate criteria.

You may continue working by selecting Back or by returning to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Using Metadata

CourseInfo provides an option for instructors to record descriptive information about each content item included in the course. These content descriptions are stored along with the content in the CourseInfo system.

Note: The metadata information will permit instructors to perform advanced searches of content items and meet interoperability requirements.

To add metadata options:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Select the appropriate Add Document or Modify Document option. Locate the Select Options area.

Step 3: In response to the Do You Want to Add Metadata? value: answer Yes to include a description.

Note: Items with a value of Yes will appear with a new Describe Item button.

Step 4 Click the Describe Item button.

Step 5: You can enter information in the General Information, Life Cycle, Technical, and Rights Management fields by clicking the Edit link at the right top of the appropriate section.

Step 6: Click the corresponding update buttons to complete the process.

Step 7: Click the Back button to return to the Content start page, or continue updating metadata information by clicking the Edit link in another section.

To view metadata information:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments or click the Top link on the Add Content start screen.

Step 2: Click the Describe Item button of the desired content item.

Step 4: The information will appear in the Describe Resource section.

Step 5: Click the Back button to return to the Content start page.

Adding Off-line Content

To add off-line content:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Select the appropriate Add Document or Modify Document option. Locate the Select Options area.

Step 3: In response to the Do you want to add additional offline content? value: answer Yes to include a description.

Note: Selecting Yes will take you to the Content Options screen.

Step 4: Enter the path to content and the name of the link.

Step 5: Click the Submit button.

Step 6: A receipt will appear to confirm the process. Click the Back button. The link for the off-line content will appear on the Course Information page.

Organizing Course Materials

Often, there will be a large amount of material added into the Course Information, Course Content, and Assignments areas. It is important to organize this information so students can clearly identify where material is located, the order materials should appear, and when that material should be accessed.

If the content can be categorized, it is possible to create labeled directories and folders to provide organization. Folders can be named to group files by module, course session, or subject matter.

If the content must be presented in a particular order, it is also possible to designate the priority order items will appear in an area. For example:

The weekly assignment contains three readings. The instructor wants the readings to be presented in the order that they should be read.

Ordering Content Items

If several content items exist within a specific course area, the instructor can determine the order each item appears within that area.

To change the order of content items:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: A list of content items will appear. Each item will have a drop down box with a number indicated.

Step 3: Select a presentation order for each item from the drop down box.

Step 4: The presentation order will update automatically.

Adding Folders

To create a directory system of folders:

Step 3: From the Enter Information area, choose a name for your folder from the drop down menu or create an original name by typing it into the text field.

Step 4: Designate an Availability option.

Step 5: Choose Submit to complete the process.

Step 6: A receipt will appear to confirm the folder creation. You may continue working by selecting Back or by returning to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Step 7: To enter a document into a particular folder, click on the folder name and follow the steps in the Adding a Document section.

Modifying Folders

To modify a folder:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Select the Modify Item button associated with the folder you would like to modify.

Step 3: Make the appropriate changes to the folder attributes.

Step 4: Click the Submit button.

Step 5: A receipt will appear to confirm the process. You may continue working by selecting Back or by returning to the Course or Control Panel by selecting the appropriate buttons from the top of the course window.

Removing Folders

To remove a folder:

Step 1: From the Control Panel, select Course Information, Course Documents, or Assignments.

Step 2: Select the Remove Item button associated with the folder you would like to remove.

Step 3: Answer Ok to the confirmation box.

Blackboard 3.0 Instruction Manual