Adding Course Documents

Add Course Documents

1. On your computer, make sure the file name of the document you wish to upload contains only letters and numbers. The file name can contain no special characters except for underscores ( _ ), no spaces, and only one period before the file extension (such as tech101syllabus.doc)
   • Mac users: Please remember to add a .doc to the end of your syllabus' file name.
   • Office 2007 users: Blackboard cannot handle the new file formats used by Microsoft Word 2007, PowerPoint 2007, or Excel 2007. Please convert your Office 2007 files by opening these files on your computer, clicking on the Office logo in the upper left corner of the page, choosing Save As..., and either
     • Choosing Word 97-2003 Format... for Word documents, Excel 97-2003 Format... for Excel documents, or PowerPoint 97-2003 Format... for PowerPoint files; or
     • Choosing PDF or XPs... and saving your Microsoft Office 2007 document as a PDF.
2. Login to Blackboard. http://www.cocc.edu/login/blackboard/Default.aspx
3. Under My Courses, click the name of the course into which you would like to add your syllabus.
4. Click the course's Control Panel link.
5. Under Content Areas, click the Course Documents link.
6. Click the +Item icon.
7. Type a name in the Name field.
8. Type a description of your file in the Text field. This is optional.
9. Click the icon of a piece of paper with a paperclip on it, click the Browse button. This opens a Choose file pop-up window.
10. Find your syllabus on your computer and click the Open button.
11. In the Name of Link to File window, key in the words you'd like the hyperlink to have.
12. The "Launch in new window" radio button is selected, automatically, which is what you want.
13. In the Alt Text area, key in the same words you typed into the Name of Link to File area. 
14. Hit the SUBMIT button.
15. Hit the OK button.
16. Scroll down the page and choose the appropriate availability and date options (see Options below)
17. Click the Submit button.

Options

• Make the content available – Enable this option to let your students see your course document. This is set to Yes by default.
• Track number of views – Enable this option to track how many times individual users access your course document. This is set to No by default.
• Choose date restrictions – Enable both the Display After and Display Until options to control when your course document is visible. This option automates the “make the content available ” option. This is unchecked by default.

Recognized Content Attachments/Filetypes

The following file types are recognized by Blackboard. Note: While you can use any of the following filetypes in your Blackboard course, your students will not be able to open or view most of these filetypes until they install the appropriate viewer programs. For example, your students will not be able to open and view Microsoft Word .doc files until they install Microsoft Word, the Microsoft Word Viewer, or a Word-compatible word processor on their computers.

Application files

ai, aim, bcpio, bin, cdf, cer, cpio, csh, csv, doc, eps, exe, hdf, latex, mif, ms, nc, oda, pdf, ppt, ps, roff, rtf, rtx, xls, sh, shar, src, sv4cpio, sv4crc, t, tex, texi, texinfo, tr, ustar, vst, wrl, xls

Audio files

abs, aif, aifc, aiff, au, kar, m3u, mid, midi, mp1, mp2, mp3, mpa, mpega, pls, smf, snd, ulw, wav

Compressed files

gtar, gz, hqx, jar, sit, tar, Z, z, zip

Image files

art, bmp, dib, gif, ief, jpe, jpeg, jpg, mac, pbm, pct, pgm, pic, pict, png, pnm, pnt, ppm, psd, qti, qtif, ras, rgb, svg, svgz, tif, tiff, vml, vsd, xbm, xpm, xwd, wbmp

Microsoft Office files

csv, doc, ppt, rtf, xls

Text files

csv, dtd, etx, htc, man, me, tsv, txt

Web files

body, class, css, htm, html, jad, java, jnlp, js, jsf, jspf, swf, wml, wmlc, wmls, wmlscriptc, xht, xhtml, xml, xsl

Video/Multimedia files

asf, asx, avi, avx, dv, dvi, mov, movie, mpe, mpeg, mpg, mpv2, qt, rm, swf, wvx

More Information

Q: Can I see what my course documents will look like to my students?
A: Yes. Login to Blackboard and, under My Courses, click the name of the course that contains your course documents. Click the Course Documents link on the left side of the page. Click the link for a course document you wish to review. This shows you what your course documents look like to your students.

Q: What kinds of documents can I upload to Blackboard?
A: You can upload just about any file type to Blackboard (see Recognized Content Attachments) above. However, the type of document you upload affects how your students can view it. If you upload documents you created and saved in specific software programs such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, your students must have that particular software installed on their computers to view those documents. For example, if you upload a Microsoft PowerPoint document, your students will have to download and open the file in PowerPoint or the PowerPoint viewer.

Q: Does Blackboard automatically check files for viruses?
A: No, the Blackboard server does not check for viruses. You should have a virus protection program on your personal computer. You should protect your computer from documents you download within Blackboard and from documents you download from the Internet.

Q: How fast (or slow) will my students download my files?
A: Download time will vary based on Internet traffic and connection speed. You should keep your files small enough so your students with slower connections can access them in a reasonable amount of time. If you cannot keep the file size down, use the field in the Add Item area to provide your student with information describing what the file is, how large it is, and why it is important that they view it. Notifying your students of this information will let them know that they should wait a little longer for the file.