“Technology alone will not improve learning.  However, it can support the learning process by making access more convenient and enabling new activities.”

Learning Objects

MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching

Connexions – The Connexions Consortium (http://cnxconsortium.org)
is a group of organizations and individuals, including the world’s
foremost leaders in education, who work together to advance open source
educational technology and open access educational content.

Inside the LMS – Blackboard
EdTech Blackboard Resources

Creating and Designing a Custom Banner

1. Open a new PowerPoint 2007 document.
2. Click the DESIGN tab.
3. Choose Page Setup and set the length to 9.25″ and height to 1.5″. Click OK.  This becomes the size of your page and it fits nicely at the top of the Blackboard opening page.
4. Type in the title of the course and any other information you want the students to see.  Keep it short and sweet.
5. If you decide to add clip art, keep in mind copyright laws.
6. In the DESIGN tab, you will have several choices for background.  Click through them to decide which one you would like to use.
7. Click the Office button.
8. Choose SAVE AS, then Other Formats.
9. Scroll through the file types until you see JPEG File Interchange Format.
10. Click SAVE.
11. Choose the Option Current Slide Only.
12. Now open your Blackboard page and choose the course you want to add the banner to.
13. In the Control Panel, click Customization and then Style.
14. Scroll down to Part 5 and click Browse for Local File, locate your jpeg file and click Open.
15. Click Submit.
16. Click on Announcements and your banner should now appear.

Customizing Your Course Menu

Adding YouTube Videos

1. Locate the video you like to embed on YouTube.
2. Click on the <Embed> button to get the embed code.
3. Highlight and copy the embed code. (Highlight > Right Click > Copy)
4. Login to the Blackboard and open your course.
5. Open the Content Area in which you would like to insert your video and click Create Item at the top.
6. Name your Video Clip and then click on the <> button to turn on HTML Toggle Mode.
7. Paste the YouTube embed code into the textbox. (Paste = Ctrl + V)
8. Click Submit.

Adding Prezi to Blackboard
What is Prezi?
1. Locate the Prezi you would like to add to Blackboard.

1. Click on the <Embed> button to get the embed code.
2. Highlight and copy the embed code. (Highlight > Right Click >
   Copy)
3. Login to the Blackboard and open your course.
4. Open the Content Area in which you would like to insert your video
   and click Create Item at the top.
5. Name your Presentation and then click on the <> button to turn
   on HTML Toggle Mode.
6. Paste the Prezi embed code into the textbox. (Paste = Ctrl + V)
7. Click Submit.

Adding a Widget
What is CountDownr?

1. Fill in boxes in the Add New Counter. 
2. Click on Create Link.
3. Scroll to the section with the information to embed the code.
4. Click your mouse inside of this box and do select all (Ctrl + A) and then copy (Ctrl + C).
5. Open the location within your Blackboard course where you would like this timer to appear.
6. There are four things to do.
1. Title your object.
2. Click on the <> symbol to toggle to HTML Source Mode.
3. Paste your code into box.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the Blackboard page and click Submit.

Adding an Online Poll

1. From the menu at the top right, select Poll. Select Create Poll.
2. Enter your question in the question field.
3. Enter your answers in the answer field.
4. You can set parameters for your questions.
5. Select a language for your poll.
6. Select the desired style for your poll.
7. Click Save and Continue.
8. There will be a window that opens that will have the code for embedding.  Select the code (Ctrl + A) and copy it (Ctrl + C).
9. Login to Blackboard and open your course.
10. Open the Content Area in which you would like to insert your poll
    and click Create Item at the top.
11. Name your poll
    and then click on the <> button to turn
    on HTML Toggle Mode.
12. Paste the poll embed code into the
    textbox. (Paste = Ctrl + V)
13. Click Submit.

Other Tools In Blackboard
Blogs
Wikis
Voice Tools