The Blackboard Environment & Content

Although the guidance found here will help you with the basics, if you require further support please get in touch with the Technology Enhanced Learning Team by emailing telsupport@aston.ac.uk to request training.

Getting Started

Once you have logged into Blackboard you’ll be taken to the Welcome Page.

Course Pages

Selecting the module you wish to view, will take you to the relevant Course Page. This is view can be quite confusing at a first glance with multiple menus and buttons to press. Take a look at the Course Page overview for more information.

Creating content

Once you are familiar with the general interface, your next step should be to learn how to create content for your course.

Initially you should take a look at our general Module Content Guide guide to understand what sort of content should be in a Blackboard module. This is not policy, but is considered “good practice”.

Accessibility and Usability

You are reminded that all content you provide for students be usable and accessible, to those who may have disabilities which effect how they consume online content. It is part of your moral and legislative responsibility to make reasonable adjustment to accommodate these students. For some practical guidance please see the Mini Guide to Accessibility and Usability.

Now you have an overview of the interface you will need to create content areas within the module to display content to your students. There are several different types of content areas/containers that you can create and there are different ways in which you can structure your content. Please take a look at Create Containers for Content tutorial guide by Blackboard for guidance on how to build your module.

There are many Types of Course Content that you can add into Blackboard. You are of course not expected to become expert in them all but initially it is suggested that you understand Working with Text and Adding Files, Images, Audio, and Video.