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New Mexico State University
Learning Technologies
Instructional Innovation & Quality

Resources & Documents

Importing Content

Before you begin the process of building your course, you should start by collecting the content that you would like to deliver to students. Importing content from an external source can be the fastest way to get content to use in your Blackboard course.

Imported content can come from a variety of sources, including:

At the beginning of a new semester, you have the option to reuse an existing Blackboard CE 8 course. For detailed information on reusing Blackboard CE 8 courses click here.

Creating Content

In order to create content for your course, such as a syllabus, schedule or learning materials, you can use a variety of applications and formats.

Creating content can come from a variety of sources, including:

Importing Content from the NMSU Library

The NMSU Library offers a variety of resources and tools for online teaching. Resources include information about using electronic reserves, linking to articles and information about Plagiarism and Copyright, as well as other resources useful to faculty.

For detailed information, please visit: http://nmsu.libguides.com/blackboard.

Importing Content from Online Sources

There are a variety of sources of content on the Web. Content may include multimedia presentations, learning games, podcasts, or text-based readings and activities. Here are a few recommendations for sources of educational content:

Creating HTML Documents

HTML, or Web page format, documents are the most compatible and typically most accessible format for course content. The only program required by the student to view Web pages is a Web browser. Although one can create a Web page from scratch using a program such as Adobe Dreamweaver, the easiest method is to convert an existing office document into a Web page.

You can also use an HTML creator, such as Soft Chalk Lesson Builder. LessonBuilder is similar to a word-processing program and is designed for teachers to create static and interactive content for online course. LessonBuilder is available for NMSU faculty to download free of charge and works on both Macintosh and Windows machines.

Creating PDF Documents

PDF documents are essentially an un-editable and printable electronic form of office documents. PDF files can be created using a variety of programs, some of which are free. Please note that students must have a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF documents and some files may take a while to download and open with slower computer or Internet connection.

Creating Assessments

Respondus is an application is used to create quizzes and surveys for Blackboard or in-class (paper-based) delivery. Respondus provides several benefits for instructors that normally use the Assessment tool to create their quizes. Additional information, such as documentation and FAQs are also available. Please contact Educational Technologies at training@nmsu.edu for additional information regarding Respondus.

Creating Multimedia Files

Audio and video content, such as a Podcast, can be created using a variety of applications. Although multimedia files can be uploaded to Blackboard, it is recommended that you store the media files on NMSU on iTunes or your personal Web space because of server space restrictions on the Blackboard server.