How to Use Course Copy in Blackboard: Brief Tutorial

Course Copy allows an instructor to copy content from one course to another existing course in Blackboard. Remember, it is always good to have a backup zip file of your course content from year to year. You can use Copy Course in conjunction with the Export or Archive Course functions in Blackboard.

1. Log in and go to the Control Panel

2. Under Course Options, select Course Copy

3. Click on the Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course link.

4. Click the Browse button to find the course you want to copy your materials into. You can search by course id, instructor, or name/description.

5. Click the select button next to the course you want to copy content into.

6. Check the check boxes next to the items you want to copy into you existing course.

7. Do NOT check enrollments.

8. Click the Submit button.

-Angel Brady

Exporting An MP3 Using iTunes: Brief Tutorial

Did you ever want to change the file format of a song you imported from a CD and played in iTunes? This is a common questions that we get. There are multiple softwares out there that can do this (one such Open Source tool is Audacity), but what if you already have iTunes installed? It’s a simple click away, but first we have to set our preferences correctly in iTunes.

1. Go to the Preferences menu in iTunes.

2. Click the Advance tab at the top.

3. Choose Importing. Make sure Import Using is set to MP3 Encoder in the drop down.

4. Click OK.

5. Now import an audio track from a CD. Click and highlight a track you would like to export as an MP3.

6. In the Advanced menu, click Convert this Selection to MP3.

7. You will now have an MP3 copy of this song in your iTunes Library. You can drag and drop this file any where you like on your computer.

-Angel Brady

How Can I Reduce the Image File Sizes in My PowerPoint Presentations?

Q: “Creating PowerPoint Presentations I use a lot of images. I copy and paste them into PowerPoint. This causes the presentation file size to become rather larger and consequently I often can’t upload it into Blackboard. ….How do I reduce file images in PowerPoint without causing the image to become too blurry?”

I was recently asked this question by a faculty member. Working with images can be tricky. What file format to use. How to save them. Here are a few quick tips on how to reduce the image files sizes, what formats to use, and how not to sacrifice too much quality of the image.

1. A simple way to reduce file size of an image is to reduce the size of the image. Use photo editing software (the GIMP is free and Open Source) to reduce the general size of the image. You can also crop non-essential parts of the photo. ALWAYS reduce an image when resizing, never make an image size larger than the original. You will loose quality in an image and it will be come “fuzzy”. Remember -bigger to smaller.

2. Save in the right file format. JPEG is a good compressed file format for photographs or images that have a wide range of color. PNG is a good compressed file format for images that contain transparency. GIF is a good compressed file format for transparency and very few colors (like a logo). If you are inserting images in a file format such as RAW or TIFF, these files are huge because they contain all the raw data of the image and are not compressed (TIFF can be compressed but nothing compared to a JPEG.

3. Color depth. The more colors you have in an image, the more information it contains, the bigger the file it is. If you do not need a color image, opt for a gray scale or a black and white image instead.

-Angel Brady

Archiving Your Course in Blackboard: Brief Tutorial

Here is a brief tutorial about archiving your course in Blackboard. This is helpful if you are teaching the same course each semester, or similar subject matter each semester. You can archive tests and quizzes you created in Blackboard or question pools you imported from years of test creating. Follow these steps:

1. Click on the course you want to archive on the Bb Welcome page.

2. Click on Control Panel.

3. Under Course Options (Left side, bottom), click on Archive Course.

4. Click the Submit button.

5. On the link that says “Click the right mouse button and select Save As” right click (Mac-control click) on the link and choose “Save Link As”.

6. Browse to a place on your computer you want to save the .zip file (do not open the zip file once it has been downloaded, this can corrupt the archive course file). Click Save.

Now you can import this zip file into your new course.

-Angel Brady