Blackboard Tips and Tricks
Organizing Course Areas: Part 2 - Course Content
by: Carolyn Matzinger
Instructional Designer - IDEAL, BGSU

So far in this series, I have shown you a few ways to simplify your Blackboard classroom, starting with stripping down the course menu. My last article focused on merging the Instructor and Course Information areas into one location. Click here to view the article. Making your course more user-friendly shouldn't stop there. In this article, I will continue to show you how to organize your classroom by providing examples on transforming your course content into easy to read modules.

Step 1: Get Organized (on paper)
Before you even log on to Blackboard, you should form an outline for your course modules. There are several different ways to breakdown your content into modules (weekly, chapter, topical, etc.). It's up to you to decide which one will provide the best learning experience for your students. You can use the following as a guideline.

Step 2: Create Modules in Blackboard
Now that you have a basic outline for your course, you can start to develop the modules in your course shell on Blackboard. The first thing to do is start adding folders to the Course Modules area (this is the main content area). In the example below, the instructor wanted to include an item at the top to tell students how to access all the course content. She then added a folder for the Week 1 module and added a table to outline the assignments for the week. You can also just use bullet points, but color coding the different activities could help students to stay organized. This outline corresponds with the overall course outline provided in the Course Information area. Continue to add these folders until you have all the modules represented.

Step 3: Adding Content to the Folders
Once the folders are developed and organized, you can start to add your course content. Your content should be organized as well. It's best to arrange the items you add to correspond with the outline for that module. In the example below, the instructor added items within the Week 1 folder. The first item she added is a course link that directs the students to the discussion board along with instructions for the students. The second item is an external link that directs the students to the course wiki and instructions for that assignment. Notice the instructor didn't include an item for the reading assignment. If the reading assignment is listed in the module outline and no further instructions are necessary, this item can be omitted.

This is only one way to organize your course content. There are many more options and strategies to optimize your classroom. The trick is finding a way that works best with your content and course format. Keep your eye out for my next article on organizing the discussion board.

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