Blackboard Learn – Customize Content

Uploading a Video as a File

Blackboard allows instructors to customize the content title, instructions and materials used for the course. I was able to change the color of my content page title. This adds a different feature for Blackboard instead of black text. A legend can be created and introduced early on in the class that titles in a certain color are for specific items (e.g. videos, PowerPoint, worksheets, etc.). Another feature I explored in customizing the content pages was uploading a video directly into the content area. Instructors can upload files directly into Blackboard or they can upload their file to YouTube and use the feature of a YouTube link.

Some benefits to uploading the video file directly into Blackboard is that students are able to view the video within the screen they are viewing. A downfall of this is the bandwidth and amount of time it takes for the video file to upload so the student can watch it. Another downfall that I explain in my video is the dimensions of the video as the video constraints are small, even after being adjusted.

When considering using a YouTube video, there is a feature within Blackboard that allows instructors to upload YouTube files directly in Blackboard. A downfall to this feature is that videos must be public so you can search for them in the YouTube search box within Blackboard. If you choose not to make the videos public and save them as unlisted, you will have to upload an image into the content box and hyperlink the image to the YouTube link.