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• After Completion

Add Menu Items

About the Course Menu

The course menu includes the links to content, Blackboard tools, and external resources. You can add , delete, rename, and show/hide items for students. There are different types of menu items, including content areas items and tool links.

If you would like to review information about the course menu, please view the following short movie (the second section covers the course menu):

Your Course Environment (3:46)

Please note that there are different types of menu items. You will be adding a Tool Link and a Content Area to the course menu. Blackboard tools are built-in tools; the link created will simply point to the tool. If you delete the link, the tool still exists and you can re-link to it at any time. However, when you creat a link to a Content Area in the course menu, you have created an empty content area that you will build out. If you delete the link to a content area, all content associated with it will be removed and you will not be able to re-link to it.

Important: Please note that you must provide students with links to any course tools that they need to access for your course. For example, if you use Groups in your course, you must provide students either with a direct link to this tool or a link to the general Tools Area, where they can access any of the course's available tools. Both CFCC templates include links to Announcements, Send Email, Discussion Board, My Grades and the general Tools Area, where students can access any tool available in your course.

After completing the activities below, move to the next item for your selected training.

Activities to Complete

You will complete two tasks for this section: 1) create a Content Area and 2) create a Tool Link.

1. Create a Content Area

Create a content area link in your course menu that has your name as the link name. If you do not know how to complete this task, follow the instructions below:

1. Click the plus sign above the course menu.
2. Select Create Content Area.
3. Check the checkbox next to Available to Users to make the link available to students.
4. Type your name into the textbox under Name.
5. Click the Submit button.

A graphic illustration of the steps described above is below:

You should see your link at the bottom of the menu. If you want to move the link, you can drag and drop the link to a new location (click and hold down while dragging the double-headed arrow to the left of the item).

2. Create a Tool Link

A tool link is another common course menu item in Blackboard. The method to create a tool link is basically the same as a content area, but you must select the specific tool to which you want the menu item linked. You will see a selector for "Type". You can rename the link, as you would with a content area, but the tool to which the item is linked will always be the selected tool.

Follow the instructions below:

1. Click the plus sign above the course menu.
2. Select Create Tool Link.
3. Check the checkbox next to Available to Users to make the link available to students.
4. Type My Calendar into the textbox under Name.
5. Select Calendar from the Type dropdown list.
6. Click the Submit button.

Below is a a graphic of the Add Tool Link window:

 

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