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Navigation for Module 8: PDF
Page 15 of 17

  1. *Introduction
  2. *Files You Need
  3. *Adobe PDF Tools
  4. *Improve PDF Access
  5. *Structure & Read Order
  6. *Alternative Text
  7. *Forms
  8. *Testing Accessibility
  9. * Publish to Blackboard
  10. *Publish to WebCT
  11. *Resources

Publishing PDF to Blackboard

Blackboard is a course management system that is commonly used for publishing and maintaining online content.

Note: This section assumes you are familiar with the interface of Blackboard.

To publish to Blackboard, there are two general steps:

  1. Create a folder for the file(s).
  2. Upload your file(s) to the Blackboard server.

Organizing Files: Folders

The first task in publishing a PDF document to Blackboard is to create a new folder, also known as a directory. Within this folder, you will place your file(s).

To create a new folder:

  1. Log into your course as the course manager (instructor).
     
  2. Select the "Control Panel" option in the navigation list (bottom left side of the screen).
     
  3. Select the location where you would like the folder to be placed. For this example, select "Course Documents."
     
  4. Select "Add Folder" (see Image 36).

    Description of Image 36: Creating a new folder in Blackboard


     
  5. Under the "Folder Information" section, provide the name of the new folder. For this example, name the new folder "Accessible HTML Documents."
    Note: You should create one common folder into which you place all your accessible files.

     
  6. Under the "Folder Information" section, provide text that offers a description of the new folder. For this example, provide the text as "This folder contains all of the accessible HTML documents for the course."
     
  7. Select "Submit" (bottom of the screen).
     
  8. The name of the folder and its description are displayed in Blackboard at the specified location. For this example, the folder "Accessible PDF Documents" is listed under "Course Documents."

It is recommended that you create a common folder into which you place all files. For this example, the common folder was named "Accessible PDF Documents." However, a file is usually associated with other files, such as images or audio. Thus, each file should have its own folder within the common folder; this is called a subfolder, also known as a subdirectory. Within this subfolder, you will place a file and all its associated files.

To create a sub-folder:

  1. Log into your course as the course manager (instructor).
     
  2. Select the "Control Panel" option in the navigation list (bottom left side of the screen).
     
  3. Select the folder where you want to place the sub-folder. For this example, select "Course Documents" then "Accessible PDF Documents".
     
  4. Select "Add Folder" (see Image 37).

    Description of Image 37: Creating a sub folder in Blackboard


     
  5. In the "Folder Information" section, provide the name of the new subfolder. For this example, name the new subfolder "Accessibility."
     
  6. In the "Folder Information" section, provide text that offers a description of the new subfolder. For this example, provide the text as "This is a syllabus for the course."
     
  7. Select "Submit" (bottom of the screen).
     
  8. The name of the subfolder and its description are displayed in Blackboard at the specified location. For this example, the subfolder "Accessibility" is listed under "Accessible PDF Documents" (which is under "Course Documents").

Uploading Files

The second task in publishing a PDF document to Blackboard is to upload all the files.

To upload a file:

  1. Log into your course as the course manager (instructor).
     
  2. Select the "Control Panel" option in the navigation list (bottom left side of the screen).
     
  3. Select the folder into which the file should be uploaded. For this example, select "Course Documents" then "Accessible PDF Documents" and then "Accessibility."
     
  4. Select "Add Item" (top of the screen).
     
  5. Provide text that offers a description of the file to be uploaded. For this example, provide the text as "This is a PDF of the Declaration of Independence. Please read this as soon as possible and contact the instructor if you have any questions."
  1. In the "Content Attachments" section, select "Browse."
     
  2. This opens a "Choose File" dialog box (bottom of the screen) for you to locate the file on your computer that you want to upload to Blackboard. For this example, select the file named "TDoI.pdf" (see Image 38).

    Description of Image 38: Uploading a file to Blackboard


     
  3. Select "Open" to confirm the file selection and close the "Choose File" dialog box.
     
  4. Select "Submit" (bottom of the screen).
     
  5. Blackboard will upload the file and check if there are any associated image files.

    Note: Depending on the file size, the time to upload will vary.

 

Viewing Uploaded File

Once all associated files such as images and audio have been uploaded, you can view (or as needed download) the completed file within Blackboard by selecting the link to that file. For this example, select "Course Documents" then "Accessible PDF Documents" and then "Accessibility" to view the file named "TDoI.pdf" (see Image 39).


Description of Image 38: Viewing accessible PDF file in Blackboard

The next page will present information on publishing PDF to the course management system, WebCT.

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