- If you would like to create a study guide or any other document for your Blackboard course and have that document displayed as it would be in a Microsoft Word® document with boldfacing, numbered lists, and bulleted lists, follow these steps:
- Write your document in Microsoft Word, being sure to save the document as you make changes. When you have completed the document, this time click on the “File” menu change click on “Save as Web Page.” Note: You may have to click on the small arrow at the bottom of the File menu to see the “Save as Web Page” option. If you do not see that option, then your version of Word was not installed with the Internet Tools option. You will have to reinstall that portion of Word, as shown in Step 2 below. When you are finished, go to step 3.
- To install the Web page features, click on the “Start” button at the bottom of your screen. Then click on Control Panel and then on the “Add or Remove Programs” icon. Then choose the “Change or Remove Programs” option. Then click on the Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office (or some versions of Microsoft Works that contain “Word”). Choose the custom installation and then select the Internet or Web tools features and click on all the “continue” or “OK” options until the program is installed.
- After you click on the “Save as Web Page” option on the “File” menu, then click on “File” again and then on “Web Page Preview.” Then click on “View” on the menu bar and “HTML Source.” At this point, you may be prompted to insert a disk to install the HTML preview feature. Insert the disk in your CD drive. This will take only a few seconds to a few minutes, depending upon the processor speed of your computers. Then the HTML source code will appear. The code that you see will probably be incomprehensible unless you are an HTML expert. Fortunately, with Blackboard version 5.5 and up, you can copy all of the source code and then paste it into your Blackboard document. You would create a folder in the Assignments, Course Information, or Course Documents sections (or even a Discussion Board “new thread” or “discussion forum”) and then click on the folder title after you have created the folder. Or you could enter an existing folder by clicking on the folder title from the Control Panel (do not modify the folder itself but enter the folder). You would then “Add an Item” from inside the folder (again, not the folder description box). When you add the item, give a title to the item and then click on “Edit” and “Paste” (or click the right mouse button—unless you have switched the buttons on your mouse—and “paste”). At this point, be sure to click the “HTML” option instead of “Smart Text. Then click your submit button and you are through.
- The only problem with this procedure is that Microsoft Word inserts literally hundreds of HTML commands that are not necessary and very complex. Thus editing your Blackboard document is almost impossible for anyone except an expert. The best way to revise the Blackboard document is to return to your Word document that you saved as a Web page and modify it. Then repeat the procedure in Step 3 above, except that you will modify the item instead of creating the item. You will erase what is in your document in Blackboard and paste in the contents of your revised Web page.
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lewisr@sandhills.edu