Finding lecture notes & learning materials
You’ll find your lecture notes and learning materials in Course Content view in your Blackboard Ultra module, the default page in your Blackboard course.
The majority of your learning content will be saved in folders or Learning modules, they will most likely be arranged by week.
Types of learning content
Clicking on a folder or Learning modules will reveal a list of content.
Different types of content are represented by different icons:
Documents (web pages containing text, images and video)
Images
Downloadable files such as PDFs/PowerPoint slides
Weblinks that will link to web content outside Blackboard
In addition you will see assignments or tests
Another symbol you may see is this represents integrated third-party software e.g. Turnitin (assignments), Vevox (polls & quizzes) or Matlab (data)
Folders, documents and files
Click on a folder to expand the content, this folder contains lecture notes in a file (PDF) that can be downloaded and a document a web page that contains a recording of a lecture:
Click on a file, it will open in a layer above the course content area.
The following is a downloadable pdf, use the Ally button to generate an accessible version,
the download button to download the file
and to close the file
Clicking on a document will also open it in a new layer above the Course content. Documents may contain text, images and video, they may also contain some downloadable files as well.
Use the Ally button to generate an accessible version
and to close the file
Learning Modules
Learning modules are similar to folders, however they are used to organise content (documents, links, files) in sequence. The following are examples of Learning modules in Course Content, one has an image the other the icon , the one on the right has forced sequence enabled.
You are expected to work through the Learning module content in sequence, using the previous and next buttons at top of each item.
Forced sequence Learning Modules
A list of content with a chain of circles and lines, means that forced sequence is activated and you must complete each item in order, before moving on to the next.
The circle shows the status of each item
padlock = locked
green tick = complete
half circle = started
grey circle = current/ starting point
You need to click on the first (current item) in the list. The item will open and you’ll see that the link to the next item is greyed out, this means you need to complete the item i.e. read the document to enable the link.
When you read to the bottom of the document the link will become activated and then you can progress to the next page.
As you progress through the sequence, completed items are ticked off the list.
If you need to leave the learning module, your progress is retained and you can come back to where left off by clicking on the current or started item
Related Articles
Centre for Digital Learning Enhancement
ulster.ac.uk/learningengancement/cdle