Adding images

Blackboard Ultra provides a number of ways and places for you to add images to your course. You can add images to the Course banner and to a Learning module.

You can add images to your Learning materials as before, using the content editor which is available in documents, assessments and discussions.

You can also drag and drop or upload an image directly to the Course Content page and other areas of a course where you would like an image to appear.

It is possible to add images that are hosted online or you can upload an image from your local device. However you choose to add an image, you will always be prompted to name your image and add a meaningful alternative text description for visually impaired individuals, screen readers or instances where the image fails to load.

Instructions

1 Adding images to the course banner and learning modules
- 1.1 Add an image to the Course banner
- 1.2 To add an image to a Learning module
2 Add an image file to your Learning content
3 Check image accessibility
4 Adding alternative text descriptions

Adding images to the course banner and learning modules

You can use images to help students differentiate between courses and weekly content by adding an image to your course banner and to your different learning modules.

Add an image to the Course banner

On the left hand side of your course view, there’s a heading Course image in the Details & Actions section.

Click on Edit display settings.

This opens up the Display Settings for the Course image or banner

Select the image icon

This opens up the Insert Image dialogue box.

Here you can use the small arrow to to open up the drop-down menu to select your image source.

When you have selected the image, click Next.

Edit the appearance of the banner then click Save.

Then click Save again to close the Display settings

Your course will now display the course banner image at the top of the page:

For more detailed instructions on adding a banner image to your module

To add an image to a Learning module

NB: You can only add images to Learning modules not folders, you can tell if it’s a Learning module by the Learning Module icon (underlined below).

Click on the ellipsis (three dots) to open the content menu and click on Edit.

This brings up the Module settings on the right-hand side.

Click on Add Image

This brings up the Insert Image context menu. Here you can select the image source; either upload a local file from your machine or …

… use the drop down arrow to select Stock images from Unsplash. You can then a search term e.g. ‘animate’.

Select your preferred image and click Next

5. Position the part of the image you want to appear in the square next to your module and click Save.

Enter an Alternative text or mark the image as Decorative and click Save

Your image will now appear on the Learning module:

Add an image file to your Learning content

Insert image file

Within the text editor select the Image button.

Only JPEG and PNG files can be uploaded into the text editor.

The default option is to upload images from your device.

After you’ve chosen an image to insert, select Next.

You can now customize how the image appears in the text.

Click Next when you’re ready to insert the image.
Edit the file options in the image editor (see below):

Display name: Enter a name for the image.
Alt text: Enter a meaningful alternative text description of the appearance or function of the image here for visually impaired individuals, screen readers or instances where the image fails to load.
View and download: Default - so students can download the image if they wish.

By default, users can view and download the image.

Add an image as an attachment

Within the rich content editor, select the paperclip icon.

Choose the relevant image from your device to upload.
Edit the file options (display name, alt text, view and download) in the image editor.

To display the file options for an image, right click on the image to open the image editor.

Drag and drop an image file

You can upload an image from your own computer to the Course Content page. Locate the file you want to add, and then drag and drop it to the location of your choosing on the Course Content page.

Click + Create to add an image file

You can upload a file by selecting the (purple) + icon wherever you want to add your image. In the menu that opens, select Upload to browse for files on your computer. This method only supports uploading individual files, not folders.

You can add files from cloud storage. If you already have files stored in the cloud, such as in OneDrive^® or Google Drive™, you can add them to your course.

Select the the (purple) + icon where you want to upload the image.
If you make a change to a file in cloud storage, you need to upload a new copy in your course.

Check image accessibility

When you add an image in the rich content editor, use the Ally (Ultra Accessibility Checker) before saving your content item. In the editing toolbar, the Ally accessibility indicator (or score) appears to the right of the image. The score displays as a dial in different colours ranging from red (low 0%-30%) through to green (perfect 100%). Click the dial for tips to improve the accessibility score if it is low:

Adding alternative text descriptions

Ally provides 7 best practices tips to write good alternative text descriptions for your images:

Describe the image based on the page context. Convey the full meaning of the image.
Avoid saying "image of" or "picture of". Screen readers automatically announce images as images.
Be concise.
Write narratives for complex images like infographics. Put this narrative on the page immediately following the infographic. Include an anchor link at the top of the page to view the text alternative. See an example of an infographic with a text alternative.
Avoid images of text. If you can't avoid it, copy the text into the alternative description.
Say something new. Don't repeat alternative descriptions on the same page. Don't repeat what is already said on the page.
Identify images that don't represent relevant content as decorative.

If you have added an image that is either described in the text, or is simply decorative, you can use Blackboard Ally to mark an image as decorative, which will indicate to screen readers to ignore the image.

Blackboard Ultra staff support