West London Online Blackboard User Guide

Transcription

1 Using images in Blackboard How to display images on your Blackboard course site West London Online Blackboard User Guide Not only do images appeal to visual learners, but they also inspire a richer learning experience for all learners. Using images in carefully designed teaching activities can make the learning experience exciting, engaging and deeper. from Using Images in the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (Technical Advisory Service for Images Advice Paper, 2006) TASI has now become JISC Digital Media, whose website at has a wealth of advice and guidance on finding and using images and other digital media in education. Factors to consider before inserting images Copyright Ask these questions: Do I own the copyright to this image? Does the University of West London own the copyright? Have I obtained permission from the rights owner to use the image? Has the image been scanned under the CLA Digitisation Licence, or obtained from a source which permits educational use (e.g. Education Image Gallery or AHDS Visual Arts)? If not it may be possible to link to the image from Blackboard, but uploading it without permission will almost certainly infringe copyright. Image size and file size Images which are too large will not display correctly on the PC screen, and will take an unnecessarily long time to download. So do make sure that you have optimised both the image size (in pixels) and file size (in kilobytes). This should be done before the image is loaded onto your Blackboard space, using a graphics editing package such as Paint or Photoshop. For use on the web, images should always be saved as a GIF or JPG file, and generally need only be dpi. What is the purpose of the image? How large the image should be is at least in part determined by the purpose of the image. In some cases the image will be a key resource for your students e.g. an artwork, or a medical diagram, so needs to be of a size which they can view with ease (but even then rarely more than 800 x 600 pixels). In other cases the images may be there just to support your text, or as signposts to guide students around the course, so can be very much smaller. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 1 24/08/11

2 Ways of displaying an image in Blackboard There are two main ways in which images might be displayed on your Blackboard course as an attachment, which students have to click on to view, or directly on screen as part of the Blackboard page. However the procedure to follow will also depend on whether you are uploading the image direct to your course, linking to an image in the Blackboard Content Collection, or linking to an image elsewhere on the web. 1. Add image as an attachment This creates a link to the image. Students would need to click on the link to view the image (in just the same way that they would open a Word or PowerPoint file from within Blackboard). Create a new Item. Provide a Name and Text. Choose Attach local file and click on the Browse button to upload an image. This displays to the students as shown below. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 2 24/08/11

3 2. Display image direct on screen This displays the image alongside any text as part of the Item Text. Create a new Item. Provide a Name and Text, then position your cursor where in the text you want the image to appear. Click on the Attach Image icon from the toolbar. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 3 24/08/11

4 This opens a new window. Click on Browse and locate the image you want. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 4 24/08/11

5 For accessibility reasons, you should enter a description of the image in the Alt Text field. Leave these two fields blank you should modify your image to the desired size (using Paint or a similar graphics package) before uploading to Blackboard. You may wish to insert a border around your image. Press Submit and you see a preview of the image uploaded. Click on Submit to return to the main Blackboard screen (you may need to scroll down to see the Submit button). Move the image around within the Text field much as you would with an image in Word. When happy, press Submit. The image will display to students as shown below: Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 5 24/08/11

6 3. Linking to images stored in the Content Collection Using the Content Collection, you can build up an online store of images for use in your teaching share images with teaching colleagues use the same image in several courses See the separate user guides listed under Content Collection on Open Door. Having uploaded your images to an appropriate folder in the Content Collection, you can display an image to students as an attachment, or directly on screen. Add as attachment Follow the same procedure as outlined above in section 1 above, but rather than Browse My Computer choose Browse Content Collection click on Browse to open the Content Collection in a new window. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 6 24/08/11

7 Locate the image in the Content Collection; press Submit. Make any further changes required in the main Blackboard window; press Submit. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 7 24/08/11

8 Display image direct on screen Follow the same procedure as outlined above in section 2 above, but having clicked on the Attach Image icon, choose Link from Content Collection item click on Browse to open the Content Collection in a new window. Locate the image in the Content Collection; press Submit. Type a description in the Alt Text field; specify a border if desired; press Submit. The procedure is now exactly the same as described in section 2 above. 4. Linking to images on the Web Just because you can easily find an image on the Internet, this does not necessarily mean that you are free to use it. Copyright exists for images on the Web just the same as for images in a book. By downloading an image from a website, then uploading it to your Blackboard site, you are almost certainly infringing that copyright (unless it is a site such as SCRAN, where we have purchased a licence, or which provides images for academic use). You can however link to a webpage where the original image is displayed. In this case create a Source URL, and in the URL field paste in the address of the page you want to link to. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 8 24/08/11

9 Select Launch in new window to display the webpage in a new window, rather than within the Blackboard frame. This will display as shown. Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 9 24/08/11

10 Help If you require further help, please contact the IT Service Desk: telephone Blackboard 9.1 User Guide 10 24/08/11