Manage Course Menu

Manage Course Menu

What is Course Menu?

The Manage Course Menu feature allows instructors to customize their Blackboard course. Instructors can create a navigation menu specifically for each course with titles and functions of their choice. This feature creates additional content areas and adds tool functions to the navigation menu. Instructors can also rename any of the navigation buttons/links.

Where to Manage Course Menu?

1. Click on Control Panel link on the left side of the course site.
2. Click on Manage Course Menu under Course Options section to open the Manage Course Menu page.

How to Add New Links to the Course Menu?

1. Go to the Manage Course Menu page by following above steps.
2. Click on one of the Add icons in the gray bar at the top of the page.
3. When you have finished adding menu items, click the OK button to leave this page.

Add Content Area – add new Content Areas to the Course where documents and other course material are stored:

• Click on the Content Area icon to open the Add New Area page.
• Complete the page. You can choose a name for this Content Area from the drop-down list or type your own name in the blank.
• Click on Submit button.

Add Tool Area- creates direct links to function areas in Course Menu, such as Discussion boards, Email, Tasks, Dropbox, etc.

• Click on the Tool Link icon.
• Choose a tool type from the pull-down list.
• Click on the Submit button.

Add Course Link - creates a button that links directly to a document or tool placed somewhere else in the course from the Course Menu:

• Click on the  Course Link.
• Type a name into the Name field.
• Click on the Browse button to open the Select Course Link window.
• Select the target course location.
• Check the following boxes as needed.
• Click on the Submit button.

Add External Link - creates a button that links directly to an outside website from the Course Menu:

• Click on the External Link icon.
• Type a name into the Name field.
• Type the full URL of the external website, including http://.
• Check the following boxes as needed.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

How to Modify or Deleting an Existing Link from the Course Menu?

1. Go to the Manage Course Menu page.
2. Click on the Modify or Remove button next to the link to modify or delete the link.

How to Modify the Order of Links in the Course Menu?

1. Go to the Manage Course Menu page.
2. Change the order of links by choosing the number from the pull-down list next to each link.

Questions about Manage Course Menu

1. If I change the navigation items, will it be permanent?

As with many of the other features of Blackboard, the instructor can modify or edit the navigation menu at any time during the course duration.

2. What are the benefits of changing the names on the navigation or course menu?

Many instructors feel limited by the standard names and areas types. Instructors can customize the titles to names that make more sense for them. For example, instead of “Assignments,” an instructor may want to call the section “Book Reviews” for a literature class, or “Experiments” for a chemistry class.

3. What are the benefits of adding tools or external links to the menu?

In some courses, students spend much of their time online looking at specific websites. Instructors can make a direct link to the site on the navigation menu. For example, a public health class could have a direct link to the National Institute of Health website right on the front page of the course.