Updated Content Editor in Blackboard Courses

The content editor in your courses has received an update to give it a more modern look and a more powerful, accessible experience.

Watch a short video to learn about the new Content Editor features and view the Detailed Content Editor Comparison guide:

Quick Tips: Updated Content Editor for Blackboard Learn

There are lots of great reasons to like the updated Content Editor in Blackboard Learn. Adding content has been simplified, and it works better on both hand-held devices and larger screens. There are several improvements for accessibility and some new features, too. Besides some updated tool icons, there are also some changes in behavior to know about.

The Power of Plus

There’s now one easy menu for adding content from your computer, cloud storage, or integrated tool. The Content Editor will automatically recognize the kinds of files you add.

Better for All Devices

The editor is better suited for all devices—small screen or big. Pop-ups are gone for a better mobile experience.

Improved Accessibility

The editor is more accessible, and a new accessibility checker helps authors make content more accessible.

Better Copy and Paste

Pasting content from Word, Excel, and websites is even better. You can choose to remove extra HTML but retain basic formatting.

Simple Embed

When pasting links to websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion, the videos are automatically embedded for inline playback. Other sites including The New York Times, WordPress, SlideShare and Facebook will embed summary previews.

Display Computer Code

Authors can now share formatted computer code snippets, super handy for computer science classes and coding clubs.

Add Multiple Files of Different Types

Adding content used to be a two-step process. You had to choose the right tool for the type of content you were adding and then choose the source. The first step is gone. Pick one or multiple files at once from your computer or the Content Collection. And of course, you can still access files from your favorite cloud storage services.

Expanded Emoticon Library

The options for emoticons are expanded, grouped into categories, and searchable.

Find Special Characters More Easily

A larger library of special characters is organized into categories and searchable.

Expands Automatically

When authoring with many tools such as creating an Item or a Discussion Thread, the authoring area will automatically expand for you. To edit a large amount of content and pin the toolbar to the top, use the full screen mode.

New Table Options

Creating a table has been simplified with a grid selector instead of a pop-up. When adding tables, column widths default to use percentages rather than fixed widths for greater responsiveness across devices.

Link Tool is for External Sites

To add links to files in the Content Collection, go the Add Content plus-sign menu. The link tool is now only for external links.

Recording Feedback

The option to record audio/video feedback from your device has moved from the main toolbar to the Add Content plus-sign  menu.

Mashups Moved

Third-party tools (“Mashups”) have moved from the main toolbar to the Add Content plus-sign  menu.

Spellchecker Updates

The Spellchecker Tool more smartly picks the default language based on course selection and user choice when available. Dictionaries have been updated and expanded. Click the tool to run spellcheck.

Easier HTML Editing

When authoring or editing HTML, it’ll be easier to find what you’re looking for with line numbers and tag colors.

Text Formatting, Bullets, List

Options for formatting text, bullets, and lists are now presented in recognizable ways rather than just as text. For example, font choices will appear as those fonts and bullet options will display visually as those bullet types.

Toolbar Wrapping

The toolbar will show as many tools as it can for the size of your screen before wrapping to the next line. Show and collapse the additional tools with the ellipsis icon.

Access Full Editor in More Places

When authoring a very complex test question with lots of question and answer options, a limited editor is presented so the page loads faster. You can now expand those into a full editor as needed.

Search Only Selected Content

When using find and replace, you can now limit your search just to content that’s been selected.