BLACKBOARD - ONLINE COURSES

FTP tools: getting content on the server

 

For any sort of file or document to be seen by the public on the World Wide Web it needs to be transferred to a server which will store the file in a location which can be seen by a web browser. To get your files to such a location, such as a personal web storage space, you need to utilize an FTP client program. WinSCP is a free, open source SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is the secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer, such as a server. You can download WinSCP at http://winscp.net/download/winscp419.exe. This download is a portable executable file, which means it does not require installation on your computer, but performs its function when downloaded. Save the file to a convenient location, and open it as needed. You can safely ignore any security popups you may see when running WinSCP. You can use this program to transfer any sort of file to your personal server space, whether an html file, a MSWord document, etc.

Web page authoring tools

 

There are times when Blackboard content is best created in the form of web pages. The easiest way to create a web page with embedded images is to use the "File > Save as Web Page" function in Microsoft Word. However, MS Word uses a non-standard format for the web pages it creates, and your file will have limited utility beyond the immediate Blackboard environment.

 

The standard tool for creating and maintaining web sites and web pages is Dreamweaver. However, this is a rather complex and expensive software to use. But if you expect to be developing web sites on a regular basis, it will be worth the effort to learn to use Dreamweaver.

 

Alternately, faculty members can host web pages on their personal EOU server space and create or modify web pages with Contribute. Contact David Komito for more information on how to do this.