Adding a PowerPoint Presentation to Your Course
To enhance your online teaching, you may want to add PowerPoint presentations to your course site. Although it is technically possible to upload native PowerPoint presentations (.ppt or .pps files) to Blackboard, it is recommended that you first create the Web version of your presentation and then load it within your Blackboard class.
By saving your PowerPoint presentation as a Web page, you will be generating presentation files that your students will be able to access and utilize without the need for a copy of MS PowerPoint, or any other special viewers. In addition, the Web version of a presentation will load and play much more quickly and smoothly than a PPT file viewed over the Web, even if your students do own PowerPoint.
To add Web versions of presentations to your course site, you will need to perform the following tasks:
- Save your PowerPoint presentation as a Web page
- Compress (zip) the presentation files into a single zip file
- Configure zipped material to be unzipped and linked through Blackboard
Getting your PowerPoint file ready
Step 1: Open your presentation within the program.
Step 2: Choose File > Save As Web Page… from the main menu bar. The Save As window will open.
Step 3: To save your PowerPoint presentation, you can use the filename you had already created for this file or you can change it if you'd prefer. When naming your presentation, it is best to avoid spaces in the file name and to select a name which is short and easy to remember. Saving your file as a Web page will not make any changes to the original file.
In the Save As dialog box:
1. Make sure that the Save in: area is pointing to an area of your file system that you can easily locate. (In our example, the “Desktop” has been selected from the drop-down list.)
2. In the Save as type: field, select “Web Page” by using the drop-down list.
3. Finally, click [Publish]. The Publish as Web Page dialog box will open.
Step 4: Click [Web Options...] on the right side of the dialog box.
Step 5: In the Web Options dialog box, click the [Files] tab across the top of the dialog box.
Step 6: Select all check boxes. Click [OK] to accept changes. This will take you back to the Publish as Web Page dialog box.
Step 7: In the Publish As Web Page window, choose Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, Netscape Navigator 3.0, or later in the Browser support section.
Step 8: Change the “Publish a copy as” path to something you can remember. You may want to place the files on the desktop because they will be easy to find.
Step 9: Click [Publish]. Your PowerPoint file will be saved to the location you designated and will generate two files much like the ones shown below.
You should have one PowerPoint file and one folder containing the Web version of the PowerPoint slides, artwork, and any other components used in your presentation.
Step 10: Close PowerPoint.
Creating a Zip file
If you would like to add your PowerPoint presentation in its Web-ready format to Blackboard, you will need to create a zip file, since Blackboard only allows you to upload one file at-a-time and when PowerPoint is converted to a Web-ready format, it creates multiple files. Please follow the steps below, to learn more on this procedure.
Depending on the type and version of your computer system, you will have different options for creating a zip file:
• If you use a newer version of Windows, such as Windows XP, you can work with the automatic file zipping feature.
• If you have an older version of Windows that does not support automatic file zipping; you will have to use a program such as WinZip (URL: http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm ), or PowerArchiver (URL: http://www.powerarchiver.com/download/ ).
• If you are a MAC user, you may want to obtain Staffit Expander (URL: http://www.stuffit.com/mac/standard/ ).
Using the Automatic File Zipping Feature of Windows:
Step 1: Start the Windows XP Explorer (found on the Accessories sub-menu of the Windows XP Start menu.)
Step 2: Within Explorer, navigate to your saved presentation created for the Web. Remember, it will be a Web page called filename.htm and an associated set of files in a folder.
Step 3: Select both the .htm file and the folder you saved by clicking first one, then holding down the Control Key [Ctrl] and clicking the other.
Step 4: Now right-click the .htm file. The following menu will pop up:
Step 5: Hold your mouse cursor over “Send to” and you will see the following menu:
Step 6: Choose Compressed (zipped) Folder.
Windows will create a new folder in the current location containing the file and folder you selected.
Adding your PowerPoint presentation to your Blackboard course site
In order to upload the Web version of your PowerPoint presentation to Blackboard, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Login to Blackboard and go to the Control Panel for your course.
Step 2: Choose the Content Area and folder in which the item will reside.
Step 3: Once inside the Content Area, click the Add Item button.
Step 4: Type in the name of your item/subject. Then you may choose your preferred color for the text of your item.
Step 5: In the Text box, you can type instructions for your students. This information will appear underneath the link to your PowerPoint presentation.
Step 6: Click the 
button next to the “Attach local file” field, locate and double-click on the zip file you created previously.
Step 7: Type in a text within the “Name of Link to File” field.
Step 8: Choose “Unpackage this file” from the “Special Action” drop-down menu.
Step 9: Set the options you want to your attached item.
Step 10: Click the 
button.
Step 11: The Content Actions page will open. You will be prompted to define the Entry point to your presentation. Locate the .htm version of your presentation. Click on the name of this file and then click again.
Step 12: You will receive a conformation receipt for adding the PowerPoint presentation. Click the 
button to close this window.
Step 13: The link to your presentation will appear within the Blackboard Content Area. Click the button to close this window.
Step 14: The presentation will be added with navigation controls that students can use to move from page to page or if you had automatic timings those will be active. Go back to the course content area and test the link to be sure that the presentation works correctly.
