Important Notice About Large Blackboard Courses

Several years ago, our Blackboard LMS was successfully moved to Blackboard’s Cloud. Since that means the University is now effectively leasing space, it is important that faculty be economical in terms of the overall size of Blackboard courses. With this in mind, FCLD is in the process of identifying unusually large courses and working with instructors to find ways to decrease the size without compromising the content of the courses. FCLD is committed to identifying ways to decrease the size of large courses, but in a way that will not impact Blackboard teaching.

Here is a list of ways that will help shrink the overall size of Blackboard courses:

• Video and Audio Files – Put these on Ensemble instead.
• Large PDF Files – Save on One Drive then link to them in Blackboard.
• PowerPoint Image Size – Compress images in presentations (Picture Tools -> Compress pictures).
• Narrated PowerPoints – Save as a movie file and then put on Ensemble.
• Assignment Submissions (by students) – Download them to One Drive.
• Image size/file format – Use lower resolution whenever possible and consider making pictures smaller.
• Multiple Imported Content Folders/Duplicate Files – Check files area in Control Panel.

Before removing any files, instructors should plan on backing up their course files area.  Go to the Control Panel > Files > click on the CRN.  Select all the files and click Download.  This will generate a .zip file that can be saved locally on the instructor’s computer.

Instructors are asked to please address the size concerns and review courses for large or duplicate files before copying forward into Summer or Fall courses.  If a course has already been copied forward, the instructor will need to review and clean up large or duplicate files in both courses.

FCLD is available to provide assistance. Please email fcld@hartford.edu with any questions and concerns, or to schedule an appointment.