swbts fort worth, tx august, 2013 · 2013-09-23 · entering spanish into the blackboard content...

Entering Spanish into

the Blackboard

Content Editor

William De Wysockie

Learning Systems Administrator

SWBTS Fort Worth, TX

August, 2013

Entering Spanish into the Blackboard Content Editor De Wysockie

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...…………………………………………………… 5

1: BLACKBOARD’S CONTENT EDITOR ..…………………………. 7

2: UPLOADING SPANISH DOCUMENTS TO BLACKBOARD ….. 11

3: TYPING SPANISH DIRECTLY INTO BLACKBOARD …………. 17

4. USING THE CONTENT EDITOR’S CHARACTER MAP……….. 29


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INTRODUCTION

There are several ways you can integrate Spanish into Blackboard. You can…

Upload Spanish‐language documents (such as Microsoft Word or PDF documents). You can do this via the Content Editor or you can use an attachment option to upload your documents. We’ll look at this in section 2.

Type Spanish directly into your Blackboard pages using Blackboard’s Content Editor. Using the editor, you can type Spanish into discussion board posts, content areas, and tests. This option is covered in section 3.1

Use the Content Editor’s character map to enter special Spanish characters. The map looks like this:

We’ll explore how to find and use this character map in section 4.

While Spanish is the focus here, this document will help you with the task of entering any

special characters into Blackboard. 1 You can also copy and paste Spanish into Blackboard from sources such as Microsoft Word. While this is a possible option, it is not recommended.


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Before we begin exploring the different ways that you can enter Spanish into Blackboard, let’s

look briefly at the Content Editor. This is the primary tool you will be using to enter Spanish text

into Blackboard.


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1: Blackboard’s Content Editor

Blackboard 9.1 Service Pack 10 introduced a new (and vastly improved) Content Editor.

This editor allows you to work with languages such as Spanish, ancient Greek, and Hebrew2

with more flexibility than you had in the past.

The Content Editor looks like this:

Whenever you add content directly to Blackboard – in a discussion board post, in an

announcement, or in a content area of your course – this is the tool that you will use. Basically,

you give your content a title (in the subject field) and enter the content (in the message field).3

Notice that there are three rows of menu options:

2 For information on entering Greek and Hebrew into Blackboard, see William De Wysockie, Ancient Languages and the New Blackboard Content Editor (2013). If you would like a copy, email [email protected]. 3 Depending on the context in Blackboard, the field in which you enter content may be labeled ‘Message’ or ‘Text.


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These menus provide several choices for formatting your text – similar to what you have with a

word processor (such as Microsoft Word). Here is a tabulation of just a few of the options with

their function:

Bold text

Italicized text

Bulleted text

Highlighted text

The large number of options can be quite overwhelming at first. To learn about each option,

click the help button:

Here’s a quick tip for displaying the full Content Editor menu. When you first see the

editor, the menu may be collapsed into just one row:


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To expand the menu, click the down arrows (as pictured below):

This will open the full menu:


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Now that we have briefly looked at Blackboard’s Content Editor, let’s look at how you can use

this tool to add Spanish‐language documents to your Blackboard course.4

4 For more information on Blackboard Content Editor, see William De Wysockie, Brief Introduction to the New Blackboard Content Editor (2013). If you would like a copy, email [email protected].


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2: Uploading Spanish Documents to Blackboard

Uploading Spanish‐language documents is the easiest and most straightforward method

of integrating Spanish text into a Blackboard course.

The most common types of documents that instructors upload are Microsoft Word and Adobe

PDF. In this section, we will look at how to upload these kinds of documents to a course content

area. (You can also upload files into such items as course blogs and discussion forums.)

On a Blackboard content page, click the Build Content tab. A drop‐down window provides two

options that allow you to insert a file: Item and File.


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What’s the difference between these two options?

The File option allows you attach a file to a section of your Blackboard course.

The Item option allows you to add a file and content.

The File option allows you to attach a file. You ascribe a name to this item (this is how the link

to the file will be worded) and then attach the document.

In the screenshot below, an instructor has given the item a name and attached a file.


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After the instructor submits the page, this is what students see:

Clicking this link provides students the choice of opening or downloading the document:


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Now let’s look at the Item option – an alternative way of uploading a file.

Clicking the Item option opens the Create Item page. Not unlike the File option, this page gives

you the option of attaching a file.

This is how the link to the file will appear to students. Notice that you do not have the ability to

give the link a user‐friendly name as you did with the File option.


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The Create Item page gives you another way to add files – via the Content Editor. To do this,

click the Insert File option in the Content Editor menu.

This opens the Insert Content Link window. Like with the attachment feature, you can browse

your computer or your course for the files that you want to insert. Unlike the attachment

feature, however, you can add a web link, as well.


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Uploading documents is the easiest and most straightforward method to display Spanish‐

language content in your Blackboard course. However, there may be times when you want to

use another method. The next two chapters will show you some alternatives.


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3: Typing Spanish Directly into Blackboard

You can type Spanish text directly into the your Blackboard course via the Content Editor.

Even if you upload all your course content as downloadable files (covered in section two), there

are times when you may need to type Spanish text directly into Blackboard. For example…

You may need to create an announcement for your class using Blackboard’s Announcement feature.

You may need to comment on a student post in Blackboard’s Discussion Board.

If you create online exams in Blackboard, you will need to enter Spanish‐language text.

Creating online assignments requires that you type directions into Blackboard.

There are two ways you can type Spanish directly into Blackboard’s Content Editor:

o Using the Windows language bar (and special keyboard settings) o Using special key combinations to insert special characters

Let’s look at each of these options.5

First, if you haven’t done so already, you need to prepare your computer to type in Spanish. If

you are working in a current Windows environment, then you have the ability to type in both

English and Spanish. However, there is some setup involved before you can switch to Spanish

and start typing.

First, you need to enable a Spanish keyboard layout. A keyboard layout maps the keys on your

physical keyboard to special characters. For example, the physical English keyboard does not

allow you to type the Spanish character ñ. To type this character, you will need to add the

Spanish keyboard layout, which maps a combination of keys to this character.

5 You can also copy and paste Spanish into Blackboard from sources such as Microsoft Word. While this is a possible option, it is not recommended.


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How do you add a Spanish keyboard layout? In a Windows environment, you navigate to the

Control Panel and click the Region and Language link. In the Region and Language window, click

the Keyboards and Languages tab. Now click the Change keyboards button.

You will see something like this:


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Click the Add button to add a keyboard that will allow you type Spanish. Here is a keyboard that

one instructor added:


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Notice that there are now two keyboard layouts – the original English (United States) keyboard

and the new Spanish (Spain, International Sort) keyboard.

The Windows operating system provides a way to switch back and forth between keyboards

while you are typing. It’s called the Language bar and (depending on how you have it

configured to appear on your desktop), it will look something like this:

In the above screenshot, the language bar is minimized to the desktop’s taskbar. If it is not

minimized (i.e., full‐size and undocked), it will look something like this:


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In the above screenshots, the English keyboard is the keyboard that is currently chosen –

designated by EN in the minimized state and by EN English (United States) in the undocked

state.

To change your system’s keyboard layout to Spanish, click the EN section of the minimized

language bar or the EN English (United States) section of the undocked language bar. A menu

will appear:

In the menu, select the Spanish keyboard layout. Notice that the display on the language bar

has changed from EN to ES:


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You can now start typing in Spanish.

But how do you type the special Spanish characters? To do this, you need to know how the keys

on your physical keyboard are mapped to the accented vowels and special grammatical marks

that you want to type. One way to do this is to open the On‐Screen Keyboard. Click the Start

button and start typing the word keyboard in the Search field:

A link to the On‐Screen Keyboard should appear. Click this link to open the On‐Screen Keyboard.

The keyboard will look like this:


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At first, the keyboard may appear with English‐language keys. If you do not see the Spanish

character keys, check the language bar. It may need to be reset to Spanish:

The On‐Screen Keyboard shows you how the keys are mapped. For example, notice in the

screenshot below the keys that you would need to press in order to enter the Spanish

characters ñ, ¿, and ¡.


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To type the Spanish character ñ (n with the tilde), you would press the key just to the right of

the l key. To type the character ¡ (the inverted exclamation point), you would press the key just

to the left of the Backspace key. To type the character ¿ (the inverted question mark), you

would press both the Shift key and the key just to the left of the Backspace key (i.e., press both

the Shift key and the inverted question mark key at the same time).

To add vowels with accents (such as ó), you click the single quotation key and the vowel key in

succession (i.e., not at the same time but one after the other).

Try this in Blackboard’s Content Editor. Navigate to your Blackboard course and open the

Content Editor.


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Switch to the Spanish keyboard layout on your computer desktop by toggling the language bar

to the Spanish option.

Press the key that is mapped to the Spanish character ñ (for the keyboard in the screenshot,

this is the key immediately to the right of the l key – i.e., the semi‐colon key). The Spanish letter

n with the tilde should appear in the Content Editor’s text field:


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As you switch from one application environment to another, the language bar on your

desktop may reset. For example, you may be typing Spanish into Microsoft Word. When

you switch to the Blackboard Content Editor environment, the language bar may switch

back to English. You will need to switch back to Spanish if that is the language you want

to type into the Content Editor.

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What if you only occasionally use one of the special Spanish characters? Or one of your

students encounters difficulty applying the keyboard layout solution?

The Spanish characters can be inserted using what are called ASCII (pronounced as‐key) codes.

Here is a table covering several of the Spanish characters.


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Character ASCII code

á 0225

é 0233

í 0237

ó 0243

ú 0250

ñ 0241

¡ 0161

¿ 0191

How does this work? Open the Blackboard Content Editor. To enter a Spanish character in the

editor’s text field, press the ALT key and keep it suppressed. Now, on your keyboard’s numeric

pad, press the four numbers in succession (one after the other). Release the ALT key. The

special character will appear. For example, to type the letter a with the accent, press the ALT

key and keep it suppressed. Now type the numbers 0, 2, 2, and 5 in succession. Release the ALT

key.

Make sure you press the numbers on the numeric keypad on the right‐hand side of your

keyboard. If you press the numbers above the letter keys, this will not work.


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4: Using the Content Editor’s Character Map

The Blackboard Content Editor includes a character map that allows you to choose a

special character and insert it into your course content. This process takes longer than typing

directly into Blackboard. However, it can serve as a temporary last resort if a student

encounters an issue with any of the other options we have discussed.

How does it work? Simply click the Symbol option on the Content Editor menu:

This opens the character map:


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Notice that when you hover your cursor over a character, the character is displayed in the

upper right‐hand corner of the window with a description.

Clicking the character (1) closes the character map window and (2) inserts the special character

into your text.