When to Use?
What are course banners and how do they work?
As an instructor, you can upload an image to be the thumbnail in the Courses page in Ultra Base Navigation. It can also be the internal course banner inside Ultra courses.
With course banners you can:
- Improve student engagement and experience.
- Bring consistency among what Ultra Base Navigation displays and the actual course.
- Help your students to differentiate between courses and locate course details.
- Make it easier for you to add a course schedule, and for your students to identify course faculty members and class meeting days, times, and location.
- Improve the way your Ultra course view landing pages appear.
Procedure
From the Courses tab, click on Grid view to view course banner (card) images.
Here are a few things to remember when deciding on an image:
- Don’t use text in images
- Text is not recommended for the course card image. If you use text, center the text both vertically and horizontally in the image. Wrap longer text over multiple lines so the text re-sizes to adjust to different window or mobile device screen sizes.
- Descriptions are required
- Please use a description for your image. This description acts as the alternate text read by screen readers making your course banner accessible to all users in your courses.
- Choose an appropriate image
- Select an image that represents your course. Be sure to use an image that is not copyright protected and is free for non-commercial use.
- Possible image resources:
- Sizing your image
- It's best to size your images before you add them. Need a good, free, photo editing tool? Try Canva.com. The minimum size for images is 1200 x 300 pixels with an aspect ratio of 4:1. Use this measurement to ensure the best quality image.
Adding/changing the image
Click on the three dots in the upper-right corner of a course banner's image and select Edit course image to add a new image. Be sure to Save.
Blackboard Ultra Only – Making the image the course banner
In Blackboard Ultra, course banner images can be used as course banners. Enable the toggle for the Course Image and it will show as a course banner on the course homepage. Include an image description for improved accessibility for those who use screen readers. Be sure to Save.
See also: Course Banner