Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Access Information
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- Who has access to the Content System or Virtual Hard Drive?
- Is there a quota assigned or limit to the space available on my Virtual Hard Drive?
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Features and Capabilities
- What is the Content System?
- What is the Virtual Hard Drive?
- How is storing content on the Virtual Hard Drive different from storing content directly on Blackboard?
- What if I am teaching multiple sections of a course, how can Virtual Hard Drive help me?
- OK! All that sounds great, how do it do it?
- How do I access my Virtual Hard Drive?
- How do I add a folder to my Virtual Hard Drive?
- How do I upload files to my Virtual Hard Drive?
- How do I add an item from my Virtual Hard Drive into my Blackboard course? OR How do I make a document available to the students in my course?
- How to give read permissions to your students?
- How do I copy content from my Blackboard course to the Virtual Hard Drive?
- How do I download an Item once it's on my Virtual Hard Drive?
- How do I share the documents on my Virtual Hard Drive with others?
- How to make a folder on your Virtual Hard Drive (My Content) available to a single user or your students in a class.
- How do students access content placed on the My Content area by the instructor?
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Access Information
1. How do I access the Content System?
All users who have access to the CSUF Portal have access to the Content System. Simply log on to the Portal click on the Blackboard tab and then click on the My Content tab to access the Content System and your Virtual Hard Drive.
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2. Who has access to the Content System or Virtual Hard Drive?
All Faculty, Staff and Students have access to the Content System or to their Virtual Hard Drives. You may access your Virtual Hard Drive by clicking on the My Content tab.
3. Is there a quota assigned or limit to the space available on my Virtual Hard Drive?
Yes, each faculty member, staff or student is assigned a designated quota of disk space. You can view the disk space available to you towards the top right hand once you click on the My Content tab. Faculty are given 75 MB, Staff 75 MB and students 50 MB.
Note: Faculty or Staff may contact the Blackboard Administrator to request additional space for valid Academic purposes.
Features and Capabilities
What is the Content System?
Content System is an enhancement to the features of Blackboard that enables
CSUF faculty to store and manage content on a Virtual Hard Drive and make it available to their students in class, or to individuals off campus.
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What is the Virtual Hard Drive?
Virtual Hard Drive is a designated amount of free disk space provided to the CSUF faculty staff and students on the Blackboard Content System. You can store your files, access them anywhere and share them with students and peers in your class or with individuals off campus.
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How is storing content on the Virtual Hard Drive different from storing content directly on Blackboard?
When you add a file into your Blackboard course from your Virtual Hard Drive you are simply creating a Hyperlink to the file stored on your Virtual Hard Drive. This reduces data redundancy and if you need to make changes to your file you simply do it once on the file stored on your Virtual Hard Drive.
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What if I am teaching multiple sections of a course, how can Virtual Hard Drive help me?
Virtual Hard Drive is the best solution for faculty teaching multiple sections of the same course.
Here is how it works:
Week 1: You store a file on the Virtual Hard Drive and attach it from the Virtual Hard Drive into the multiple sections of your Blackboard course. This creates a link to the file in the multiple sections of the courses that you are teaching.
Week 2: You feel you have to make certain changes to the file. You simply go into your Virtual Hard Drive folder, locate the file and make the required changes on it. Since you uploaded the file on all multiple sections of your course on Blackboard using the Virtual Hard Drive, you have made a hyperlink to this file and consequently all changes you make on the original file will be reflected on all the courses. You do not have to go into each course individually and update the document multiple times.
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OK! All that sounds great, how do it do it?
Adding content to the Virtual Hard Drive is as easy as using Blackboard. Additionally, it also enables you to upload multiple files, even folders by using the drag and drop feature. View the documentation below.
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How do I access my Virtual Hard Drive?
Log on to Blackboard through the portal and click on the "My Content" tab.
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How do I add a folder to my Virtual Hard Drive?
Log on to Blackboard, click on the My Content tab and then click on "+ Folder" button.
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How do I upload my files to my Virtual Hard Drive?
Option 1: You can upload your files individually by clicking on the "+ Item" button (exactly as you would add files into your Blackboard course)
Option 2: You could click on the "Web Folder" button to open a web folder window and drag and drop your files into the window.
NOTE: Web Folders only work with PCs.
The following web folder window would then appear:
You can simply drag and drop your single or multiple files OR folders right into the web folder.
Close the web folders window when done.
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How do I add an item from my Virtual Hard Drive into my Blackboard course? OR How do I make a document available to the students in my course?
Click on the Courses tab and enter the specific course where you would like to add the file. Go to the Control Panel and to a Content Area (e.g. Course Documents). Click on Add Item just as you would to add any document to your Blackboard course. When you get to the Add Item page give your Item a name and scroll down and click on the Browse button next to the "Link to Content Collection Item" option. This will take you to your "My Content" or Virtual Hard Drive window.
Select the item you wish to add from your Virtual Hard Drive. Click on the folder to access files within it.
Note: You may only select items (files) and not an entire folder.
Once you have selected an item click on Submit. You will get a pop up window about giving explicit Read permission, Click OK:
By Clicking OK you have given explicit READ permission for this document to the students in this course.
You will now see the document added in the Link to Content Collection Item field. Name the document and click on Submit.
You should get a confirmation message, click OK.
To verify the document is available to your students, go to the content folder (Course Documents in this example) and view the documents there.
The document now appears under Course Documents:
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How do I give Read and Write permissions to my students? (optional)
On your Virtual Hard Drive click on the Permissions icon that looks resembles a hand:
You will come to the "Manage Permissions" page. At the top right hand side locate a drop down menu and select "Course User List" click on Go. (Course User List option will be selected by default).
On the Add Course User List page you will see a list of all the courses you are teaching. Select the course or multiple courses whose students you would like to give read and write permission by clicking on the check boxes.
Scroll down on the Add Course User List page and under Choose Roles select "All Course Users" option to give all course users permission. Then under Select Permissions select "Read" and "Write" to give read and write permissions to everyone in the selected courses.
Click on Submit!
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How do I copy content from my Blackboard course to the Virtual Hard Drive?
Log on to the course from which you wish to copy content to your Virtual Hard Drive. Click on the Control Panel and under Course Tools click on "Copy Files to Collection" .
On the "Copy Files to Collection" page select the content that you wish to copy to your Virtual Hard Drive and then click on Browse to select the location (folder) on your Virtual Hard Drive where you would like to copy the course content.
You can either copy the course content to an existing folder on your Virtual Hard Drive or you may create a new folder - select the folder and click on Submit.
You will see the folder selected in the Destination field, click on Submit.
Depending upon the nature and size of the files it might take some time for the files to be copied, once done you will get a log report, click OK.
You may review the copied files by accessing your Virtual Hard Drive.
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How do I download an Item once it's on my Virtual Hard Drive?
Select the item and from the drop down menu at the top right hand click on Download Items. You can then download the item to your hard drive or to a removable disk.
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How do I share the documents on my Virtual Hard Drive with others?
Click on the Modify button next to the item :
Then click on Passes
Click on " Add Pass " to create a Read/Write pass for certain time duration
On the Add Pass page select Lifetime of the pass and Permissions : Read or Read/Write
Click on Submit when done. And Click OK.
Once the pass has been created you will see it listed on the Passes page. Select the pass by checking the box and Click on " Email Pass " , to send it to an individual on or off campus.
Type in the E-mail address and click on Submit:
Once the pass has been sent you will get the following confirmation:
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