Blackboard can be tricky because there are so many options, and you may not know which area type is best for your content and the functionality you are looking for.
To begin with, when you are in a course shell and want to create a week, unit, or chapter module where you put readings, videos, lectures, PowerPoints, assignment sheets, & discussions for that week or unit, the most common type you are looking to build is called a Content Area (see image).
To do this, go to the top of your course management menu and click the plus sign with a circle around it, then choose Content Area. You're then prompted to name it something (typically, this would be something like "Week 1" or "Unit 4" or "Module 3" but could be other names too, like "Exams," "Resources," "Information," etc.) and make it available or not to users. If students are actively in your course while you are building, you might choose to make it unavailable until you are finished. On the other hand, if you know you'll want it immediately available to students for whatever reason, click on "Make Available to Students."
This is where things can get tricky because once you have a Content Area created that you've called Week 1, or Week 2, or whatever the case may be, you build yet more within that content area.
Though there are a lot of options, I want to talk about the most common ones, including Item, File, Content Folder, Module Page, and Blank Page. These items are under Build Content. They are for providing students information and learning content like lecture videos, readings, PowerPoint slides, website links, assignment instructions.
Item--this is an appropriate choice for when you want to simply provide a document or file to students and give it a brief description or explanation. For instance, you upload a Word document and write short instructions telling students what to do with the Word document or how it relates to a concept in your course. Students are not uploading an assignment to the item you've created because it is not meant as an assignment submission link, nor is an item clickable.
File -- if you create a file, you are also going to upload something (could be a Word document, PDF, PowerPoint, jpg). In this case, though, the students click right into the file and would be prompted to download it. One difference between a File and an Item is that with a File, you're not given a textbox to describe or explain the file you've uploaded; it just functions as something for students to access and download.
Content Folder - this is an appropriate choice for yet another Content Area. It is just that at this point in your building, you're creating a Content Area within a Content Area, and Blackboard gives it a different name to reflect that. It is a Content Folder within a Content Area. Functionally, it serves the same purpose of being an area in which you can put yet more content. Faculty sometimes like to do this because the initial Content Area may have 15 weeks in it, but students would click into each week (Content Folder) to get into the materials just for that week, not all 15 weeks.
Module Page -- plenty of professors have asked for a Module Page. They just don’t know that Blackboard calls it a Module Page. Basically, if you activate a Module Page in your course, you're given a "mission control" type area for your students & yourself. This means a page where there is a "to do" list, "tasks," "announcements," "what's new," a calculator, a thesaurus, etc. You do get to choose which functions you want, however. For instance, you may want "to do" and "announcements" and nothing else. You can customize to your preference. This type of page works well as a course landing page.
Blank Page -- a blank page could be likened to a webpage on a website. It is just as it sounds: just a blank page in which to type text and upload an image. Functionally, it most like an Item. One difference is that you click onto or into a page in order to read what has been typed into the text editor. With an item, you do not click into it; the words & uploaded file(s) are just on the content area in which an item has been created. Blackboard's "Content Area" feature and "Build Content" function are very easy to navigate, though they can get confusing if you're new to it. Don't hesitate to reach out to an instructional designer if you have any issues. We're happy to help. Be sure, also, to refer to Blackboard's Create Content help page
