New Content Editor Coming for Original Courses on November 6

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 08:47:11 -0400
accessibility, blackboard, content-editor, original-courses

An updated, easier-to-use, more powerful Content Editor is coming to Original courses on November 6.

There are lots of great reasons to like the updated Content Editor. Adding content has been simplified, and it works better on both hand-held devices and larger screens. There are new tool icons and some changes to tool behavior. Expanded libraries of special characters and emoticons are searchable and organized by category. The spellchecker is smarter and editing HTML is faster with line numbering and tag colors. Review the comparison chart FAQ for more information or watch this video:

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There are several improvements for accessibility and some new features, too. Here are six enhancements you can look forward to:

The Power of Plus. One easy menu for adding content from your computer, cloud storage, Content Collection, or integrated tool. The Content Editor will automatically recognize the kinds of files you add.

Better for All Devices. The editor is better suited for all devices -- small screen or big. It’s easier to author on mobile devices because pop-ups are gone.

Improved Accessibility. The editor is more accessible due to higher contrast icons and menus, and the removal of pop-ups improves the experience for screen reader users. The new content editor compliments Ally capabilities because it helps you make content more accessible at the time you are creating content.

Better Copy and Paste. Pasting content from Word, Excel, and websites is even better. Easily remove extra HTML but retain basic formatting.

Simple Embed. When pasting links to websites such as YouTube, and Vimeo, the videos are automatically embedded for inline playback -- there’s no need to fuss with HTML. Other sites including The New York Times, WordPress, SlideShare and Facebook will embed summary previews.

Display Computer Code. Faculty and students can now share formatted computer code snippets, which is super handy for computer science classes.

The new tool editor will be deployed via an overnight update to our system, which will be visible in Original courses on November 6th. Users should familiarize themselves with the changes to the content editor by referencing the comparison chart FAQ.

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options: