Introduction

Visual elements are a great way to build interest, reinforce ideas, and support course navigation with landmarking. If you're looking for way to add visual interest to your course content, Canva is a convenient way to create images to use in your course.  

While users can choose to pay for a premium account, a free license is often enough to make creative images to suit your needs and we've created some resources to help you get started. Choose from the templates below, follow the included instructions, and check out the collection of Canva's ‘Design School’ videos.

The BbUltra Templates

There are countless ways to design your images but here are some designs to help you get started.  

Content Banner Template (1200x75 pixels):

White text on blue background (original design) Template or download the images here

Blue text on white background Template or download the images here

Images on blue background (original design) Template or download the images here

These are designed to fit the width of your content area with moderate height without requiring excessive scrolling. 
Good for:

• Starting new sections of content in a document
• Providing a brief visual break from content in a document
• Announcements
• Footers at the end of content

Content Square Template (400x400 pixels):

Access the 400x400 template by clicking here.

These are square and designed to be the width of half of the available space in Blackboard.
Good for:

• Tables that include images in column one and text in column two

Course Banner Template (1200x240 pixels):

Access the 1200x240 template by clicking here.

These are larger images that are designed to span the width of most computer screens.
Good for:

• Course headers
• Large, complex images that require more height 

🗺️ Instructions

Here's how to use these templates:

1. Choose a template
   Select one of the templates listed above.
2. Login or Signup
   Click the Use Template link and signup/login with your preferred email address.
3. Edit the image
   Add images, shapes, text, and more to create your own images.
   💡 Hint: You can use the Duplicate icon to copy a style provided without changing the examples if you want to keep them for later use. 
4. Download the image
   When you are ready, you can download the images individually or several at once.
   - Click Share
   - Click Download
   - Use the “Select Pages” option to select and deselect pages as you like
   - Click Done
   - Click Download
   💡 Hint:  If you are downloading multiple pages at once, you may need to unzip the folder. To do this, select the folder and click “Extract All”. You can choose to move it to a new folder or save it or just accept where it defaults to. Click Extract and a new folder (without the zipper) will appear. These are ready for you to use.
5. Insert it into your Blackboard content area.
   - Create a content document where you want the image to appear
   - use the paperclip icon to upload and attach.
   - Add the alt-text or select the decorative option
   - Choose if students can download the image
   - Click Save 
6. Save your document

📄 Additional Resources

Here are a few videos for you if Canva is a new tool for you. 

For the entire selection of videos, visit Canva – Design School