How to Mod Blackboard 9: Part 2, Social Media

With all of its advanced features, Blackboard lacks the dynamic elements that encourage users to click, read, and watch each time they visit a page.  This is something that social media does very well, through advertising, community posts, comments, and slideshows.  Blackboard 9 now has the "mashup" feature, which allows you to add the following:

1. Flickr image 
2. Slideshare presentation
3. Youtube video
4. Audio recording

To move beyond those four items, you will need to find external widgets and embed codes for your chosen tools.  With this process, it really is a case of trial and error.  For example, I was interested in adding a Flickr slideshow, and there are several free Flickr embed codes available on the web. I tried several that didn't work, before I found the Photo Feed Display Widget that had the layout I wanted.

Add embed code to Blackboard:

1. Under "Build Content", create an "item"
2. Give the item a name, and find the HTML button on the bottom right of the editing window.
3. Open the HTML pop up window, and past your embed code.
4. Submit your change, and test the page to ensure functionality.

Tips:

1. Don't want the title of the "item" to appear?  For example,  my slideshow above is titled "Photo Gallery".  Although a title is required in Blackboard, you can make the title white by using the color selector in the edit screen.
2. Many widget contain links to the original creator or advertising.  It is possible to remove this in some cases by editing the html and removing the link.  Be considerate though, as someone took the time to make this free tool and that may be their only source or income for the project.

My most recent exploration of this process was to add an RSS feed of my Google+ Community.  It worked for a while using this workaround, but now the feed is blank.  If anyone else has solved this problem, please let me know!  How about you? What social media tools have you integrated into Blackboard?