The other day, I ran across a wonderful tool that I thought would be a powerful resource for some courses. This tool is a timeline. The timelines I am speaking of are built with a timeline tool created by Northwestern University – Knights Lab.

Here is an example of a timeline that Northwestern University created:

This website explains how to create a timeline. The rest of this post explains how to add the timeline to Blackboard.

Adding Your Timeline to Blackboard

If you examined the embedded timeline, you will see the power a timeline could bring to your course. Many courses have a history, and a timeline is a great way to display this history.

Here are the steps to add a timeline for your course. In this example, I will be adding a timeline to a page I created in a module of my course.

1. Create your timeline following the procedures as outlined on the Timeline JS site.

2. Copy the embed code to the clipboard. Here is an example of the code:

<iframe width=”100%” height=”650″ src=”//cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1xuY4upIooEeszZ_lCmeNx24eSFWe0rHe9ZdqH2xqVNk&amp;font=Default&amp;lang=en&amp;initial_zoom=2&amp;height=650″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>

3. Log into your Blackboard course.

4. Navigate to the place where you wish to add the timeline. Ensure you are in course editing mode.

5. (NOTE: This example uses a blank page) Select Build Content -> Blank Page.

6. Click on HTML to access the coding view. Paste in the embed code copied in step 2, then click on the Update button.

7. Finally, click on the Submit button to save the page.

8. View the page in student mode to ensure it displays properly.

Well, that is all you need to embed a timeline in Blackboard. Let us know what you think of this tool. Also, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or other members of the TEI team.