Open a document in Microsoft Office PowerPoint v. 2007. Click on the DESIGN Tab, then choose Page Setup and set the length to 5" and the height to 2". This becomes the size of your page and it fits nicely at the top of the Blackboard Opening Page.
Type in the title of the course and any other information you want the students to see right off. Keep in mind that this will show up fairly small,so do not type in whole paragraphs, just a few words. Use both the title and sub-title boxes.
In the Design tab you will have several choices for backgrounds. Click through them to determine which one you want to use.
When you have the desired banner created, save it, then Save it AS a .jpeg file. It will ask you if you want to save just the one slide or more, choose the one slide only.
Now open your Blackboard account and choose the course you want to add the banner to. Click on the control panel, then on Settings, then on Banner. Insert the banner you just created. It is that easy!