Users & Groups

Users

Students who are enrolled in a class in Campus Connection will automatically be added to the corresponding Blackboard course roster within 24 hours. If they drop or withdraw from a class, they should automatically be made inactive in the course, again with 24 hours of the change in Campus Connection. Instructors who are listed in Campus Connection as the instructor for a course will automatically be added to the corresponding Blackboard course site within 24 hours. You can submit requests to add co-instructors, teaching assistants, graders and guests by using the Blackboard request form.

Users in Blackboard organization sites are all manually added. Please use the Blackboard request form to submit these additions.

Add a Teaching Assistant

If you have a teaching assistant that needs access to your Blackboard site, you can use the Blackboard request form to submit the request to have them added.

If you are requesting an undergraduate teaching assistant (UTA), please make sure to select this specific option on the request from. Approval from the department chair is required to complete these requests.
There are two roles available for UTA's. College/departments must decide, based upon their requirements, which type of role is being used.
- UTA-Grader role provides access to all of the same tools the instructor and teaching assistant have in the course. This includes posting content, grading, participating in discussions, blogs, wikis and all student interactions.
- UTA-Builder role provides access to all tools the course builder has in the course. This includes posting content and sending announcements. This role does NOT provide access to grading or any student interactions.

Student Preview

You want to be confident that your course is well-designed and functions as you expect—before your students see it. With student preview, you can review the course content from a student's perspective. You can also validate course behaviors, such as the conditional release of content and how grades appear.

While in student preview mode, you can do these student activities:

Submit assignments
Take tests
Create blog and discussion posts
Create journal and wiki entries
View student tools, such as My Grades

Student preview is different from Edit Mode. While Edit Mode hides your edit controls and content under certain conditions, student preview allows you to experience your course as your students will.

See Blackboard's Student Preview help article or view the Student Preview video for more information.

Groups

Students can be placed in groups to allow them to work together on projects and other class assignments. Creating groups in Blackboard gives each group a private workspace where the members can email, exchange files and participate in a group discussion board — activities not visible to students belonging to other groups. Groups can be created one at a time or in sets. Instructors pick which communication options are available to the groups.

Visit Blackboard's Groups page for information on creating and managing groups.

Course Roles

Course roles control access to the content and tools within a course. Each user is assigned a role for each course they participate in. For example, a user with a role of Teaching Assistant in one course can have a role of Student in another course.

Instructor - provides access to all areas of the course including the control panel for posting content, making users available/unavailable, posting grades, and making the course available/unavailable. This role is generally assigned to the person developing, teaching, or facilitating the class and is automatically populated from Campus Connection.
Teaching Assistant - provides access to everything included with the instructor role, except changing a users availability.
Course Builder - has access to most areas of the course. This role is appropriate for an assistant who shouldn't have access to student grades. If the course is unavailable to students, a course builder can still access the course.
Grader - The Grader role has limited access to the course. Graders can assist an instructor in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of assessments and surveys. The grader may also assist an instructor with adding manual entries. If a course is unavailable to students, the course appears in the course list for a user with the role of Grader.
Student - this is the default course user role. A user with the role of Student submits coursework and participates in discussions. Students can't create or grade course items. This role is automatically populated from Campus Connection.
Guest - provides access to areas in the course designated by the instructor, excluding the control panel, and is unable to view student interactions or post to blogs, wikis, or discussion boards.

Organization Roles

Organization roles control access to the content and tools within an organization. Each user is assigned a role for each organization they participate in. For example, a user with a role of Assistant in one organization can have a role of Participant in another organization.

Leader (Same as Instructor role in courses) - provides access to all areas of the organization including the control panel for posting content, making users available/unavailable and making the organization available/unavailable. This role is limited to current university faculty or staff employees. This role is generally assigned to the person developing, teaching, or facilitating the organization site.
Assistant (Same as Teaching Assistant role in courses)- provides access to everything included with the Leader role, except changing a users availability.
Organization Builder (Same as Course Builder role in courses)- has access to most areas of the course. This role is appropriate for an assistant who shouldn't have access to the grade center. If the organization is unavailable to participants, a course builder can still access the organization.
Grader - The Grader role has limited access to the organization. Graders can assist a leader in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of assessments and surveys. The grader may also assist a leader with adding manual entries. If an organization is unavailable to participants, the organization appears in the organization list for a user with the role of Grader.
Participant - (Same as student role in courses) this is the default organization user role. A user with the role of Participant submits coursework and participates in discussions. Participants can't create or grade organization items.
Guest - provides access to areas in the organization designated by the leader, excluding the control panel, and is unable to view participant interactions or post to blogs, wikis, or discussion boards.

Guest Access

In general we recommend using the Student/Participant role instead of the Guest role to give access to your Blackboard site to anyone with a UND user account. However, you may use Guest access to allow access to a limited area of your Blackboard course.

There are two ways to use Guest settings:

Add a user with the Guest role and make certain content areas accessible.
Make content areas accessible to Guests and share a direct URL. This method does not require the user to have a login account for our Blackboard system.

Guest access is limited. It does not permit interaction in the Blackboard course (taking a test, posting to a discussion board, etc.) and cannot give access to areas that display student information (discussion board, blogs, etc.)

Visit Blackboard's Guest and Observer Access help page for more information and instructions for turning on guest access to your site.