How do I add another faculty or teaching assistant to my Blackboard Ultra course?
You have the ability to enroll other UNI colleagues or non-registered users to your Blackboard Learn course(s). With great power, comes great responsibility! So, please read all of this information carefully!
Important Notes:
For academic classes, officially registered students are automatically enrolled into Blackboard Learn courses every morning. Please do not manually enroll a student who will officially register for the class. If you feel that a student should be enrolled in the class but is not appearing in your Blackboard Learn course, please contact us via Contact eLearning Support. Please include the Course Name and the student's "CatID Username" or "University ID Number".
Make sure you know whom you are enrolling and what role (level of access) you are giving them to your Blackboard Learn course. You are responsible if you enroll the wrong person or give a person access to protected data such as grades.
In this document, we use the term "enrollment" to describe adding a user to an Blackboard Learn course. This is not to be confused with official class registration and enrollment. "Enrolling" a user in an Blackboard Learn course does not create any official relationship in the Student Information System (SIS) between a student and the class or a faculty/staff member and the class.
Who can enroll users in a Blackboard Learn course?
Any user with the "Instructor" role in a Blackboard Learn course has the ability to enroll any user with a Blackboard Learn account into that course.
Note: If you enroll another user as an "Instructor", they will also have the ability to enroll any user into the course as well.
Who can be enrolled in an Blackboard Learn course?
Any user that has an Blackboard Learn account.
Reminder: For academic classes, primary instructor and registered students are automatically enrolled into the Blackboard Learn courses daily. Please do no manually enroll a student who will eventually officially register for the class. Manually enrolling a student to "speed up" access to course materials can cause problems with the automatic enrollment process and may result in the student being removed from the course.
What course roles are available?
Here is the list of course roles (and organization roles) and their respective description, so that you are able to determine what role should be assigned.
*Instructor (Leader): This role is able to access areas of the course and is generally given to those teaching, co-teaching, or facilitating the class. Note: Only the "Primary Instructor" in the Student Information System (SIS) is automatically enrolled in a Blackboard Learn course; all co-instructors need to be added manually.
*Teaching Assistant (Assistant): This role basically has the same level of access as an Instructor. This role can view/add/edit/delete course content, course design, course tools, and grades. A user in the Teacher Assistant role has the ability to access all areas of the course. Teaching Assistants must be added manually.
Course Builder (Organization Builder): This role can access most areas of the Control Panel and is appropriate for a user who needs to build and design the course without having access to student grades. If you want to allow another instructor to copy your Blackboard Learn course, this is the role you would select.
*Grader (Grader): A grader assists the instructor in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of items, such as tests and discussion posts. This user also assists in managing the Gradebook.
Student (Participant): A student user is the default role for Blackboard Learn courses and has no access to the Control Panel. Please do not manually enroll a student in your course as this would be considered a FERPA violation.
*Reminder: You are responsible if you enroll the wrong person or give a person access to protected data such as grades.
What if I'm not sure which Course Role to use?
If you are unsure of which "Course Role" to use, please contact the Instructional Technologies team via Contact eLearning Support.
Steps to Enroll a User
To manually enroll a user into a Blackboard Learn course:
Enter the course you want to enroll a non-registered user into. This must be a course in which you are an Instructor.
On the right hand side in the "Details & Actions" menu, click on the Roster tool.
Click the "Enroll People" button in the top, right corner of the screen as shown below:
Type the user's name (first and last is fine) into the search box. A list of users matching the search text will appear.
Select the correct user from the list. Notice the tiny circle with a + symbol on the right side of the student's name changes to a green circle with a checkmark.
Select the appropriate Role from the dropdown box that pops up. Please see above for Course Role options and information. (The "Role" dropdown menu defaults to "Student" each time it is used, so please verify the correct role is selected each time.
Click "Save".
Verify that the correct user is enrolled with the correct role in the Roster.
Frequently Asked Questions about Manual Enrollment of other Users:
What if I enrolled the wrong user?
You do NOT have the ability to remove or delete a user's enrollment from an Blackboard Learn course; however, you can UNCHECK the setting "Allow access to course" in their "Member Information" for the course.
To DISALLOW the user's access to the course:
In the course with the incorrect user enrolled, navigate to: Details & Actions → Roster.
On the incorrect user's card, click the ellipsis ( … ) to show more options as shown below and choose "Edit member information":
Uncheck "Allow access to course".
Click "Save"
The profile photo in the user's card within the Roster will now appear dimmed and have a slash through it as shown below:
The user will still be enrolled in your Blackboard Learn course, but will not be able to access your Blackboard Learn class, nor see it listed in their "Courses" list. If the user has the role of "Student", they will still appear in the Grade Center. If you would like the user's enrollment to be disabled, please reach out to us via Contact eLearning Support. In the "What may we help you with?:" box, be sure to include the user's full name and "CatID Username" and/or "University ID Number". A disabled student will no longer appear for you in the course.
What if I enrolled the user with the wrong Course Role?
You have the ability to change a user's Course Role by following these steps:
In the course with the incorrect user enrolled, navigate to: Details & Actions → Roster.
On the incorrect user's card, click the ellipsis ( … ) to show more options as shown below and choose "Edit member information":
Under the section for "Role", click the dropdown box and select the user's new role.
A list of course roles and their descriptions can be found here.Click the "Save" button.
Verify the Course Role is correct for the user in the Roster.
What if I cannot find a user when I browse users to enroll?
This could be because the user may already be enrolled. Double check that the user is not already enrolled in the course.
If the user is NOT already enrolled:
The user may already be enrolled but disabled.
The user may not have a Blackboard Learn account: A Blackboard Learn account is automatically created for all UNI employees and registered students; however, some users such as "Visiting Scholars" may not have a Blackboard Learn account automatically created. If you cannot locate a user's account, please contact us via Contact eLearning Support and provide the user's: Full Name, CatID Username, and University ID Number.