Enrolling and Modifying WWU Users in a Course

All Blackboard users must have either a WWU Universal account or a Blackboard Guest Account to be added to the course. If a user does not have a WWU Universal account (such as a guest lecturer from another university), please contact Blackboard Help to have a guest account set up.

Enrolling Users in Your Course

To add a user to the course who is not already enrolled (such as a TA, guest lecturer, course builder, etc.):

1. Select Users and Groups > Users in the Control Panel.
2. Select the Find Users to Enroll button.
3. If you know the usernames you want to enroll, enter them in the Username area, separated by commas, select the Role, then select Submit.
   1. If you don't know the username, select the Browse... button. Then select how you're going to search (First Name, Last Name, Email), enter the user's information, and click Go.
   2. Select the checkboxes next to the user(s) you want to add and select the Submit button.
   Note: If the user you are trying to add is already enrolled in the Blackboard course, his/her name will not appear in the search return list. System Administrators also will not appear.
4. The user or users have now been added with the role you selected. If necessary, you can modify the user's role later.

Modifying the User's Role or Availability

User roles: User roles control access to the course. You may wish to change the role of a user to grant or remove access to certain sections of your course.

User availability: Users set to 'Unavailable' are unable to access the course, but still have information saved with that course. We use user availability during Phase III registration, when a student might drop a course, change her mind, and re-register for that course. Setting dropped users to unavailable rather than deleting them preserves their grades and submitted assignments, should they be needed later. Please note that user availablity is distinct from the course's overall availability.

Please note that you will be unable to change the role of students who have registered for the class, because the registrar's server will override their status. To give higher privileges to an officially-enrolled student, you will need to request a guest account. See How Automated Enrollment Works for more info.

To change the role or availability of a user in your course:

1. Go to Users and Groups in the Control Panel of the course and select Users
2. Select Username and Not Blank in the Search: dropdowns and in the screen shot below, then press Go to see all the enrollments.
3. If you cannot see the user's name on the page, type in last name or username of the user you wish to modify in the Search box, type the appropriate Search term, and click the Go button.

4. Select the arrowed context menu button next to the user you wish to modify.
5. When the menu pops up, select Change User's Role in Course or Change User's Availability in Course.
   
6. If you are changing the user's role, select the appropriate role in this course. If you are only changing the user's availability, skip this step:

   Student

   Can view all content and own grades made available by the instructor. All users enrolled by automaetd enrollment have the Student role, which cannot be changed. (You may be able to make temporary changes, but they will be overridden within 24 hours. Contact Blackboard Help to request a guest account for the user in question to work around this restriction)

   Instructor

   Can enroll and change roles of other users in the course, can view and edit grades, and can create, edit, and delete all content in the course. This is the highest level of trust a user can have in a BB course, short of a System Administrator, so use this role judiciously.

   Teaching Assistant

   Similar to instructor, but without top-level privileges to change user roles. Has full view/edit access to grades and content.

   Course Builder

   Can create, edit, and delete all content in the course, but cannot view or edit grades. Might be appropriate for guest presenters to provide Power Points, readings, etc. on Blackboard without having access to confidential information.
   Please note there is a Blackboard bug that does not allow Course Builders to access courses unavailable to students.

   Grader

   Can view and edit grades; deploy tests but not edit them; view available course content; and view student assignments.

   Guest (not used)

   The guest role is designed for guests of a school to preview courses, but Admissions has their own account for prospective students. We never use this role in our system.

7. If you are changing the user's availability, select whether the user is available. If you are not changing the user's availability, skip this step.
8. Select the Submit button at the bottom right of the page.
   
   Note that you will not be able to view or modify Blackboard System Administrators that are in your course.