Bb User admin

1st March 2022

Blackboard tool – Library Staff Enroller

The staff enroller tool enables different types of staff to more easily manage their access to Blackboard courses.

This is a new software release. Changes are being made regularly. You are welcome to provide feedback on this service.

Access

This tool will only work for staff who have been set up with permissions to access it. Please talk to your team administrator or raise a ticket with ServiceLine if you need access.

Ensure you are connected to the VPN (or on campus)
Log into Blackboard and go to your full courses view.
Locate the “Staff Tools” and select “Staff Course Enroller”.

You will see two or three tabs at the top of the page depending on the permissions you have.

Enrol

You can search for course ID, course name or just key words. The search will return the latest academic year at the top of the list. The search will return a maximum of 100 courses.

Search for any Blackboard course and select “Search” or press Enter on your keyboard.
- Select the course ID of a course and you will automatically be enrolled on the course. You will also be taken directly to that Blackboard course.
- OR use the check boxes on bulk enrol onto courses quickly.

Unenrol

This shows the list of courses you have enrolled on using this tool. A maximum of 100 courses will be listed.

Select the Unenrol tab at the top of the page.
Locate the course you would like to be removed from.
Select “Remove” and you will be unenrolled from the course.

Admin Tools

User enrolments

Select the Admin tools tab
Select “user enrolments” from the drop down menu
Search for a user (by username) to bring up a list of their enrolments.
You can see the courses they are enrolled on, and the course role they are enrolled with, and you may unenrol them from courses.

A maximum of 100 courses will be listed.

Note: You can find someone’s username by searching for them in Microsoft Teams

User permissions

Only staff with the correct permissions can access the course enroller. You can add/remove permissions on this page.

Select the Admin Tools tab
Select “User Permissions” from the drop down menu
Search for a username
Use the drop-down menu to select a role
Select “Submit” to apply the role
“Remove” to remove the role

If you search for your own username, it is possible to remove your own permissions. This will only take effect when you refresh the session. Please ask another Library Administrator or ServiceLine to reinstate your permission if you remove them by accident.

Course Admin – View (COURSE_VIEW)

All staff given this role will be able to use the course enroller tool, and add themselves to Blackboard courses with a “Course Admin – View” course role. This is a view-only access to Blackboard courses.

Library Staff (LIBRARIAN_STAFF)

All staff given this role will be able to use the course enroller tool, and add themselves to Blackboard courses with a “Library Staff” course role. This role has some editing rights.

Staff with both the “Course Admin – View” and “Library Staff” permissions will appear on courses as Library Staff.

Library Administrator (LIBRARIAN_ADMIN)

All staff given this role will be able to see and use the course “Admin Tools” tab. They will be able to view Library staff enrolments, unenrol Library staff from courses, and delegate Library staff user permissions.

12th June 2017

Viewing photographs of members of your Blackboard course

Matthew Deeprose Bb User admin, Blackboard, Your Bb course

You can use the class photo roster to show photographs (where available) of users who have access to your course. This includes users with any role including students, instructors, and teaching assistants. Where a photograph is not available a placeholder image is used.

Photographs are from the University ID Studio https://www.idcard.soton.ac.uk/

1. Access your course Control Panel.
2. Click on Student and Staff Photos

3. If you are using a course with a large number of users, the photo roster may take some time to display. It is best to wait for the page to fully load before scrolling.

photoroster2

2nd September 2016

Using WebSIS to produce batch enrolment files

Matthew Deeprose Bb Arbitrary courses, Bb User admin, Blackboard

Our batch enrol tool allows you to easily add large numbers of students to your arbitrary Blackboard course.

In order to use the tool you are required to paste in student usernames. One easy way to identify those students is to use WebSIS.

Go to https://www.adminservices.soton.ac.uk/adminweb
Login and click on WebSIS for Banner
Tick the user id text box so that user ids are shown in the results.
Use the criteria boxes to find the students you wish to identify, e.g. all students on a certain module or studying a certain programme etc.
Click on Search
That should show all students that meet your chosen criteria
Click on Download and you will be emailed a csv file of that data.
Open the CSV file and copy the usernames.
Paste the user ids into the batch enrol tool and follow the instructions on the batch enrol tool page.

23rd August 2016

Reviewing who is on your Blackboard course.

Matthew Deeprose Bb User admin, Blackboard

Follow this simple guide to see who is on your Blackboard course.

Access the Control Panel

1. From your course Control Panel, expand Users and Groups and click on Users.

Select criteria

2. Ensure that the following criteria are set:

Username

Not blank

3. Ensure no text is entered into the text box. If text appears, select it and delete it.

4. Click on the Go button.

Results

5. The list of users who have access to the course is displayed.

Ordering options

6. Clicking on the column headings will order the list by that heading in descending or ascending order.

Display options

7. By default the list is shown in pages of 25 records.

8. You can change from page to page by clicking on the relevant buttons.

9. Show All will show all the users

10. Edit Paging will change the number of users that are shown on a single page.

Other options

11. There is a handy way to export a list of students who are on the course. Follow the guide to exporting the Grade Centre and choose to export User Information only.

14th January 2016

Adding members to existing groups

Matthew Deeprose Bb Groups, Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

1. From your course Control Panel expand the Users and Groups section and click on Groups.

2. Find the group to which you wish to add users, hover your mouse on the action button that appears beside it and choose Edit Group.

3.Scroll down to the Membership section and click on Add Users.

4. Tick the box/es beside the users you wish to add. When you have finished click on Submit.

5. Click on submit again to finish.

25th September 2015

User Administration in Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

Within Blackboard users may be added to courses as students or instructors. You may also wish to add colleagues from outside the University to your course. Once people are using your Blackboard course you may wish to track their usage.

Use the guides below to find out more.

Reviewing who is on your Blackboard course

Find out who currently has access to your Blackboard course.

How to setup a preferred first name

If you prefer to be known by a different name to your first name, staff and research postgrads may set a “preferred first name” which will appear in announcements and the discussion board.

How to manually add a user to your Blackboard course

This guide explains how to manually add a user to your Blackboard course, for instance when it is not suitable for someone to be listed on the course in Banner.

How to batch enrol students onto an arbitrary course

This guide shows you how to easily enrol a large number of students onto an arbitary Blackboard course.

How to setup your Blackboard avatar

You may upload an “avatar” of yourself to Blackboard. It could be a photograph or illustration. The avatar will appear in the “Global Navigation” box at the top right of the Blackboard screen, beside your discussion board, blog, and wiki posts amongst others.

View photographs of members of your Blackboard course

You can use the class photo roster to show photographs (where available) of users who have access to your course. This includes users with any role including students, instructors, and teaching assistants. Where a photograph is not available a placeholder image is used.

How to modify the role of a user on your Blackboard course

Once you have added a user to your Blackboard course you may wish to modify their role, for example to make a user an instructor.

How to use WebSIS to source data for use with the Batch Enrol tool

The batch enrol tool is a popular facility for adding students en masse to an arbitrary Blackboard course. This guide shows how to use WebSIS to find the lists of students who meet criteria you select to decide who should be added to your arbitrary Blackboard course.

How to setup ‘guest access’ to a Blackboard course

This guides shows how to make certain areas of your Blackboard course available to users who do not have iSolutions accounts.

How to view your Blackboard course using ‘student preview’

Student preview allows course instructors to view their course as a student. Student Preview creates a temporary student account on the course so that the instructor sees exactly what a student sees. This includes the ability to take tests and receive results.

How to setup a preferred first name

If you prefer to be known by a different name to your first name, staff and research postgrads may set a “preferred first name” which will appear in announcements and the discussion board.

How to setup groups

Students can be placed into groups within your Blackboard course. Groups can be given access to a number of tools such as their own discussion board which only they and the course instructor can view. Groups can also be used as part of the rules for Adaptive Release.

Accounts for external users

Blackboard can be accessed using an iSolutions account. “Visitor Accounts” may be arranged for colleagues from outside of the University who do not have iSolutions accounts.

25th September 2015

Set a Preferred Firstname for Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

Blackboard takes its account data from central University sources.

To set your preferred name follow these steps:

Using your web browser, go to https://subscribe.soton.ac.uk/.
Select Sign in to manage your existing account.
Enter the requested details.
Select Your preferred name.
Enter your preferred first name, and preferred last name (only PGR students and staff can set a preferred last name).
Select Save
Select Log out
By the following morning your record will have been updated in Blackboard.

25th September 2015

Creating Blackboard Random Enrol Group Sets

Matthew Deeprose Bb Groups, Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

The group set allows you to set up a number of groups all at once.

The random enrol option allows you to quickly set up a number of groups and randomly assign students to the groups. You are able to set it to put all students into a specific number of groups, or put all the students into groups containing a specified number of members.

Control Panel

1. From your course Control Panel expand the Users and Groups section and click on Groups.

Group Set

2. Hover your mouse over Create Group Set and choose Random Enrol.

Details

3. Enter a Name for the group. Later, depending on how many groups you request are created, Blackboard will add a number onto the name you choose. For example if you just enter “Group” and later choose to make 5 groups, Blackboard will call them Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, and Group 5.

4. Enter a description if you wish.

5. If you wish for students to access the group, make sure Group Available is set to Yes. If you only wish to use the group for your own purposes such as Adaptive Release or to email groups of students then do not make the group available.

Tools

6. Choose which tools should be made available for the group to use.

Personalisation

7. If you wish to allow the members of the group a small degree of freedom to personalise their group space select Allow Personalisation.

Smart View

8. If you wish to have a smart view for the group shown in the Grade Centre tick this box.

Number of Groups

9. Now decide whether you wish to have a certain Number of Students per Group, or a certain Number of Groups.

10. Decide how any remaining users should be distributed, this can be amongst the groups, into an additional group, or you can elect to assign them manually.

11. Click on Submit to finish.

12. If you elected to assign the remaining members manually you will be able to do so in the next screen. Otherwise Blackboard will go with your selected options and return you to the groups screen.

25th September 2015

Creating Blackboard Self–Enrol Group Sets

Matthew Deeprose Bb Groups, Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

The group set allows you to set up a number of groups all at once.

This guide explains how this works for self enrol groups. It assumes that you have experience with how self enrol groups work. For more information about self enrolment groups check the separate guide.

Note that when you make a self enrol group set students can only join one of the groups.

Users and Groups

1. From your course Control Panel expand the Users and Groups section and click on Groups.

Group Sets

2. Hover your mouse over Create Group Set and choose Self-Enrol.

Name

3. Enter a name for the group set. Blackboard will take this name and then add a number to it automatically depending on the number of groups you choose to set up. For example if you just enter “Group” and later choose to make 5 groups, Blackboard will call them Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, and Group 5.

4. Enter a description if you wish. This description will be repeated for each group, so is not very useful.

How does it look?

This screenshot shows how the settings chosen in the previous slide look from the student’s point of view.

First from the groups page it shows the name chosen and the description.

How does it look? (2)

Then once the student has clicked to view the sign up sheets they see the list of groups that use the name you chose, plus the number. The description is shown again.

Option

5. If you wish for students to access the group, make sure Group Visible is set to Yes. If you only wish to use the group for your own purposes such as Adaptive Release or to email groups of students then do not make the group available.

Sign-Up Sheet Only means that the students can sign up to join the group, but none of the group functionality will be made available to them and they will not be able to go into their “group area”. This means they will not have a reminder of which group they have signed up to because it will not appear in their group list below the course menu. They will not be able to see who else is in the group after signing up to it even if you have enabled this option below. Therefore in most circumstances it is better not to use this option and instead make the group available.

Tools

6. Choose which tools should be made available for the group to use.

Note: Content Market Tools, and Academic Materials refer to publisher integrations set up for a small number of courses and should usually be left un-ticked.

Personalisation?

7. If you wish to allow the members of the group a small degree of freedom to personalise their group space select Allow Personalisation.

Instructions

8. Enter a sign up sheet name and instructions. The Sign Up Sheet Name and Instructions are shown when students are choosing which sign up group to join.

9. Set the following options according to your preference.

Maximum Number of Members
Set the maximum number of users who may be members of this group.

Show Members
If you would like to let users see who else is in the group before they join tick this box.

Allow Students to sign up from the Groups listing page
If you only want students to be able to sign up at any time from the Groups area tick this box. However if you want to restrict the availability of when students can sign up do not tick this box. You would then need to add a link to this group from a content area. This can be done from any content area by going to Add Interactive Tool and then choosing Group.

How it looks

The image above shows how the Sign Up Sheet Name and Instructions are shown to the student. You can see them at the top of the screenshot above.

Number of groups

10. Enter the number of groups that you wish to make.

Smart Views

11. If you wish to have a smart view for the group shown in the Grade Centre tick this box.

12. Click Submit.

Success!

12. Your groups will be created.

25th September 2015

Manual Enrol Groups in Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb Groups, Bb User admin, Blackboard 0 Comments

A “manual enrol group” is a Blackboard group into which you the instructor manually add users. You say who should be in the group.

Users and Groups

1. From your course Control Panel expand the Users and Groups section and click on Groups.

Manual Enrol

2. Hover your mouse over Create and choose Manual Enrol from the Single Group section.

Details

3. Enter a Name for the group.

4. Enter a Description for the group if you wish.

Tools

6. Choose which tools should be made available for the group to use.

Note: Content Market Tools, and Academic Materials refer to publisher integrations set up for a small number of courses and should usually be left un-ticked.

Allow Personalisation

7. If you wish to allow the members of the group a small degree of freedom to personalise their group space select Allow Personalisation.

Smart View

8. If you wish to have a smart view for the group shown in the Grade Centre tick this box.

Add Users

9. To add users to the group click on the Add Users button.

Select Members

10.Place ticks beside the users you wish to add to the group and then click on Submit.

11. Click on Submit to finish.

The Group

12. The group has now been set up. Clicking on the Modify button allows you to

Open
Clicking Open will take you into the Group’s area.

Edit
Allows you to go back and Edit the group settings.

Email
Allows you to choose to send an email to members of the group.

Delete
Allows you to delete the group and all related files.

Create Smart View
You may create a Grade Centre Smart View for this group by choosing this option.

13. You may wish to add a group section to your course menu to make it easy for you and your students to find the groups area. To do so check the guide on our web site.