Course Content

Instructors access User Management features through the Control Panel to enroll and remove users from their courses. After entering the Control Panel instructors may perform the following tasks.

List / Modify Users

After selecting List / Modify Users, instructors will use a search engine to select the users whose information they wish to view or modify. Instructors may choose to locate users by one of the following methods:

• Search: This is the default tab, and instructors can choose to search by first name or last name by selecting the appropriate radio button and entering the name in the provided text field. Clicking the Select button will generate a list of all users enrolled in the course.
• A-Z, 0-9: Instructors may choose a number from 0-9 or a letter from A-Z, either of which correspond to the last name(s) of the user(s) whose information they want to view or modify.
• Advanced: Allows instructors to search by keyword or even a few letters of the name they seek, and to limit the search based on recent user activity in the course.
• List All: Instructors can choose this option to view information for all users enrolled in the course.

Once the search is complete, instructors will be presented with a list of users that details each user’s name, username for Blackboard, external email address, and role in the course. For each user, instructors have the option to reset or change user passwords, or to change properties associated with the user account.

Important The Properties button is currently non-functioning for instructors in Blackboard 6: attempting to use it will prompt an “access denied” message – even on the instructor’s own information.

Create Users and Batch Create Users for Course

These functions may be disabled by your school. Check with your school’s Blackboard Application Administrator for policy concerning creation of student accounts on the server.

Enroll User

Accessing Enroll User presents the instructor with a search engine similar to that used by the List / Modify User feature: instructors can search for users by name, a significant letter or number associated with a user’s name, or they can choose to view all users at once. Advanced searching is not available with this feature. To the left of each name listed in the results you will find a box to check to enroll the user in the course.

Note The important difference between searching in List /Modify User and in Enroll User is that in the former, instructors are searching all users already enrolled in a class, while in the latter instructors are searching the database of all users on the institution’s Blackboard server. Thus it is far more difficult to find a single user via the List All feature.

Enrolling existing users

1 Select the check box next to the name of each user you wish to enroll. You may select as many as you like.
2 At the bottom of the form, select Submit.
3 Receipt displays confirming success.

Remove Users from Course

Selecting this area will bring instructors to a search engine identical to the one in List / Modify Users; on the left of each user listed in the results will also have a box to check to remove the user from the course.

Removing users

1 Select the check box next to the name of each user you wish to remove. You may select as many as you like.
2 At the bottom of the form, type “Yes” in the space provided. Select Submit.
3 You will be prompted to confirm your choice. Select OK to confirm; user is removed from course.
4 Receipt displays confirming success.

Note When typing “Yes,” you must capitalize the “Y”; the tool will not proceed until you do so.

Manage Groups

The feature allows instructors to create and manage student groups for their courses. This is useful for assigning collaborative team-based work, and it can include a common file exchange area, a private group discussion area, a group collaboration tool (including both Virtual Classroom and Lightweight Chat), roster, and an e-mail tool. Choosing Manage Groups from the Control Panel will display a list of created groups by name, together with a list of the features enabled for each group. The process for building a group consists of two steps: adding a group, and then adding users to that group.

Adding groups while on the Manage Groups page

1 Click Add Group; Add Group form displays.
2 Name the group, and provide a brief description if desired.
3 Check boxes next to each feature you wish to enable for the group
4 Choose whether or not to make the group visible to the members
5 Select Submit.
6 Receipt displays confirming success. Click OK.

Adding users to groups while on the Manage Groups page

1 Next to the group name, click Modify.
2 Four options appear: Group Properties, Add Users to Group, List Users in Group, and Remove Users from Group.

• Group Properties: This option allows you to modify the parameters you entered when creating the group: group name, features available, etc.
• Add Users to Group: This option allows you to add users enrolled in the course to a group you have created.
• List Users in Group: Allows you to view all users within the group you’ve selected.
• Remove Users from Group: Lets you remove particular users from a group you’ve selected.
• Click Add Users to Group.

3 Search engine similar to that in List / Modify Users view appears. Follow the same steps as in List / Modify Users to locate and select users from a list of search results.
4 When you have selected the users you wish to add to the group, select Submit.
5 Receipt displays confirming success. Click OK.