The University of St. Thomas

Managing Course Roles

Course Roles in Blackboard                                        Back

Introduction

In some cases, instructors want to delegate some of the responsibility for maintaining their Blackboard course to another user. They may want to designate a student to be a Teaching Assistant, for example, or to help them with grading essays. To accommodate this need, Blackboard allows instructors to assign different user privileges to individual users who are enrolled in their courses.

Business Rules

The following rules apply when assigning Course Roles in Blackboard:

  • Within a single course, a user can only have one Course Role
  • Across multiple courses, a user’s Course Role can vary. For example, Donna Smith could be a T.A. in her Biology course, a Grader in her English course, and a Student in all of her other courses.
  • If no Course Role is set at the time of enrollment, the role of Student will be assigned. 

About Course Roles 

Essentially, the Course Role governs a user's access to the Blackboard Course Control Panel. The Instructor and/or the System Administrator typically have the ability to change a user’s Course Role. 

Course Roles in the Blackboard Learning System include:

  • Instructor
  • Teacher’s Assistant
  • Course Builder
  • Grader
  • Student
  • Guest

Modifying Course Roles
Instructors can click on List/Modify Users (in the course Control Panel) to change the Course Role of a user who is enrolled in their course.

Instructor 
  

Role and functions                The Instructor role has access to all areas of a course's Control Panel. Even if the course is unavailable to students, Instructors can still access the course
Who Should Have It? Typically, the role of Instructor is given to the person developing, teaching, or facilitating the class

Teacher’s Assistant

Role and function          

The Teaching Assistant has access to nearly everything in the Control Panel of the course. If the course is unavailable to students, Teaching Assistants may still access the course. Unlike the Instructor, the Teaching Assistant will not be listed in the Course Catalog listing for the course. A Teaching Assistant also cannot remove an Instructor from a course.

Note: Like an Instructor, the Teaching Assistant can use the Digital Drop
Box to exchange files with students.

Who Should Have it? The Teaching Assistant role has almost as many privileges as the Instructor. You may wish to assign this role to a trusted user who will be significantly participating in all aspects of the class.

 Course Builder
 

Role and Functions       

The Course Builder role has access to most areas of the course Control Panel. A Course Builder cannot access the Assessment section of the Control Panel (including the Gradebook), Course Statistics, or some User Management functions. If the course is unavailable to students, a Course Builder can still access the course. A Course Builder cannot remove an Instructor from a course.

Note: Like an Instructor, the Course Builder can use the Digital Drop Box to exchange files with students.

Who Should Have it? You may wish to assign this role to a research assistant or to a T.A. who has limited duties (for example, if you don’t want them to have access to student grades).

Grader 
   

Role and Function         

The Grader role has access to the course's Control Panel, but only to the Assessment section. A Grader would assist the Instructor in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of online assessments and surveys delivered through Blackboard. A Grader may also assist the Instructor with adding manual entries to the Online Gradebook.If a course is unavailable to students, the course will appear in the My Courses module and Course list for a user with the role of Grader, but the Grader will not be able to enter the course until the course is available.

Note:

  • If the course is unavailable to students, a Grader cannot access the course.
  • A Grader can see the Announcements and Course Calendar tools, but cannot create new announcements or calendar items.
  • For a Grader, the Digital Drop Box functions as it does in the Student Role. In other words, files may be sent to the Instructor only, not to the students.
Who Should Have It? You may wish to assign this role to a trusted assistant who will help grade papers, create quizzes, review survey results, or handle other Gradebook management tasks.

Student
 

Role and  Functions                        The Student role is the default Course User Role. A user with the Course Role of Student has no access to any areas in the Course Control Panel.
Who Should Have It? Nearly all students enrolled in the class will keep the default Course Role of “Student.”

Guest
 

Role and Functions        

If Guest access is enabled on the system (by the System Administrator), an Instructor can then decide to make the course available to users. Once the Instructor elects to enable Guest access in a course, he or she can also determine exactly which content areas, items, and tools are accessible to those Guests. A user with the Course Role of Guest has no access to any areas in the Course
Control Panel.
Who Should Have It? Any visitors to the Blackboard system, including prospective students, alumni, peers at other institutions, or parents

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