Introduction

There will come a time when you will need to add a teaching assistant or colleague to your Blackboard course. In this tutorial, you will learn how to Add Others to your course and Remove Others as needed. This support page appeals to all different learners. You can watch a video tutorial, get quick steps or review a more detailed explanation. 

Video Tutorial

In a hurry? Watch this brief tutorial to learn how to add a person to your course.

Quick Steps

For more details or to see images, scroll down to the Detailed Steps.

Adding Others

1. Under Control Panel in the left column, click Users and Groups

2. Then click Users

3. Click Find Users to Enroll (dark button under Users at top)

4. Change the role dropdown to Teaching Assistant, Student, or whatever role is appropriate (we don't recommend Guest, as it is extremely limited and requires more setup. Consider Teaching Assistant, Course Builder or Limited Instructor for faculty colleagues, or the Student role for view only (the same as other students). If you use the Guest role, you must also go to Customization > Guest and Observer Access to enable Guest access in your course, which is off by default. 

5. After changing the role dropdown, make sure the "Username" field is blank (delete your own username if it is in there) 

6. Click the Browse... button

7. Begin by using the following in the dropdowns: "email address" and "contains" This way, you need not put in the entire email address. For example, if searching for cfagan@ssw.umaryland.edu - you can type in cfagan and then click "Go".Note that this is a delicate dance of using these dropdowns to locate your person. You can use "Last Name" "is equal to" or "Last Name" "contains"  or any combination of these to find the right person. But note that the more specific you are, the more accurate you need to be, and the less specific you are, the more likely you are to have to sort through other people besides the person you are looking for. The main issue may be when people have changed names or be using email addresses in Blackboard other than the primary email address you are aware of.

8. Once you locate the person, check the box next to their name and  and then click Submit 

9. Double-check the "Role" (Teaching Assistant, Student, etc.) and then click Submit (again).

Removing Others

1. Navigation to Control Panel > Users and Groups > Users

2. Check the box next to the person you want to remove, who has any role besides "Instructor"  - Be careful! Students are automatically enrolled from Banner. Best not to remove students and let Banner do that for you.

3. Click the "Remove Users from Course" button

4. Click OK (or Cancel to cancel...)
   
   NOTE: if you are given an error that you are not allowed to remove users, the next best bet is to change their Availability from Yes to No, which is the equivalent of removing them from the course. 

Detailed Steps

Adding Others

1. Under Control Panel in the left column, click “Users and Groups”

2. Then click “Users”

3. Click “Find Users to Enroll” (dark button under Users at top)

4.     Change the role dropdown to Teaching Assistant, Student, or whatever role is appropriate

IMPORTANT NOTE: you can add others as "Instructor" to your course, but you cannot remove other instructors from your course.  

For this reason, we suggest reading the  list of roles for adding others to your course and appropriately choosing either Teaching Assistant, Guest, Grader or Student according to what you would like them to do in your course. For most purposes of adding colleagues, the role of Teaching Assistant, Guest or Student may suffice so that you can maintain the ability to remove them later.

5. After selecting the role: We locate the person.

6. Click the Browse... button:

7. Begin by using the following in the dropdowns: "email address" and "contains" This way, you need not put in the entire email address. For example, if searching for cfagan@ssw.umaryland.edu - you can type in cfagan and then click "Go".

IMPORTANT: If you are at all uncertain of their email address, choose the MOST UNIQUE piece of information to search for. For example, for "Colleen Smith" you would choose "First Name" "is equal to" and enter "colleen" in the box and click Go.

Or if the name is "Bob Ufonequo" you would choose "Last Name" "is equal to" and enter "ufonequo" in the box. 

The key here, is to choose a field (email, first name, last name), choose a limiter (contains, equal to, starts with) and enter something in the search box that will locate the user. The more unique of an item you search for, the fewer results you get. If you search for "Bob" you will get hundreds of results to sift through. If you search for "bob.ufonequo@ssw.umaryland.edu" (and this is his accurate, existing email address) - you will only get the correct person. Just note that if you are TOO specific or something has changed for this person (last name, email, etc.) you may not find them at all. 

Once you locate the person, check the box next to their name and  and then click Submit 

8. This populates the Username field with the correct internal Username:

(Note: the username may contain numbers and may not be recognizable to you. It is not necessarily related to their UMID or email address.)

9. Double check the "Role" (Teaching Assistant, Student, etc.) and then click Submit (again). Look for a confirmation note at the top of your Blackboard window. It will confirm the person was added, or note an error if the person already existed in your course or could not be added.

Removing Others

Note: As an instructor, you cannot remove other users with the "Instructor" role from your course. You CAN change their availability status from Yes to No, which is the equivalent of removing them. You can also change their role from Instructor to something else. However, it is possible to remove them entirely (although unnecessary). To do so, please email ideateam@ssw.umaryland and include either the URL to your course, or copy and paste the course name from the My Institution tab, noting the name and/or email of the user with Instructor role to remove.

To remove a user with any other role (Teaching Assistant, Student), do the following:

Navigation to Control Panel > Users and Groups > Users

Check the box next to the person you want to remove, who has any role besides "Instructor"  - 

Be careful! Students are automatically enrolled from Banner. Best not to remove students and let Banner do that for you.

Click the "Remove Users from Course" button

Click OK (or cancel to cancel...)

Again, if you are not allowed by the system to fully remove someone, you can still change their availability from Yes to No - which has the same effect, except that you still see their name among users, and No under their availability. No Availability means the person cannot enter the course and does not receive any course emails or announcements. It is the essentially the same as removing them.