Blackboard Course Roles

Blackboard Course Roles

Each of the roles in the following table have some form of elevated privileges. Students are enrolled automatically as the Student role in a course and should never be changed, as that may violate FERPA and other TU policies. 

All roles, beside the Instructor, must be added manually. Instructors can add users to their own courses, or can contact Blackboard Support for assistance. 

Role Name Description and Access
Instructor Instructors have full access to a course. If the instructor is listed in PeopleSoft as the instructor of record, they will be automatically enrolled in Blackboard. Instructors may add other users with the Instructor role as needed.
Teaching Assistant

Teaching Assistants have most of the same privileges as an instructor, including:

  • Enter an unavailable course
  • Create, view, edit, and delete content, including announcements
  • Create, view, edit, and delete assessments, including assignments, tests, and discussion boards
  • Access, view, and assign grades
  • View the roster
Librarian

Librarians have similar access as an Instructor or Teaching Assistant, including:

  • Enter an unavailable course
  • Create, view, edit, and delete content, including announcements
  • Create, view, edit, and delete assessments, including assignments, tests, and discussion boards
  • Access, view, and assign grades
  • View the roster
Course Builder

Course Builders can create and edit content, but have no access to the gradebook. The Course Builder role is recommended for an assistant who needs to be able to create content, but is not required to grade assignments.

  • Enter an unavailable course
  • Create, view, edit, and delete content, including announcements
  • Create, view, edit, and delete assessments, including assignments, tests, and discussion boards
  • View the roster
Grader

Graders can view the content that is available to students, but cannot create content. It also has access to the gradebook, including the ability to assign grades. The Grader role is good for an assistant who is required to grade assignments, but not post content.

  • View content available to students, including announcements
  • View the roster
  • Create course groups
  • Access, view, and assign grades
FACET Reviewer

The FACET Reviewer role is a TU-specific role. This role provides a FACET Instructional Designer access to the course as needed to assist instructors, but does not have access to create anything. 

  • Enter an unavailable course
  • View and edit materials, including content availability
  • View and edit assessments, including assignments, tests, and discussion boards
  • View announcements
  • View the roster
Spectator The Spectator role provides read-only access to the course and all course content. Users can view all content within the course, including unavailable content, and the gradebook, but cannot edit, delete, or otherwise change anything within the course. The Spectator role is ideal for department chairs, faculty reviewers, or other users who may need access to a course to view content, without any ability to edit the content. 
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