How to enrol a teaching assistant or external user to my Blackboard course

Note: The standard method for instructors to gain access to Blackboard courses they are teaching is via Akari (see how here).

For many different reasons, it may be helpful to add teaching assistants, second instructors, or  external users into your Blackboard courses.  It is possible for an instructor to enrol any user as an co-instructor on their Blackboard course directly. This article describes how to do this.

How do I begin?

  • Within the Control Panel menu of a Module, click on Users and Groups, followed by Users.
  • Click on the Find Users to Enrol tab. 

As an instructor on Blackboard, it is your responsibility to determine access for teaching assistants and/or external examiners onto your own Blackboard course. In doing so, please verify the correct username (i.e. account ID) with the user to be enrolled, to prevent allocating access to the wrong person.

  • If you know the account ID of the person you wish to enrol, you can enter this ID in the Username field.
  • Click the Role dropdown menu underneath and choose the correct role (Student, Instructor, Grader, etc.)
  • Click on the Submit button .

Learn more about course roles on https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor/Courses/Course_Roles

Please note that manually enrolling Instructors on Blackboard in this way provides them with access to the current year only.  

Need more help?

Are you attempting to enrol the user in the right place?

Check you are searching for your user under the Find Users to Enrol button on your course, and not simply searching for users already in the course. 

Do this by ensuring you have selected the Find Users to Enrol button.  

Find Users to enrol.
Have you clicked Submit?

When you have the account ID correctly in the Username box (either by directly entering it or by Browsing to locate it), be sure to click Submit at the bottom of the webpage.

I don't know the account ID.
  • If you don't have the ID of the person you can use the Browse option to search for the person by Last Name or First Name, or Email address (if one is given).
  • Choose the correct user from the list and click Submit. This will return you to the screen shown above where you can choose their Role and Submit to add.
  • As mentioned above, as an instructor on Blackboard, it is your responsibility to determine access for teaching assistants and/or external examiners onto your own Blackboard course. Please verify the correct username (i.e. account ID) with the user to be enrolled, to prevent allocating access to the wrong person.
  • Instructors that are co-listed on Akari will be automatically enrolled into the course.
  • Users  with a temporary "e" account or external examiners with a temporary "t" account do not have access to Akari.