Bb Course Roster Limited to Faculty, TA Roles Starting SU23

Tool access restriction protects student privacy

At the end of May 2023, access to the Blackboard course roster will be limited to certain roles in a Blackboard course. Currently, the course roster is visible to all users, which means anyone can see who is enrolled in the course.

The standard practice at UMBC is to combine different course sections in one Blackboard shell for ease of content management and communication, unless the instructor requests separate shells. However, attendance is a protected educational record under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Specifically, students enrolled in other sections or cross-listed sections should be restricted from viewing or interacting with peers from different sections, including viewing rosters, unless those classes share a similar meeting place and time.

Starting with SU2023, access to the course roster will be unavailable to the student role.

In an Original course, students will not see the Roster link when accessing Other Bb Tools.
In an Ultra course, students will not see the Roster on the left Details & Actions menu.

Faculty, teaching assistants, and graders will continue to have access to this tool. The course roster cannot be turned back on by the instructor.

Image 1: When a roster is hidden from students, it does not appear under the Details & Actions menu in an Ultra course.