Blackboard recommends using Institutional Hierarchy features in place of Domains in most cases. Institutional Hierarchy enables fuller utilization of other Learn functions and doesn’t require logic based on custom rules.

Collections are sets of data. Domains may include one or many of the following collections:

  • Courses
  • Organizations
  • Users
  • Tabs
  • Modules

Each domain may include one or many collections.

After a collection is defined, newly created items in the system will be added to the domain if they match the collection criteria. For example, if a course is created with the LANG category, that course will appear in a collection that includes all courses with the LANG category.

It is possible to create collections that are closed to new items. Either select each item individually for inclusion in the domain using the controls on the Edit Criteria page or use Snapshot to add the data to the system with a unique data source and then define the collection to include only those items with that data source.

Populate a collection

  1. On the Administrator Panel, in the Communities section, select Domains. A list of domains appears. If there are no domains, select Create Domain to create one before defining the collections within the domain.
  2. Open a domain's menu and select Manage Collections.
  3. Open a collection's menu and select Edit.
  4. Set the criteria to define a collection. The table in the following section describes the available options for each collection.
  5. Select Submit.

Collection criteria

The following table describes the variables used to define each collection. The criteria all work in concert to determine which items are included in the domain. If the criteria for the course collection includes Category LANG and is set to available, only those courses that have the LANG category and are available to users will be included in the collection. The option for selecting specific items is independent of the other criteria. Thus, a course that does not have the LANG category and/or is not available may be added to the collection by specifically identifying it as part of the collection. Remember that specifying more criteria makes the domain narrower in scope.

Variables Used to Define Collections
Criteria Description
General Collection Options
Define the collection of items that will be managed in this domain: All Items, No Items, or Items according to the criteria below.
Users
Institution Role Choose to include users that are assigned specific institution roles.
Availability Choose to include Available or Unavailable users. If Ignore is selected, the availability of the user will not be considered as a criterion for inclusion in the collection.
Enabled Choose to include Enabled or Disabled users. This refers to the status of the user record in the database. Snapshot makes it possible to disable records but continue to store them in the database. If Ignore is selected, the status of the course will not be considered.
Privacy Options Choose to include users based on their privacy settings. Users that elect not to appear in the User Directory can be included or excluded from the collection.
Data Source Choose to include users based on the data source key. Data source keys are applied to any data that is added to the system using Snapshot.
Specific Users Select individual users to appear in the collection.
Courses and Organizations
Availability Criteria Choose to include Available or Unavailable courses. If Ignore is selected, the availability of the course will not be considered as a criterion for inclusion in the collection.
Disabled Status Criteria Choose to include Enabled or Disabled courses. This refers to the status of the course record in the database. Snapshot makes it possible to disable records but continue to store them in the database. If Ignore is selected, the status of the course will not be considered.
Enrollment Criteria Choose to include courses based on the method of enrollment.
Course Catalog Categories Criteria Choose to include courses that fall into certain categories. Categories are assigned to describe and group like courses. Courses appear in the course catalog based on category. If course categories are organized and applied consistently, Category is a logical and useful means for determining which courses belong in a collection.
Data Source Criteria Choose to include courses based on the data source key. Data source keys are applied to any data that is added to the system using Snapshot.
Specific Courses Select Browse to select individual courses to appear in the collection.
Tabs
Availability Criteria Choose to include Available or Unavailable tabs. If Ignore is selected, the availability of the tab will not be considered as a criterion for inclusion in the collection.
Specific Tabs Select individual tabs to appear in the collection.
Modules
Availability Criteria Choose to include Available or Unavailable modules. If Ignore is selected, the Availability of the module will not be considered as a criterion for inclusion in the collection.
Specific Modules Select individual modules to appear in the collection.