Create and Manage Domains

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.

Domain administrators are created by combining a user with system roles within the domain. System roles are roles that define administrative privileges. A user can have several system roles applied within a domain. When a user has several system roles, all the privileges in each role are applied. If one system role allows an action, but another system role does not allow the same action, the user will be able to perform the action.

System roles attached to user records in the default domain apply to all domains. The default domain is the entire set of data in the system. System roles may be attached to users on the Edit User page or when users are created. System roles added in this way apply to the default domain.

Add administrators to domains

1. On the Administrator Panel, in the Communities section, select Domains. A list of domains should appear. If no domains exist, see Creating Domains.
2. Open a domain's menu and select Manage Administrators. The Manage Administrators page lists out all the domain administrators and their system roles. Select a role to open the Manage Privileges page for that specific role. Be careful when editing privileges; the changes will be applied system wide to any user who has that system role in any domain.
3. Select Administrator.
4. Provide the Username for the new domain administrator.
5. Assign the System Roles that will apply in the domain.
6. Select Submit.

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.