Instructional Design
Learning Object Repository – 3900.114
Impact: Instructors and administrators
Updated Help Topic: Learning Object Repository
Idea Exchange ID: LEARNU-I-3138
The new Learning Object Repository is an institutional repository designed to centralize resources across courses and organizations. Administrators can upload objects to the Learning Object Repository for instructors to copy into their courses.
- Updates to objects in the Learning Object Repository are automatically applied to all associated courses and organizations, saving instructors time and maintaining consistency.
- Changes aren’t applied to courses that are marked complete or with an end date/term end date in the past.
- Only the title, body, and description are synced for objects in the Learning Object Repository. All other settings are set to the default. For example, if the object is set to visible in the Learning Object Repository, the object will default to visible in every course. Instructors can override settings unrelated to title, body, and description if they have the associated permissions.
- For students who were marked incomplete and need to regain access to a course, we recommend extending the student's enrollment date instead of the course enrollment date. Extending the student's enrollment date prevents changes to course objects from the Learning Object Repository when objects are updated.
This is the initial release of the Learning Object Repository. The capabilities of this release are best suited to reusing institutional content. Program or department uses will be better suited to future planned updates.
Good candidates for objects to keep in the Learning Object Repository include:
- technology requirements
- AI policies
- course etiquette
- academic integrity policies
At this time, only Documents are available for the Learning Object Repository. File uploads are coming in a future update. We'll add other objects in future releases. Administrators can access the Learning Object Repository through the Tools page in Blackboard.
Image 1. The new button for the Learning Object Repository is on the Tools page.
Managing objects
By default, users with the System Administrator (Z) role are the only users who have access to the Learning Object Repository to manage objects. To create a custom role or give someone access to the Learning Object Repository, users must be granted the following system privileges:
- Individuals with this privilege can view the Learning Object Repository from the Tools page.
- Individuals with this privilege can create, edit, and delete objects in the Learning Object Repository.
- Individuals with this privilege can insert objects from the Learning Object Repository into courses and organizations.
Inserting objects
By default, users with the Instructor, Course Builder, or System Administration roles are the only users who can insert objects from the Learning Object Repository into a course or organization. To give a user access to insert objects from the Learning Object Repository, administrators must grant the following privileges:
- Course/Organization (Content Areas) > Create Materials
- Individuals with this privilege can insert objects from the Learning Object Repository into courses and organizations.
Instructors
Instructors access the Learning Object Repository through the More options menu on the Course Content page. Instructors can copy an object from the Learning Object Repository, but certain attributes are locked down. For example, instructors are locked out from editing the title, description, and body of a Document.
Image 2. Instructors hover over the Information button to be informed that a Document is managed by their institution, and they have no editing privileges.
Administrator
Availability: Available for all Ultra courses.
Activation: None needed.
Configuration: Access to the Learning Object Repository is controlled by privileges. Instructor and Course Builder roles have access to the Learning Object Repository by default. Administrators may want to remove those privileges until their institution is ready to use the Learning Object Repository.