Blackboard Organisations

Organisations can be used by both staff and students and may include:

OrganisationType	Short Description
Assessment & Submission	Assessment guidance, submission processes and related resources.
Student Support & Tutoring	Academic, pastoral and student support services.
Programme / Student Hub or Handbook	Key information, resources, and guidance in one place.
Teaching & Learning Resources	Learning materials, toolkits, and teaching support resources.
Staff-Facing Spaces	Staff information, training and professional development.
Administrative / Information Spaces	Policies, procedures, and operational guidance.
Projects & Temporary Activities	Project, event and initiative support spaces.
Non-Standard Organisations	Special-purpose spaces that fall outside standard categories.

Key characteristics

• Flexible and customisable
• Available to staff and students
• Supports announcements, discussions, groups and content
• Continuous access for enrolled users
• Requires active ownership and maintenance

Blackboard Organisations share many features with Blackboard courses but differ in how they are created, managed and maintained.

Similarities

• The same ability to create content, send announcements, set up groups and use discussion boards.
• Provide the same learner analytics as courses.
• Access is granted using Blackboard roles, allowing editing, read-only or student access.

Key differences

• Not linked to SITS codes.
• Manually created, with enrolments managed manually.
• Do not roll over automatically with the academic year cycle.
• Organisations use slightly different terminology – e.g. ‘participant’ not ‘student’.

Benefits of using an Organisation

• They are behind Single Sign-On (SSO).
• They can be edited or viewed by staff and students using existing role permissions.
• Blackboard is a familiar system for creating and managing content.
• They keep education-related information within the Virtual Learning Environment.

Before requesting a new Organisation, consider the following questions:

1. Is there a clear purpose?
   • The Organisation should support a defined audience and needs.
2. Is Blackboard the right platform?
   • Consider whether the content would be better delivered through:
     • University web pages
     • SharePoint
     • Microsoft Teams
     • Other institutional systems
3. Does a similar space already exist?
   • Avoid creating duplicate spaces that provide the same information or serve the same audience.
4. Who will own and maintain it?
   • Every Organisation should have:
     • A clear owner
     • An operational contact
     • A named person responsible for reviewing content

Because Organisations do not automatically refresh each year, regular review is essential.

Organisation owners should review their space annually to confirm:

• The Organisation is still required
• Content remains accurate
• Information is up to date
• The audience remains active
• Accessibility requirements are met

Following review, Organisations should be maintained, improved, recreated, consolidated with another Organisation, archived or retired, depending on their purpose and ongoing needs.

Data Retention and Lifecycle Management

Blackboard Organisations are designed to support learning, communication and collaboration and should not be treated as a permanent repository for student records. 

Faculties and Organisation owners are responsible for managing enrolments and determining whether any information, participation records or other content should be retained before removing users. 

Before removing users or retiring an Organisation, staff should: 

• Consider whether any information has ongoing operational or educational value. 
• Retain only information that has a legitimate business, educational, or regulatory purpose. 
• Follow the University's records management and data retention requirements where applicable. 
• Archive or export information only where there is a clear need to do so. 

In most cases, Organisations will not contain assessments or formal student records requiring long-term retention. However, owners should review their Organisation before removing users to ensure any information requiring retention has been appropriately managed. 

The University is transitioning Blackboard Organisations from Original to Ultra. Moving to Ultra provides a more modern, accessible, and flexible environment for staff and students.

Before you migrate 

Before migration, Organisation owners should review their Organisation to confirm that it remains relevant and should be migrated, improved, consolidated with another space, or retired.

Review and prepare content

Before migration, we recommend that you: 

• Remove outdated or redundant content.
• Review folders and navigation to improve usability.
• Check accessibility using Blackboard Ally.
• Update broken links and embedded resources.
• Archive content that is no longer needed.
• Ensure key information is clearly organised and easy to find. 

Design for Ultra

Migration provides an opportunity to improve the design and structure of your Organisation. 

When preparing your Organisation: 

• Simplify navigation and reduce unnecessary complexity. 
• Use consistent naming conventions. 
• Organise content into clear sections and learning modules. 
• Follow accessible design guidance.

See how to reuse content from Blackboard Original in Blackboard Ultra.

Creating accessible and well-designed Organisations helps ensure that all users can access information, participate in activities and complete tasks effectively, regardless of their abilities or the technologies they use.

Accessibility is an essential part of creating effective learning and information spaces. Please follow accessible design guidance when designing your Organisation.

To request a Blackboard Organisation, please contact the Digital Education Office at digital-education@bristol.ac.uk.

To help us assess your request, please provide: 

• Organisation name 
• Purpose and intended audience 
• Organisation leader(s) and primary contact(s) 
• Expected duration (e.g. ongoing, annual or project-based) 
• Functional requirements 

Please also indicate whether the Organisation is expected to be: 

• Persistent: maintained over multiple years with membership and content reviewed annually. 
• Recreated annually: a new Organisation created each year where content, participants or activities are time limited. 

Requests are reviewed by the Digital Education Office before creation.