Each Blackboard course site or organization now contains a photo roster that displays the official USCCard ID photographs of enrolled students (in courses) or participants (in organizations). Clicking a photo allows you to send an email to that student.

These photos are visible only to instructors and instructional staff. The photos come directly from the students’ official campus ID card photos and are updated several times each day.  When someone officially enrolls in your course, that person’s picture is automatically added to your Blackboard course photo roster. When someone officially drops your course, that person’s name and photo are automatically removed from your Blackboard course photo roster.

To access the course photo roster

  1. Under Course Management (at the bottom of your course menu), click Course Tools
  2. Click the Photo Roster link

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Advisory

Photo roster photos are visible only to instructors and instructional staff. They are confidential records (F.E.R.P.A. protected) and  may not be disclosed to third parties without written permission of the student.

Students cannot access or view the photo roster. Blackboard will automatically prevent students from seeing the photo roster.

All faculty and staff, as well as any other agents of the university who request access to student academic records, must complete the F.E.R.P.A. tutorial and submit a signed acknowledgement form. Access to student records, including the academic records database, will be denied until the tutorial has been completed and the form submitted. The tutorial is intended to ensure that anyone accessing student records understands the obligations under F.E.R.P.A. for proper use and protection of student records. All questions in the tutorial are supported by information found in this website. Before you begin the tutorial you should review all the topics found on the F.E.R.P.A. homepage.

The tutorial will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. To begin the tutorial, click here.

Accessing and Using the Photo Roster

Each photograph has the name of the student/participant directly below it, and this name can be clicked on to open an e-mail message in your computer’s email program addressed to that particular student/participant. To access the course photo roster

  1. Under Course Management (at the bottom of your course menu), click Course Tools
  2. Click the Photo Roster link

Whose Images Appear in the Photo Roster?

Blackboard’s photo roster tool was created by Princeton University and was designed to assist faculty in identifying students. For this reason, the photo roster only displays photos of students. The photo roster does not display photos of faculty, staff, guests, or people who have not yet submitted an ID photo to USCCard Services.