📘 Blackboard Learn APIs – Postman Collection

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📖 Table of Contents

• 📘 Blackboard Learn APIs – Postman Collection
  • 📖 Table of Contents
  • 🤓 Overview
  • 🛠️ Pre-requisites
  • 🔐 Authentication Workflow
  • 🚀 Using the Collection
  • 📦 Installation
  • 📚 Further Reading
  • 📄 Licence
  • 👤 Author

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🤓 Overview

A Postman collection for working with the Blackboard Learn REST APIs, as documented on Anthology's Developer Portal. It includes endpoints for authentication, user and course management, content access, and more.

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🛠️ Pre-requisites

Before using this collection, define the following Global Variables in Postman:

Variable	Description
baseUrl	Your Blackboard Learn instance base URL (for example, https://yourinstitution.learn.blackboard.com)
basicAuthUsername	Your Application Key (Client ID), created in Anthology's Developer Portal following the instructions on Basic Authentication with REST
basicAuthPassword	Your Application Secret (Client Secret), paired with the Application Key

These credentials are used to authenticate via Basic Auth and retrieve an OAuth 2.0 token.

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🔐 Authentication Workflow

1. Send a POST request to:

   {{baseUrl}}/learn/api/public/v1/oauth2/token

2. Your basicAuthUsername and basicAuthPassword are sent via Basic Auth.

3. The response returns an access_token, which is saved in the apiKey environment variable.

4. This token is automatically used for future requests by setting the header:

   Authorization: Bearer {{apiKey}}

⚠️ Be sure to retrieve an access token before calling any other endpoints.

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🚀 Using the Collection

• Endpoints are grouped by category (for example, Users, Courses, Enrolments).
• Some requests require specific parameters such as userId or courseId.
• Postman scripts are included to handle token storage and variable assignment.
• Supports chaining requests and managing dynamic workflows with variables and pre-request scripts.

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📦 Installation

To install the collection:

git clone https://github.com/Karl-Horning/blackboard-learn-postman.git
cd blackboard-learn-postman

Then follow Step 2: Import the Swagger File into Postman in this guide: 👉 Using Blackboard's Swagger File to Create a Postman Collection and Make an API Call

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📚 Further Reading

• 🔐 Basic Authentication with REST
• 📘 Blackboard Learn API Documentation
• 🖥️ Anthology Developer Portal

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📄 Licence

MIT © 2025 Karl Horning

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👤 Author

Made with ❤️ by Karl Horning