Bridges Photo Roster Information

Why are we bringing photos into Bridges Profiles?

We are bringing photos into Bridges Profiles to:

Assist faculty and students in learning names and matching faces to names
Personalize courses
Help to create a sense of community, especially for distance courses
Give faculty the ability to access student photos from anywhere
Give faculty the ability to print out photo rosters
Add another layer of authentication to improve academic integrity and compliance for
accrediting agencies, especially for online courses

What is the process for adding official ID photos to Bridges Profiles for Students:

Onsite students have their photos taken at the ID Office on the Bristol Campus and the Business Office at the Metro Campus
Online students send in passport-sized photos in jpg format to the Military Benefits administrative assistant at the School of Continuing Studies, who forwards them to the Unicard Administrator to have them added to the database.
Online students are also going to be required to provide a scanned image of an official photo ID – such as a driver’s license, passport, military ID, etc.
All student and faculty photos are stored in IDworks. The photos are copied from IDworks onto the Colleague UI server.
The photos don’t physically live on Bridges. The photo images are referenced by unique ID and location of the photos on the Colleague UI server on the AD credentials and pulled into the Bridges Profiles dynamically.

Can students or faculty substitute their own photo instead for their official photo in their Bridges Profile?

The process to pull in institutional photos overrides the ability to upload a personal profile photo so faculty and students are not able to add their own profile photo in Bridges. Since one of the reasons for the Roster photos is for authentication and compliance, it is important that the student’s official photo remain accessible in the course roster.

How often are photos refreshed on Bridges?

Photos are updated 2-3 times for each of the major academic terms (Fall and Spring), although IT is working on automating a biweekly update.

Can students opt-out of having their photos appear in a Bridges roster?

Students can go to the Registrar’s Office in Bristol or the Business Office at the Metro campus and fill out a form to request that the University not share their photo. Students must meet specific criteria to opt-out of having their photo included in the Roster. The forms will be directed by the Registrar to either the Office of Public Safety or the Title IX officer for review and approval. However, this process only refers to masking the student photo from the Student view in Bridges. Faculty and other units such as Public Safety will still be able to view student photos on a need-to-know basis.

How can student photos be removed from Bridges rosters?

Currently, there is no process to remove individual student photos from the Colleague UI server. If a student's request to have their photo removed from the Bridges roster is approved by the Registrar, Office of Public Safety, or Title IX Officer, the CTLS Instructional Design and Technologies team will work with the instructors of the courses the student is registered in to hide the Roster from student view. The Roster will remain accessible to the instructor. Photos also appear attached to Forum discussions. This access can be controlled through permissions.

What constitutes a viable reason as to why students can have their photos removed from an internal Bridges roster?

A viable reason for having a student photo removed from a course roster would be if the Registrar, the Office of Public Safety or the Title IX Officer determines that the student’s personal safety or security is at risk.

What if students don’t like their photo?

Students can go to the ID office on the first floor of the Dining Commons on the Bristol campus to have their photo retaken and added to the photo database. If the student wants a new ID card with the updated photo there will be a charge of $25. Metro students can go to the Business Office to have their photo retaken and added to the photo database. Any replacement for a distance student’s photo must be accompanied by a scanned image of an official ID (for example a driver’s license, a military ID, or a passport). Due to the high volume of traffic at the ID office at the beginning of the semester, students are asked to wait until the third week of classes to have their photos redone. Any photo changes will be reflected in the next photo refresh.

What if faculty don’t like their photo?

Faculty can send a passport-sized photo (2x2) in jpg format to the Unicard Administrator Tracy Cookinham at tcookinham@rwu.edu to replace their ID photo. Due to the high volume of traffic at the ID office at the beginning of the semester, faculty are asked to wait until the third week of classes to have their photos redone. Any photo changes will be reflected in the next photo refresh.

For further assistance, please email id@rwu.edu