Blackboard Communication

Announcements appear in the order posted, with the most recent announcements appearing first.

1. In the Course Tools area of the Control Panel, click Announcements.
2. From the action bar, select Create Announcement. [View screenshot]
3. Provide a subject and message.
4. Set the Duration.
   • To keep the announcement visible until it is manually removed, select Not Date Restricted. [View screenshot]
   • Or, select Date Restricted to limit the announcement's visibility by date and time. Then, select the Display After and/or Display Until check boxes and type the dates and times or select the dates and times by using the pop-up date selection and time selection calendars. [View screenshot]
5. To send students an email containing the announcement, check the Send a copy of this announcement immediately checkbox. The email will be sent to all students — even those who choose not to receive announcement notifications through email. Note: the email will be sent as soon as you click Submit, it will not be sent on the date and time selected for Display After. [View screenshot]
6. If you desire to link to a course area, tool or item, use the Browse button to select the area, tool or item. [View screenshot]
7. Click Submit.

Announcements appear in the order posted, with the most recent announcement appearing first. However, it is possible to pin an announcement to the top of the list.

1. Drag the announcement above the movable New announcements appear below this line bar. This will keep the announcement at the top of the list and prevent new announcements from superseding it. [View screenshot]

1. Click Edit from the contextual menu of the announcement you want to edit. [View screenshot]
2. Make your changes.
3. Click Submit.

Note: This action is final and cannot be undone.

1. Click Delete from the contextual menu of the announcement you want to delete. [View screenshot]
2. Confirm the deletion.

1. Confirm Edit Mode is set to ON in the upper right.
2. Click the plus + symbol at the top of the left menu.
3. Select Tool Link.
4. Type the name. For Type select Email from the pulldown menu.
5. Click the checkbox Available to Users.
6. Click Submit.

1. To send an email, you can start by doing either of the following:
   • On the left toolbar click the Send Email button.
   • On the course menu, click the Tools link. On the Tools page, select Send Email. [View screenshot]
   • On the Control Panel, expand the Course Tools section and select Send Email. [View screenshot]
2. On the Send Email page, click one of the options listed to send the email. [View screenshot]
3. For the Single/Select Users or Single/Select Groups, select the recipients in the Available to Select box and click the right-pointing arrow to move them into the Selected box. A back arrow is available to move a user out of the recipient list. Click Invert Selection and selected users are no longer highlighted. Tip: For Windows, to select multiple users in a list, press the SHIFT key and click the first and last users. To select users out of sequence, press the CTRL key and click each user needed. For Mac systems, press the COMMAND key instead of the CTRL key. You can also use the Select All function to send an email to all users.
4. Type your Subject (required). [View screenshot]
5. Type a Message. [View screenshot]
6. Select the Return Receipt box to send a copy of the message to the sender (recommended). [View screenshot]
7. Optionally, click Attach a file to browse for a file from your computer. You can attach multiple files. After you add one file, the option to attach another file appears. [View screenshot]
8. Click Submit.

You can send email to multiple users at one time or individually, directly from the Grade Center. You can also send reminder emails to students for missing coursework in the Grade Center.

How to Send Email to Multiple Users

1. In the Grade Center, select the check boxes of students you want to email. [View screenshot]
2. On the action bar, point to Email and select the type of recipients: Email Selected Users, Email Selected Users and their Observers, or Email Observers for Selected Users. [View screenshot]
3. Provide the Subject and Message. [View screenshot 1] [View screenshot 2]
4. Select Include list of recipients to show the names of who will receive this email. [View screenshot]
5. Click Attach a File to include an attachment with your message. [View screenshot]
6. Click Submit.

Although an email is sent to the selected group, each individual recipient is not aware of the other recipients. Recipients only see that the email is from the instructor.

Send a Reminder Email for Missing Coursework in the Grade Center
You can send email reminders from Grade Center columns to students who have missing coursework. Students will receive a system-generated email that lists the course, coursework, and the due date if included.

1. In the Grade Center, locate the grade column that you would like to send a reminder for. 
2. Click the arrow to the right of the column heading to open the column menu. 
3. Select Send Reminder.
4. A pop-up will appear, confirming your choice. Click OK.

Additional Resources from Blackboard:
For more information about Email visit Blackboard's Email

Course messages are private and secure text-based communication that occurs within a course and among course members. Although similar to email, you must be logged into a course to read and send course messages.

Course messages are part of the notifications framework. Anyone enrolled in a course can receive notification that they have new messages from the Activity Stream in Blackboard. Users can manage their notification settings to include course messages and set preferences.

1. To send a message, you can start by doing either of the following:
2. On the course menu, click the Tools link. On the Tools page, select Course Messages. [View screenshot]
3. On the Control Panel, expand the Course Tools section and select Course Messages. [View screenshot]
4. On the Messages page, click Create Message on the action bar. [View screenshot]
5. On the Compose Message page, select To and a list of course members will appear. [View screenshot]
6. In the Select Recipients To box, select the recipients and click the right-pointing arrow to move them to the Recipients box.
   • You can use the Cc, and Bcc functions to send the message to those users that may be interested in the message, but are not the primary recipients. When using Bcc, other recipients do not know that the users listed in the Bcc field are receiving the message. [View screenshot]
7. Type the Subject. [View screenshot]
8. Type a message in the Body. You can use the text editor functions to format the text and include files, images, web links, multimedia and mashups. You may only upload files from Course Files or files from the Content Collection. [View screenshot]

In the Attachment section, add an attachment from your computer (optional). [View screenshot]

Students can go to Messages, from the left navigation to access any messages in their Inbox folder. 

• Users access their global Messages pages from the list where their names appear first—the base navigation. Messages are organized by course. Everyone can use messages for reminders, quick questions, and social interactions.
• Users can send messages to each other, multiple people, or an entire class. Messages activity remains inside the system, and no one has to worry about email addresses that may be incorrect or outdated.
   

Additional Resources from Blackboard:

• For more information about Messages visit Blackboard's Messages page.

By default, courses will not have a link to the calendar. You can make the calendar more accessible to your students by adding a link to the calendar tool in the course navigation area.

1. Along the left, above your course name, mouse over the Plus Sign (+ button) and a new dialog box will appear,
2. Click Tool Link.
3. Provide the name for the tool, such as “Course Calendar.”
4. Under Type, choose Calendar.
5. If you want to make it immediately available to students, check the Available to Users box.
6. Click Submit.

Course calendar events appear to all members of the course. Common entries for the calendar include upcoming tests, due dates for assignments or special lectures. NOTE: Reoccurring calendar events are not supported in Blackboard Learn at this time.

1. Enter an Event Name. This is a required field. The event name and the event time in hours appear in the calendar as a link to the event description.
2. Enter an Event Description. This can include formatted text, links and images. There is a 4,000-character limit to event descriptions.
3. Next, you must select an Event Date. The event date can be entered manually or by using the Date Selection Calendar.
4. Enter an Event Time. The event start time cannot be the same as the event end time. Events can be scheduled in the past.
5. Click Submit.

Course calendar events appear to all members of the course. Common entries for the calendar include upcoming tests, due dates for assignments or special lectures. Note: Deleting an event is irreversible.

1. Within your course, navigate to your course calendar.
2. Locate the event you would like to delete or edit on your calendar.
3. Ensure the Edit Mode is On, found at the top-right of your course window.
4. Select Edit or Delete from the contextual menu found immediately to the right of the event’s title.
5. If editing, select Edit and follow steps 1-5 in the Create a Course Event directions found above.
6. If deleting, select Delete and select OK from the window that follows. NOTE: Deleting an event is irreversible.

1. Within the course calendar your default view is set to View by Day. Toward the top right of this window, you have the option to change the calendar view to View by Day, View by Week, View by Month or View by Year.
2. Below the Calendar View panel you will find a Jump To button. This allows you to move directly to desired date and view the corresponding month, week or day.