Communication

Announcements

Announcements can be used to post timely information critical to course success such as assignment due dates, exam schedules, changes to the syllabus or other corrections or clarifications of materials.

You can add, edit and delete announcements from the announcements page. When adding an announcement, you can also choose to send the announcement as an email to your students in the course. This ensures that your students receive the announcement even if they do not log in to the course.

You can also use announcements to establish more of a presence in a hybrid or online course. Announcements can act as a sort of “stream of consciousness” or as a means for distributing supplementary materials on the fly, such as links to breaking news stories or interesting videos. Students may benefit by feeling more connected to you, the course, and by having the most up-to-date information.

You can also view the Create Announcements video.

Send Email

The Blackboard email tool allows you to send email messages to people in your course from within Blackboard without launching an external email program. Email can be sent to individual users or to groups of users in your course. Recipients can be selected one by one or by role (all students, all instructors). Blackboard email messages are sent to the recipient's UND email address. Select the Return Receipt option to receive a copy of the messages you send as there is no record of sent messages retained in Blackboard.

You can also view the Send Email video.

Calendar Scheduling

Instructors can use the Blackboard course calendar to communicate important course-related events to students. All users in the course can view the dates and events that appear on the calendar. Common entries include assignment due dates, exam dates, special lectures, guest speakers, and section meetings.

If a student accesses the calendar while in your course, he or she will only see the entries you have added. If the student views the calendar from their My UND tab, the following will be visible:

• The student’s personal entries
• Entries for all courses in which the student is enrolled
• Entries for any organizations in which the student is enrolled
• Institution-wide events

You can also view the Use the Calendar video.

Activity Stream

The Activity Stream provides up-to-the-minute information on all the actions in your courses.

You can see what's new in all your courses and jump directly into course activities from the list!  You don't need to dig through the system or miss submissions from students. You see a prioritized list of what's relevant to you.

• Follow latest posts on graded discussions as they happen. Posts on discussions that aren't graded are not visible.
• Take note of how many submissions are ready to grade. You can also access new submissions from the stream.
• Receive reminders about personal events and meetings.
• Enjoy a bird's eye view of course activity and direct access to course items.
• Filter your view. Use the Filter menu and choose Show All, Assignments and Tests or Grades and Feedback.

You can also view the Activity Stream in Blackboard video for more information.

Journals

Journals are a great option when you want students to reflect on a certain topic or experience. Journals are by default private between you and your students. Entries are in chronological order and the instructor can add comments to any entry. Instructors have used journals to collaborate with students on portions of their written work. If appropriate, you can make student journals visible to other students.

You can create journal assignments that are broad and student-directed. Students can reflect on the learning process and document changes in their perceptions and attitudes. Students can describe the problems faced and how they solved them. You can also create instructor-directed journal entries that are more formal in nature. You can narrow the focus with a list of topics for discussion.

You can also view the How to Create a Journal video.

Messages

You and your students can send messages to each other, multiple people, or an entire class. Messages activity remains inside the system, and you don't have to worry about email addresses that may be incorrect or outdated.

As an instructor, you can quickly send messages to all students about important deadlines and schedule changes.

Don't miss any action. The most recent messages for each course appear first. If you have a mix of Original and Ultra courses, you can access messages for both on this page. New messages appear in a bold font.

Access messages across time. You can view messages for current, previous, and future courses. Use the arrows to navigate to another time period. For example, view messages from past courses that you want to reuse.

Jump into your messages. Select a course card to view all new and existing messages in your course. You can delete messages inside of your course.

You can also view the Messages in Blackboard video for more information.