Messages page
In a course, access the Messages page on the navigation bar. All your course messages and responses will appear. You can easily scan the entire list and open a message to read all the responses. For more information about messages in Blackboard and how messages behave outside of a course, visit our general "Messages" topic.
Your unread messages appear first in the list. Each message displays the profile picture of the creator. Under the creator's name, you can view how many participants are included or if the message is for the whole class.
A. Send a message. Select the New Message icon to send a message. Send to one person, multiple people, or the entire class.
If you have many messages, select the number of messages you want to see per page to narrow your focus.
B. Easily view what's new. A count of messages appears above the list. New responses appear with a bold font.
C. Delete a message. Use the Delete icon to delete a message. If more responses come in, you'll get them. You can't edit or delete individual responses in a message.
When you create or respond to a message, select the Add Participants icon to add additional people unless the message was sent to the entire class. The original recipients see a note in the next message that you added new people or the whole class. The new recipients see the message from the point they were added.
Send a message
If you send messages to students before the course is available to them, the message will go to their associated email address.
When you select the New Message icon on the Messages page, the New Message panel opens.
Start typing to add recipients. As you type, matching recipient names appear in a menu for easy selection. You can continue to add as many names as you want.
When you message more than one student, the recipients will be on BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). This ensures that students’ identity and contact information remain confidential.
Lead with the most important info. Messages don't have titles, so recipients need to rely on the first part of your message as it will appear in the Messages page as a preview. Use the options in the editor to format your text.
To use your keyboard to jump to the editor toolbar, select ALT + F10. On a Mac, select Fn + ALT + F10. Use the arrow keys to select an option, such as a numbered list.
Send an email copy. You can send an email copy of a course message. Students might see, read, and act on important announcements and course messages when they receive a copy in their inbox. Email copies are only delivered if recipients have a valid email address in their Blackboard Learn profile. When you select this option, all recipients of the message receive an email copy.
Recipients can view your message in their email inboxes, but won't be able to send an email to reply.
Allow or disallow replies. You may choose not to allow replies for messages you create.
Your institution can choose not to allow students to reply to or create messages in their courses. You can't turn this setting on and off in your individual courses. In this scenario, students can only read the messages other roles send, such as instructors and teaching assistants. The Allow replies to this message check box applies to the roles in the course allowed to reply to and create messages, such as other instructors and teaching assistants. Students also won't be allowed to forward messages they receive.
Send messages from the gradebook
From the student list, you can send a message to anyone involved with your course.
Select the three dot menu at the right end of a student row. Select the Message Student option. The Message panel will open at the right side of the screen.
Messages you send from the student list view also appear on the Messages page.
Send messages from the submission page
You can now message students if, for example, you wish to send reminders to non-submitters or if you simply want to notify students about their grades. All student recipients of a message will be on blind carbon copy (BCC) to ensure confidentiality.
To message students from the submission page, search or filter the recipients. If there's more than one page of students, the filters and selection will apply to all pages. Then, select the "Send Message" button to open the messaging interface to craft the message.
You will view the New message page. After sending the message, you will find the conversations on the Messages page with the rest of your conversations.
Send reminders from the anonymous submission page
To remind students about their outstanding anonymous work, select Send reminder from the anonymous submission page. This will send an automatic message to the students while keeping their personal details anonymous.
After selecting Send reminder, you get a confirmation message that shows how many students will receive the reminder: Are you sure you want to send a reminder to X students who have not yet made a submission?
To help ensure the students anonymity, these reminders are not saved in the messages section of the gradebook.
The students will receive an email explaining they have an outstanding submission, the course and assessment details and the due date.
Watch a video about messages
Video: Messages
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on YouTube, navigate to More actions, and select Open transcript.
Video: Messages in Blackboard Learn shows you how to view and send course messages.
