Messages page
All your course messages and responses are on the Messages page. You can browse the entire list and open a message to read all the responses. For more information about messages in Blackboard and how messages work outside of a course, visit our general Messages page.
Your unread messages appear first in the list. Each message includes the profile picture of the creator. The message will tell you how many participants are included or if the message is for the whole class. If you have many messages, select the number of messages you want to list per page to narrow your focus.
- Send a message. Select New Message to send a message. Send to one person, multiple people, or the entire class.
- Review what's new. A count of messages appears above the list. New responses appear with a bold font and a darker background.
- Delete a message. Select the Delete button 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 button to add additional people unless the message was sent to the entire class. The Add Participants button appears as a plus sign.
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 that 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.
Select New Message on the Messages page to begin writing a new message.
Enter recipients. As you enter letters, matching recipient names are suggested in a menu for easy selection. You can continue to add as many names as you want. You can also message the entire class, message only instructors, or message specific groups all at once.
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 be more likely to 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 will receive 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. Selecting Allow replies to this message only 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 that they receive.
Send messages from the Gradebook
From the student list, you can send a message to anyone involved with your course.
Select the More options menu that's associated with the student. Select the Message student option.
Messages you send from the student list will also be on the Messages page.
Send messages from the Submissions page
You can message students from the Submissions page. For example, if you want to send reminders to students who haven't submitted yet or if you 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 Send Message to compose your message.
You'll be sent to the New Message page. After sending the message, you will find the conversations on the main Messages page with the rest of your messages.
Send reminders from the anonymous submission page
To remind students about their missing anonymous work, select Send Reminder from the anonymous submission page. This will send an automatic message to students while keeping their personal details anonymous.
After selecting Send Reminder, you'll 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 that they don't have a submission, the course and assessment details, and the due date.
