Communication & Collaboration
AVA – Responses to Student Messages – 4000.4
Impact: Student, Instructor
Updated Help Topic: Messages (Student), Messages (Instructor)
Idea Exchange ID: Not applicable
AVA now responds to common student messages sent to instructors. Students often ask about information already available in the course, which increases instructor workload and delays responses. AVA helps reduce this workload and gives students faster answers to common questions.
When a student sends a message to an instructor, AVA scans the course from the student’s perspective to find a relevant answer. Instructors can review and clarify AVA’s responses if needed.
AVA can respond to questions about:
- Due dates, grades, and course content that is visible to the student
- Accommodations and exceptions
- Direct links to relevant course information
- Learner progress within modules, if progress tracking is turned on
AVA responds only when the message is sent to the Instructor role or a role marked as “Treat Users with this Role as Instructor.” AVA does not respond if the message includes more than one student or other roles.
Image 1: AVA responding to a student’s message
Instructors can turn on AVA autoreplies in Course Settings if the feature is enabled in the Administrator Panel. The default setting is off. Instructors can change this setting at any time during the course.
Instructors can review all AVA responses and add context if needed. AVA only responds based on course content. If an item appears in the gradebook, AVA will try to provide details. If AVA can’t find an answer, it will let the student know and suggest waiting for the instructor’s reply. AVA uses the Course Language Pack.
Currently, AVA cannot:
- Read or extract content from uploaded documents
- Answer questions about third-party content such as SCORM, OneDrive, or external websites
- Search the internet or external storage
- Provide details about institutional resources outside the course
Administrators
Availability: AVA is a premium solution.
Activation: AVA features are included in your Blackboard license until 30 June 2026. After that, an AVA license is required. The student message response feature is turned off by default.
Configuration: To turn on this feature, go to the Administrator Panel. Select Building Blocks under Integrations, then Installed Tools. Find the AI Design Assistant and Unsplash building block and select Settings. Under the AVA section, select AVA Responses to Students.