Overview
Your instructors and group members may communicate with you via Blackboard Ultra’s messaging system. Instructors can send a message to the entire class at once or to specific groups and students. These messages may regard late assignments, recently reviewed submissions, or general communications. Additionally, you may send messages to your group members.
Note: You may only respond to instructor messages and create messages to send and reply to your group members.
You will be notified of new messages via the following means:
- Your CMU email account
- The Blackboard Ultra menu
- The “Messages” tab in your course
Checking and Replying to Messages
Email
Upon receiving a message, your CMU email will notify you immediately. This email will contain the contents of the message, the name of the course that you have received the message within, the sender, and a link to review the message within your course. You may directly reply to this message as if you were replying to a standard email.
Blackboard Homepage
When on the Blackboard Homepage, you will see a number next to the “Messages” tab.
Clicking on this icon will display the message’s text and the sender and receiver(s) of the message.
Select the message to send a reply. Here, you may utilize the empty textbox at the bottom of the screen to type your response. Select "Reply" in the bottom-right corner of the screen once you are ready to send said response.
The “Messages” Course Tab
Upon entering your course, the upper “Messages” tab will display a number indicating the number of messages that you have received in your course. Clicking on this tab will display the message’s text and the sender and receiver(s) of the message. As explained above, you may click on your desired message to review its contents and send a reply.
Sending Messages to Group Members
1. Log in to Blackboard and select your course of choice.
2. Click on the "Groups" tab from the upper menu. This page will display each set of groups where you have been assigned as a member.
3. Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the group where you would like to send your message. You may also click on the "Show Members" option to display other students who have also been assigned to your group.
4. Click on the mail icon to the right of the group where you plan to send your message. Use the empty textbox to write the content of your message. When you are ready, you may send your communication using the "Send" option in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
