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Course Messages Overview
Messages can be sent by the instructor to the entire class, groups of students, or select individuals in the course. Messages are sent to the user's CMU email, are housed on the Messages tab within the course, and can also be accessed on the Messages tab on the Bb homepage. Students can initiate a message to their instructor and classmates they have been assigned to a group with on the Groups tab. See Message Sending & Receiving below for more specifics.
Watch Course Messages to learn more about creating and sending messages.
See also Send Messages to Students from the Gradebook
Send Message to Student from Student Overview Screen
Watch this short video on Creating and Sending Messages.
Creating & Sending Messages
The Messages Tool is located in the Blackboard course main menu at the top of the page. In addition, Instructor's have the ability to send a message from various locations throughout the Blackboard course shell wherever the envelop icon appears.
Once in the Messages Tab, click on the New Message button to create a new message.
Select the Recipients desired and enter the message text:
Click Send
Any Message created with the message tool will also generate an email to the selected recipients. A new message indicator (see purple circle with the number one in it, indicating one new message) will also display on the recipient's Messages tab as shown below.
An example email message is shown below.
Message Receipt and Response
Messages send an email to the recipient's CMU email account and are available for recipients to reply to. Recipients receive a notification in their email inbox that a new message has been sent. They can click View Message to read the message or it can be accessed from either the Bb homepage Messages tab, or from the Messages tab while in the course.
Clicking on the View Message in the email message (shown in the image above) takes the recipient to the main Content area of the Blackboard Course where the message originated from. The recipient would then navigate to the Messages tab to view the message.
In Blackboard, Messages can be expanded and replied to from the message tab. Any message activity always generates an email. Below is an example of a message chain in an expanded message view in the Message tool. Responses create a message chain within the Message tab. If message received is replied to in email by hitting "reply" and sending a message, the original message creator receives a standard email reply -- the email reply will not be included on the Messages tab in Blackboard. If the message received is replied with from within the Bb course shell message area, it is included on the Messages tab in Blackboard.
Unread Message Notifications
An identifiable number count highlights any new messages received. From the Messages tab in a course a new message indicator appears. Messages are sorted with the newest messages at the top, and unread messages are clearly indicated.
From the Bb Homepage, Messages tab, a red number count changes to a red pill icon to reduce distraction. When you navigate away from this page, the system shows again the unread message count.
Student's Ability to Create and Send Messages
A student's ability to create and send a message is limited in Blackboard to emailing their instructor and messaging members of a team they have been assigned to on the Groups tab.
Students can initiate a Message to their instructor via the envelope icon next to the instructor's name.
Students can also initiate a Message to group members they are on a team with via the envelope icon next to their group name.
