Messages is the messaging tool built into your course. You and your students can send messages to one person, several people, a group, or the whole class. Message activity stays inside Blackboard, so you do not have to track email addresses that may be wrong or out of date.

Send a message

1. Open Messages in your course and select New Message.
2. Choose the recipients: one person, several people, a group, or the entire class.
3. Write your message. You can add formatting and attachments. Lead with the key information, since messages do not have subject lines.

Why Messages works well

• All course messages and responses are kept on the Messages page, threaded by conversation, so you can review the full history.
• You can send an email copy so students also see the message in their inbox.
• Students reply inside Blackboard, which keeps the exchange with the course.

Announcements post time-sensitive information to the whole course. Use an announcement for information every student needs, such as a schedule change or a reminder. To reach one student or a group, use a message instead.

1. Select Create Announcement, then add a title and your message.
2. Post it now, save it as a draft, or schedule it with a show date and time.
3. Choose whether to also send the announcement as an email, so students receive it even if they do not log in.

You can send an email copy of a message to course members without opening a separate mail program. An email copy reaches only members who have a valid email address in their Blackboard profile.

Discussions give students a place to respond to a prompt and to each other over time. Because students can think before they post, discussions can support careful, ongoing conversation across the week.

• Open the Discussions tab to create and manage discussions. An icon marks discussions with unread replies.
• You can open="" a discussion to the whole class, or set up a group discussion that only members of a group can see.
• You can grade a discussion when you want to count participation toward a grade.

Class conversations attach a discussion to a single content item, such as a document, assignment, or test. Students discuss that item with you and their classmates, and the conversation appears only with that item rather than on the Discussions page.

• Turn on class conversations in the item's settings, using Allow class conversations.
• Conversations are set up like discussions, and they are not graded.

Journals are private spaces where a student writes to you. Entries are seen only by that student and you, which makes journals a good fit for reflection and for private questions about the course.

• Create a journal from the Course Content page with Create, then Journal, and add a prompt if you want one.
• You can grade a journal, which adds a grades and participation view.
• A new journal is hidden="" until you make it available, and you read and comment on entries per student.

Groups let you organize students into teams so they can work together. Groups support group discussions and group assignments, and they give students a space to collaborate.

• Create and manage groups from the group tools, by hand or with sets of groups.
• You can import and export group membership when you manage larger classes.

The Roster is your class list. Open Roster on the Course Content page to see who is in your course, match names to faces, and send messages to members.

• Switch between grid and list views, search, and filter by role or by students with accommodations.
• Select a person's card to send a message directly.
• With the right permissions, you can set accommodations and manage course members from here.

Automations send a course message on their own when a student meets a condition you set. This helps you reach students at the right moment without watching the gradebook all day.

You can set up a message that goes out when a student earns a high score, a supportive message when a student falls below a score you choose, and a reminder when a student has not viewed feedback. You write the message, and students see it as coming from you. Set these up from the Course Content page under the course assistants area.

When you grade student work, you can record audio or video feedback so it appears with any written comments you add. A short recording can explain a point more clearly than text alone and adds a personal note to your feedback.

• Record from the feedback editor while grading. You can record your camera, your voice, your screen, or a combination.
• Recordings support captions, and you choose whether students can view only or view and download.