Ultra: Email and Announcements

Introduction

There is a difference between sending an Email Message in Blackboard Ultra and Sending an Announcement. This knowledgebase article will step you through the differences and provide helpful support links for you.

Announcements vs. Email

You can add an announcement which is immediately sent out via email. The announcement can stay on your course home page so that any student who may have missed the email will still see the message or be reminded. We recommend this method for important information.

Click "Create Announcement" from the Announcements tool, and check the box that says: √ Send a copy of this announcement immediately

Email Announcement

√ Send a copy of this announcement immediately

Note: Emails sent from Blackboard do not contain a link to your course, or much of any information about who you are. They are sent from "Blackboard-Sender@umaryland.edu" - therefore,

we highly recommend you do the following:

Include a greeting and salutation, especially including your name
Include a URL/link/address to your course or anything specific in your course that you mention in the email. Links can be hyperlinked using the HTML editor tools, or you can simply paste in the URL from your browser's address bar. It is far easier for a student or other recipient to click on a link to go directly to the course, or a discussion forum, or to whatever in the course you'd like them to look at. Want students to participate in a discussion forum or survey? Send them the URL directly to that forum or survey. Want to draw their attention to a particular reading or content item? Hyperlink to it so that students can click on it and go directly to the item when they view the email. Normally you are already sending this message from within Blackboard, so just copy the URL to the item in your course before you go to post the announcement/send the email, and then paste it in. This will make it so that students can read the email and just click right to your course.