* When I create an announcement, it says, "Students are still notified of this announcement even if this option is not selected." What does this mean?

When you post an announcement, students receive notifications about it on their Blackboard home page.  If they are using the Alerts and Notifications tool, they will also receive a notification about the announcement in their email.  Checking "Send announcement as email" automatically sends a copy of your announcement as an email to all users in the class, even if they have the Alerts and Notifications tool turned off.

Sending an announcement as an email is a good way to ensure that students are receiving your notices, especially if students are unfamiliar with accessing Blackboard just yet.

* Can I still send out an announcement as an email to my students?

As of January 2012, the Send Announcement as Email feature was restored in Blackboard.  When you create an announcement, click "Send a copy of this announcement immediately" to send it as an email to all registered users in the course.  They will receive the email in their University email account.

* Can I see email sent from Blackboard?

Blackboard does not have a sent folder, although you can have a copy of anything you send copied to your University email inbox.  Recipients must log into a regular email program like Outlook or Webmail to read it.  Another Blackboard tool, Messages, is a simplified email that is self-contained in your course.  Both you and your students access Messages through your course and it does have a Sent folder. To access Blackboard’s email tool, go to the Control Panel > Course Tools > Send Email.

* What if I don't want to use University email? Can I change it in Blackboard?

You can forward your University email to another email account.  For information on forwarding your email to another address, go tohttp://uhaweb.hartford.edu/www/qanda/19971001-2.HTML.

* How do I email my students?

To send an email to your students, click on the Tools button in your course menu and select Send Email.  From here, you can send an email to all members of the course, or select specific members to receive the email.  Students can also use this tool to email their instructor or other members of the class.

You can also send emails to the entire class from the announcements page.  When you create an announcement, click on "Send a copy of this announcement immediately."  This will post the message on the announcements page as well as send it to all students.

Your email address in Blackboard is set to your University of Hartford email.  Although you can send email from your Blackboard course, you need to read it using your regular email program (e.g., webmail, or the email program to which you forward your webmail).  To access webmail, go to http://webmail.hartford.edu and login using your email username and password.