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We do not recommend using Blackboard to email your students.
An alternative method exists that works better for this need. This
alternative method involves retrieving all student email addresses for a
course from the official roster in BANNER/Vandal Web and then
emailing your students through an email
application of your choice.
Blackboard has an internal Mail tool, but we generally do not recommend its
use. Email that instructors send through this tool usually requires students
to log into Blackboard to read the message. Fundamental issues you need to
understand about the way the Blackboard Mail tool works include:
- All email sent using the Mail tool goes to an internal Blackboard
mail box rather than the student's Official UI Email Address by
default. Students may access to Blackboard's internal email ONLY when
they are logged into Blackboard.
- Students can forward the Blackboard internal email to their
Official UI Email Address, but ONLY if the instructor changes a
setting within the Mail tool to allow forwarding. If forwarding is
allowed by the instructor, the student MUST also change a setting within
their Tools Options to activate forwarding for themselves.
- Students cannot reply directly to
the email they receive from Blackboard if it has been forwarded. When
email forwarded by
blackboard@uidaho.edu is replied to by a student, the following
error message comes back:
You have sent
email to the Blackboard server administrators. If you intended to send
mail to an instructor or student, please re-send your message to the
appropriate University of Idaho email address.
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 We do not recommend using Blackboard to email your
students. An alternative method exists that works better for this
need and is outlined here. This alternative method involves
retrieving all email addresses for a course from the official roster
in BANNER and then emailing your students through an email
application of your choice. Emailing students in your class
roster:
- Login to Vandal Web:
http://vandalweb.uidaho.edu
- Click on the Instructor tab.
- Select the correct Term (Example: Spring
2008).
- Select the Course section (CRN) you want to
access.
- Select either the summary or detail
roster
list.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list.
- Press the Email List button.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list again
- Select all the email addresses displayed
there.
- Press Ctrl + C to copy them.
- Open the email client you prefer to use.
- Paste Ctrl + V the addresses into the
blind CC (BCC) field.
- Prepare and send your email message just as you normally
would.
If you have additional questions about how to email
your students, please contact the Registrar’s office:
Office of the Registrar
Student Union Building Room 119
Phone: (208) 885-6731
Email:
registrar@uidaho.edu
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We do not generally recommend using the Blackboard Mail Tool to
email your students.
Email that instructors send through this tool usually requires
students to log into Blackboad to read the message. This may cause
miscommunication and confusion for both instructors and students. We
recommend using the alternative method outlined in the section
above, titled
Sending Email to Your Class Roster.
However, there are certain specific cases in which the Blackboard
Mail Tool can be useful—such as emailing Turning Point Clicker
results to each student, comment privately to a student about a
discussion post, etc. This section outlines the steps required to
turn on the Blackboard Mail Tool.
- Under the Build Tab, click on Manage Course >
Settings.
- Click on Mail found under Tools.
- Set Enable Mail tool to True.
- Set Allow messages to be forwarded to an external e-mail
address to True or False.
- If you chose to allow forwarding, PLEASE
explain to your students they should NOT attempt to reply to
messages forwarded out of Blackboard, but should log in to
Blackboard and use the internal Mail tool to reply.
- Make other setting changes as desired and press Save
Values.
- Under the Build Tab, click on Manage Course >
Tools
- Check the box next to Mail to turn on the Mail
tool
- Go to the bottom on the screen and press Save
- If you need additional information on how to add the Mail
tool to your course, see
Adding a New Tool
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Can't find what you're looking for?
There are several possibilities:
- Is it on the next page? See the
Paging Preference tip.
- Are you looking in the correct tab (Build, Teach,
Graded, Submitted, etc.)
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- Click on Mail found under Course Tools
- Click on Create Message to send a message
- Click on the Title of a mail message to view it
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Below is a sample mail message. Click on Reply to Reply
to a message.
WARNING: Because Blackboard sessions timeout after 30 minutes of
inactivity, create your content in a word processor and then copy &
paste the content into Blackboard to prevent losing work. Also avoid using
special characters
( @ # % & ; )
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Email forwarding allows email generated through the internal
Blackboard Mail tool to automatically forward to your Official UI
Email Address. Students may forward the Blackboard internal
email to their
Official UI Email Address, but ONLY if the instructor changes
a setting within the Mail tool to allow forwarding. If forwarding is
allowed by the instructor, the student MUST also change a setting
within their Tools Options to activate forwarding for themselves.
Note: If students try to reply directly to the email forwarded
to them through Blackboard, the email is bounced back to them with
an error message.
- Go to My UI in Blackboard
- Select My Settings
- Under the My Profile tab, next to E-mail, you
should see your Official UI Email Address. This is the
email address Blackboard mail will sent to when forwarding has
been turned on.
Note: This Official UI Email Address cannot
be changed through Blackboard.
Contact the ITS
Help Desk
(208) 885-HELP for more information.
- Select the My Tool Options tab
- Scroll down to find the Mail forwarding section
- Check the box next to Forward all mail messages to the
e-mail address in my profile
- Press Save
at the bottom
- Go to your Blackboard course
- Under the Build Tab, click on Manage Course >
Settings
- Click on Mail found under Tools
- Make sure Enable Mail tool to True
- Make sure Allow messages to be forwarded to an external
e-mail address to True
- Make other setting changes as desired and press Save
Values
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