Stay Organized with Blackboard
- Heather Ulrich
In addition to updating your notification settings (see Personalize your Blackboard Experience), you can use the Institution Page, Activity Stream, Calendar, and Messages to stay organized and on top of your studies.
Institution Page
The Institution Page on Blackboard serves as more than just a landing page; it provides details about new tools, features, known issues, and resources relevant to students. You can access information on digital textbooks, support contacts, and assistance with Blackboard-related queries.
Activity Stream
The up-to-the-minute activity stream on your Activity page lets you jump directly into course actions. You don't need to dig through the system, search for deadlines, or miss assignments and tests. You can customize what sort of activity gets recorded here by updating your notification settings (see Personalize your Blackboard Experience)
Calendar
Your schedule is a mix of academic and personal commitments. To help keep up with everything you've got going on, you can put everything on one calendar.
You can share your Blackboard Learn calendar with external services so course events appear with other events. To learn more, visit Blackboard’s Help Center:https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Student/Ultra/Stay_in_the_Loop/Calendar.
Ask your instructors to add the course schedule and assign due dates in Blackboard. These events populate on your calendar and to-do list in Blackboard, helping you and your peers stay organized.
Messages
Communicating with your instructor when facing challenges or requiring additional support is crucial for maintaining academic progress. If you find yourself lagging behind, it is important to work with your instructors to find a solution that suits your situation. The Messages tool provides a convenient platform for communication with your instructors.
Always refer to your course syllabus for the best method of contacting your instructor.
How do I send a message/email?
The messages tool allows you to send emails to other people in your course without launching a separate email program and having to look up emails. You can send email to individual users, the entire class, or to groups of users.
Open the Messages page from the course navigation.
Select the New Message button in the right corner.
Select the recipients for your message.
Select the Allow replies to the message to allow other users to respond to your message from within Blackboard.
Type your message.
You can include hyperlinks in any textbox within Blackboard, including emails and announcements, by following these steps:
Select Insert Link
Enter the URL
Replace the "Link Text" with a descriptive text, such as the name of the resource you're linking out to.
Choose Insert
Contact the ITS Help Desk in the Library Room 230 or at (203) 254-4069 for assistance.