Creating an announcement
Announcements are one of the modules on the Home Page. They can be emailed to students. To create an Announcement:
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Click the "More Announcements" link (in the Announcements module).
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Click on the Create Announcement button.
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Fill out the "Subject" and "Message" fields.
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You have two options for dates: Not Date Restricted (the announcement will display for the default period of one week); and Date Restricted (the announcement displays from the date chosen to the date chosen).
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If you would like an email to be sent to all students with a link to this announcement, then please check the "Send a copy of this announcement immediately" option.
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In section 3, you can directly link to specific area of the course.
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Click Submit and you will go back to the Announcements page.
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Automatic Class Listserv/Mailing List
One of the most convenient features of Blackboard is that all of your students' e-mail addresses are already in the system. This means that you can send e-mail to your class without having to look up everyone's e-mail and generate your own mailing list.
To send e-mail to everyone in your class:
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Click on the particular course.
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Click on the Tools course area (on the left-hand side).
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Click on Send E-mail.
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Select the option which best fits your need.
Clicking on All Users will send an e-mail to every student registered for the class; Select Users allows you to check individual users. Although you send the e-mail out from Blackboard, it goes to the students' regular Hamilton e-mail accounts, so that they can read it anywhere. Note: The outgoing message will NOT appear in your Out or Send box, but a copy of the e-mail will be automatically sent to the sender.
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Put Your Syllabus On Your Course Site
Adding content to your course is easy with the templates that exist for any content area. We will use a syllabus as an example but you may add many different types of documents in the same manner.
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Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper right of course page).
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Select the course area where you wish to post the document.
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Under the title of the area you have selected, you will see three tool buttons. The Build content button will open a menu which contains options for uploading many different types of content. For this example, you can select "Item" under "Create."
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Enter the Name of this item and any special instructions. In section 2 you can Browse to wherever your syllabus is stored and select it. Decide whether you need any date/time restrictions and click Submit.
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If you hover your mouse over the Assessment or Tools buttons, you will see many other options for items you can add to your course space.
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To see how the document will appear to students, click the Edit Mode switch to Off. Clicking on the link to the item you just created should open up a window with the syllabus in it. Your students will now be able to access the course syllabus and print it instead of asking you for an extra copy.
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To modify or remove an item, click the Edit Mode switch to On. Click the "action button" next to the item title. This will produce a menu of all the options for this item, including Edit, Copy and Delete.
The good news is that you can use this same procedure to upload any file for your course -- not just the syllabus, but articles, exam questions, bibliographies and any other material which currently exists in a standard Microsoft Office file (or other file for which your students have access to the necessary application, for example, datasets for SPSS).
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Adding Staff Information
You can add information about yourself or anyone associated with your course (i.e. lab instructors, student assistants) in the Contacts area.
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Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper right of course page).
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Click the Tools option in the Course Menu.
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Click on the Contacts link on the tools page.
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Click on the Create Contact button. Enter your name, e-mail address, phone, office hours and other pertinent information (you may even upload your picture or create a link to a pre-existing home page).
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Click Submit.
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