Announcements, Email & Notifications
The announcements and email tools in Learn work in a very similar manner with some key differences. Learn produces notifications of what is happening in users' courses.
Many activities in Learn will trigger a notification to the student to make sure they are kept up-to-date with the latest information about your course. These notifications might be triggered by an announcement, upcoming deadline, new discussion post, and many more. The notification settings and email alert settings are fully customisable by the student based on their preferences; you cannot assume that a student has received a notification.
Announcements
More information about using different communication tools can be found on the Blackboard Learn help pages online.
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Email Announcement
You can force an email to be sent via an announcement by selecting the "Send a copy of this announcement immediately" checkbox when creating an announcement.
This will override an individual's notification preferences to ensure that they are sent an email. An email will be sent to all users who are enrolled in your course including Instructors and any other role used in the course. This will be sent to your University email address.
The announcement will also display in the user notifications based on how they have set their preferences for receiving notifications.
What is an announcement?
Instructors can add, edit, and delete important messages which will be displayed at course level. These announcements can be set to appear in:
- Announcements section of every course and organisation.
- My Announcements module (available in the notification dashboard)
- Emailed to users and displayed in the above
Do Instructors receive announcements?
No, only students.
Do Class Only\Auditors users receive announcements?
Course Announcements will be visible by all users enrolled on the course however for Auditors\Class Only they will not appear in the Mobile Dashboard or in My Blackboard.
Auditors\Class Only can access announcements via My Learn > Notification Dashboard > Notifications module (via a web browser and mobile app) or in the course (if the course has an announcement tool link visible to students). The mobile app will not display an announcement alert for users enrolled as Auditors\Class only (all other users will receive a mobile notification).
If an announcement is sent with the email option selected a user enriolled as Auditor\Class Only will receive an email.
Notifications
What is a notification?
Learn produces notifications of what is happening in users' courses, including new content, surveys, and due dates for tests and assignments. They will be immediately available via the Activity Stream. By default users will receive a daily digest email after 17:00 which includes notifications for all the courses they are enrolled onto.
How does a user access a notification?
A user can access a notification via:
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Activity Stream
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Email
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Mobile (which which updates every 15 mins and will display in the Dashboard section if Blackboard or Blackboard Instructor app is installed on the device)
Who receives notifications?
All users role with the exception of Class Only are configured to receive notifications via email. No email notification is sent to Class Only role, however the notification will be visible in the Notification dashboard but will not be flagged in My Blackboard or via the mobile app.
Can I customise Notifications?
Yes, they are customisable per user via Activity Stream> Settings > Edit Notification Settings
Can an instructor set notification settings per course?
No, notifications are set per user, however all notifications by default are enabled.
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Mobile App Notifications
Notifications will be visible in the mobile device Task Bar and via the home screen. Users can configure mobile notifications via Learn or the mobile app. In the app go to Settings > Notifications.
If the user isn't signed in to the Mobile App they will not receive notifications.