Blackboard has a variety of Communication Tools that you can use to have Asynchronous or Synchronous communication with your students. Click on the Tool below that you would like to learn more about:
Asynchronous Tools: |
Synchronous Tools: |
Blackboard's Discussion area can be used to encourage communication outside of the classroom.
To access the Discussion Area, click on the Discussion Board option in your Control Panel. Your students can access the Discussion Area from the Communications menu.
In order to use the Discussion area, the Instructor must create a Forum. Until the instructor does so, students will not have access to this tool.
If you would like to access the Blackboard Automated Tutorial for discussions visit:
Discussion Board Overview (Flash)
Discussion Board Rating and Grading Statistics (Flash)
Discussion Board User Management & Moderation (Flash)
Overview of Blackboard 7.1 Discussion Board, provided by Blackboard (PDF File)
Grading Class Discussions:
If you are planning on using participation in the discussion as part of the grade for your course, you may want to provide your class with guidelines. Here are some Guidelines / Rubrics that you may find useful:
It's important to mention here that should you decide to use discussion participation as part of the course grade, you cannot "block" students from participating. If you have a student who is a problem, it's important that you contact the Academic Judiciary Office on campus prior to taking matters into your own hands.
How can I see all the discussion board postings at once?
There is a way to view all responses on a discussion board at once, so you can read the messages without having to click the next message, then the next, and so on. This allows you to read the messages in context.
Access the discussion board (either by clicking on the Discussion Board button in the class or through the Control Panel).
Once you are in the discussion board, click the forum (the discussion) you want to read.
Click the "Show Options" tab on the right side
of the screen; 
Your screen will change and it will look like this:
Click "Select All" icon on options toolbar (checkmarks should appear inside all the squares to the left of the messages);
Click "Collect" icon on options toolbar;
You should be able to see all the postings for that particular discussion
board, and can respond to a message by clicking the "reply" button
in the lower right corner of the message. The discussion board will place
your response in the correct message order automatically!
Blackboard has an e-mail feature that lets instructors (and students if the instructors allow it) to send e-mail notices through the system. The feature is only for sending, you cannot receive e-mail via Blackboard.
By default, students e-mail addresses are set to their Stony Brook e-mail address. If they do not have a Stony Brook e-mail address when their account is created, the default e-mail address is: unknown@ic.sunysb.edu.
Students need to be reminded to log into Blackboard and change their e-mail address. For more information on how they can change their e-mail address, they can visit: http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/helpdesk/docs/blackboard/index.php
To contact your students via Blackboard, you may do so through the Send E-mail option located in your Control Panel
Student's Ability to e-mail each other
As of September 2007, by default, students can no longer e-mail Instructor and other students in a course.
Although this feature is disabled, Instructors and TA's can still e-mail the students through the Send E-Mail function inside the Control Panel
If you would like to enable your student's ability to send e-mail to you or to each other here's how:
1. From the Control Panel choose: Manage Course Menu
2. Scroll down to the Communication Area
3. Click Modify
4. Scroll down to the Send Email section & Check Available , then check the options that you want your students to have.
Check the options you want your students to have & Be sure to check the Available button on the right side of the screen.
You can test the feature (to see if it worked), by clicking on the Communication Area in your course. then e-mail. Any areas that you've enabled should appear in the E-mail options.
Blackboard has an internal messaging feature which you can use to post messages for your students. The system does not e-mail students, it stores the messages in Blackboard for the students.
The problem with this feature is that students are not notified that they have a message, they need to remember to check that section.
If you are using the feature, it's important to let your students know that they need to check their messages in the Communications section of the course.
To use this feature, from your Control Panel, choose: Messages under the Course Tools option on the left side.
Students can also send you messages this way, if you do not want them to, you will have to turn off this feature. From the Control Panel, choose : Manage Course Menu, click the modify button next to Communication Area, and check "Unavailable" next to Messages.
The Lightweight chat feature can be found in the Communication, Collaboration area. It works similar to Instant Messenger.
Dial Up Users : Be ware, If you are using Dialup, you will experience slowness when trying to use the virtual classroom.
Also, the Virtual Classroom is not ADA Compliant, which means if you have a student who is visually impaired, they will not be able to participate in the discussion if they need to use Screen Readers.
In order to use the Virtual Classroom tool, participants (Instructors & Students) should run the following test to be sure that they will be able to participate.
Virtual Classroom - Preparation
Test the Virtual Classroom on your computer
Click on Communication and then Collaboration. Click the Join button next to the session that lists Virtual Classroom as the tool.
If you have Pop Up Blockers, you may have to turn them off
If you do not have Java installed on your computer or if you do not have the version that Blackboard wants, you will be prompted to install it. If you have a dialup connection, this could take a while.
Once Java has been installed and the virtual classroom begins, if you have Instructor access, you should see this:
If you do not see all Panels, it could be that you have more than one version of Java installed on your machine.
Remove all of the Java programs from your machine, go back into Blackboard and download the Java that Blackboard wants you to use.
We recommend that Instructors sign on 15 minutes before the
session begins and set up a Discussion Forum titled "Virtual Class Problems"
where students can post questions/problems that they are experiencing.
More information regarding the Virtual Classroom can be found in the Online Manual, located in your Control Panel and on-line at: http://library.blackboard.com/docs/r7/71/en_US/instructor/bbas_r7_1_instructor/virtual_classroom.htm