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• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4


• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C

• Communication Tools
• Discussion Board
• Collaboration
• Collaboration Guidelines
• Digital Drop Box

Chapter 4

Communication Tools

With the built-in Communication Tools in Blackboard, instructors and students have a number of communication options that can expand the traditional classroom dialogue in a variety of ways. Online office hours, collaboration with fellow students on shared electronic media, project discussions using Discussion Boards-all of these things are possible with Blackboard. Each area discussed in this chapter is located in the Course Tools section of the Control Panel.

Sending e-mail in Blackboard is very easy to do. You do not need to know the e-mail addresses of your recipients/users to contact them. Instead, you can specify recipients individually or by groups, write your e-mail, and then send it in one simple form.

In the previous chapter you sent an introductory e-mail to the entire class list. In addition to sending messages to all members of the class, we mentioned instructors also have other e-mail options. From the Course Tools area of the Control Panel, click "Send E-mail" and then choose from the options available.

The choices used most frequently are:

All Users: Sends an e-mail message to all users (including self) in the course.

Single/Select Users: Select specific users to whom you wish to send an e-mail message.

Single/Select Groups: E-mail a specific group of students in the course.

In addition to choosing various recipients, you can also have a copy of the message sent to yourself, and/or add attachments to your e-mail. This Send Email function is conveniently located in the Course Tools area of the Control Panel for faculty use.