Announcements carry important, time-sensitive information — course reminders, due dates, changes to the schedule. WSU may also post institution-wide announcements about things like registration deadlines or holiday closures.

You'll see announcements in your activity stream, when you first enter a course, on the course's Announcements page, and on the Blackboard login page (for institution announcements).

New announcements

A new course announcement appears the moment you enter the course, in a window you have to close before you can get to course content. The window only comes back when there's something new. Select View all announcements to look back at earlier ones.

Marking announcements read and unread

• Select the circle beside an announcement to mark it read. Read announcements appear darker than unread ones.
• The Announcements tab shows a count of what you haven't read yet.
• Select the circle again to mark an announcement unread if you want to come back to it.

Announcements page

• Sort: order announcements by title or by the date they were posted.
• Search: select the magnifying-glass icon and enter a keyword to find a specific announcement.

In your activity stream

Course announcements land in the Today or Recent section of your Activity page depending on when you last logged in. Most disappear from the stream once you've viewed them in the course — but a notice asking you to join a group stays until you act on it.

Email copies

Your instructor can send an email copy of an important announcement. These are always sent when the instructor chooses that option; your notification settings don't turn them off. You need an email address in your Blackboard profile to receive them, and any embedded content arrives as a selectable link rather than displaying inline.

Messages let you write to your instructor, your classmates, and your group members without leaving Blackboard. Because everything stays inside the system, you don't have to worry about out-of-date email addresses. WSU sets the policy for messaging and may limit it or turn it off in some courses.

Messages for all courses

Select Messages in the base navigation to see messages from every course in one place.

• Unread messages are marked with a red circle and appear first in the list.
• Use the navigation arrows to move between current, previous, and upcoming courses.
• Select New Message to start a conversation, if WSU allows students to create messages.

While you're actively on the Messages page, new-message markers show as purple circles rather than red ones so the page doesn't keep pulling your attention.

Messages inside a course

Select Messages on the course navigation bar. Each thread shows the sender's profile picture, an unread indicator, and either the number of participants or a note that it went to the whole class. You can change how many messages display per page.

• Delete: you can delete a message thread, but you'll still receive later responses in it, and you can't delete an individual response.
• Navigate: use View Previous Messages and Next Message to move through a thread.
• Add participants: select Add Participants to bring someone else in, where WSU allows it. This isn't available on messages sent to the whole class.
• Your own contributions in a thread are labeled (You).

Send a message

1. Select New Message.
2. Start typing a recipient's name — matching names appear as you type.
3. Write your message. There's no subject line, so lead with the point — recipients see the opening of the message.
4. Optionally select the plus icon to attach a file, or choose to send an email copy to your recipients.
5. Send the message.

To jump to the editor toolbar with your keyboard, press Alt + F10 (on a Mac, Fn + Alt + F10).

Read-only messages

WSU can set messaging so students can read but not write. If that's the case in your course, you'll see no plus sign for creating a message, the reply box reads “Replying is disabled for this message,” and you can only view messages from your instructor or teaching assistant. Forwarding isn't available either.

Your instructor can create groups for study teams or projects. They decide whether you're assigned to a group or choose your own, and which collaboration tools your group can use.

The Groups page

Select Groups on the course's main page. Groups are listed under the name of the group set they belong to — expand a set to see the individual groups.

• Select Show Members to see who else is in a group.
• Select Send message to write to everyone in your group at once.
• Select a group's name to open its group space, which lists all of the group's assignments. You can also reach the group space from a group link on the Course Content page.

Joining a group

If your instructor lets you pick, a Join option appears on the Groups page.

• You'll usually be prompted by a course announcement and a notice in your activity stream when it's time to join.
• Groups that are open for enrollment appear first in the list. Your instructor may add descriptions to help you choose.
• You can switch groups until the enrollment period closes. After that, you're locked in.
• If you don't choose by the deadline, you may be enrolled automatically.
• Groups that are full, or where work has already been submitted, are no longer available to join.

Your instructor may choose to hide group members' names. Deactivated accounts still count toward a group's enrollment total until they're removed from the course.

Discussions are asynchronous, so you and your classmates can think through course material together without being online at the same time. Use them to meet the people in your class, ask questions about readings and homework, and show that you can apply what you're learning.

Find and open a discussion

Select the Discussions tab on the Course Content page. The page only appears if your instructor created a discussion or allowed students to create them. Due dates for graded discussions also show up on your Grades page, your calendar, and your Activity page.

• Responses and replies added since your last visit are labeled NEW.
• Posts are organized under their authors' names, unless the discussion is anonymous.
• You can filter a discussion by participant to find one person's contributions without reading everything.

Reply to a discussion

You can add a response to the discussion prompt, reply to someone else's response, or reply to a reply — replies are indented beneath the post they answer. Use the editor to format text, attach files, and embed media; on a small screen, select the plus button for the full menu. Press Alt + F10 (Mac: Fn + Alt + F10) to jump to the toolbar. Select Post to publish, or Cancel to leave without saving.

Drafts

Select Save Draft to hold an unfinished post — only you can see it. Use Edit Draft to pick it back up; drafts are also flagged with a DRAFT label in the participants menu.

Word count

A word count appears below the editor while you type and disappears once you post. It counts words, web links, list text, and superscript or subscript text. It doesn't count images, videos, attachments, math formulas, blank spaces, or alternative text. Words joined by punctuation count as one word.

Follow a discussion

Select Follow to get Activity page notifications when your instructor or a classmate contributes; select Unfollow to stop. The refresh (arrows) button checks for new activity right now. From Settings on the Activity page you can choose notifications — on your own responses, on threads you replied to, on instructor responses, and on followed discussions generally — and turn email notifications on or off.

Create your own discussion

If your instructor allows it, select New Discussion on the Discussions page.

1. Give it a clear title. The title saves as soon as you leave that line, and only your instructor can change it afterward.
2. Write the discussion starter — a question, an idea, or a response to the material.
3. Select Save. Your discussion appears on the Discussions page labeled Created by student.

Edit and delete your posts

• You can edit or delete your own responses and replies from their menu.
• You can delete a discussion you created only if no one has responded to it.
• You can't edit a discussion title after you create it.
• If you delete a response that already has replies, the replies stay and a note explains that the original post was removed.

Anonymous discussions

Your instructor can allow anonymous posting. Select Post anonymously before you post. Anonymity isn't absolute — authorized users can reveal an author's identity in cases of misuse such as bullying or harassment.

Group discussions

When a discussion is assigned to groups, the group name appears after the discussion title on the Course Content and Discussions pages, and your group members' names appear when you open it. Only your group members and your instructor can see your posts. If you see Join a group to participate, you aren't in a group yet.

Graded group discussions receive one grade for your overall contribution, not a grade per post. If a rubric is attached, select This item is graded with a rubric to see the criteria before you post.

Using JAWS

Discussions use heading levels for structure: Heading 2 for the discussion topic, Heading 3 for each contributor's name. Press H to cycle through headings, or Insert + F6 to open the headings list.

• Post a response: from the Heading 2 discussion topic, press the down arrow until you enter Forms Mode (you'll hear an upward beep), type your post, press Tab until you hear “Post,” then press Enter.
• Reply to someone: open the headings list with Insert + F6, arrow to the person's name, press Enter to go to their post, arrow down through it to the Reply button, press Enter to enter Forms Mode, type your reply, press Tab until you hear “Reply,” then press Enter.
• Leave the discussion: press Ctrl + Insert + B, arrow down to the Close button, and press Enter twice to return to course content.

A journal is a personal space for communicating privately with your instructor. Use it to reflect, work through ideas, raise concerns, and analyze course material. Your instructor may grade your entries or use the journal purely for conversation, and may set due dates.

Find your journals

Journals appear on the Course Content page — sometimes inside a folder or learning module — and an icon marks new activity. If a journal has a due date, it also shows on your Grades page, your calendar, and your activity stream. Release conditions can apply, so a journal might not open until you've met a requirement (for example, earning at least 48 points on an earlier assignment).

Add entries and comments

• You can add as many entries as you want, and comment on your own entries.
• Format text, embed images, and attach files with the editor. Press Alt + F10 (Mac: Fn + Alt + F10) to jump to the toolbar.
• Where Video Studio is enabled, you can embed audio or video in an entry.
• A word count appears while you type and disappears once you save.
• If a rubric is attached, select This item is graded with a rubric to see it before and after you submit.

When your instructor comments, you'll see an alert in your activity stream. Use Show Comments and Hide Comments to open and close the thread; a New label shows how many comments you haven't read.

Edit and delete

Open the menu on an entry or comment to edit or delete it. You can only change your own — your instructor can edit or delete anything in the journal. Deleting an entry also deletes the comments attached to it.

Where are my journal grades?

Journals aren't graded automatically; your instructor posts the grade. When they do, it appears in your activity stream (select View my grade), in the Details & Information panel on the Course Content page, and on both your course and global Grades pages. If a rubric was used, you can view it alongside your journal.

A class conversation is a discussion attached to one specific piece of content, so questions about an assignment stay with that assignment instead of getting lost on the Discussions page. Your instructor can enable conversations on documents, assignments and group assignments, tests and group tests, offline submissions, and external content such as ebooks.

Open a conversation

• On the Course Content page, a purple icon next to an item's title means someone has contributed. Open the item's menu and select Conversation.
• Or, with the item open, select the Open class conversation icon in the upper-right corner of the panel. A purple circle means there's new activity.

Take part

Conversations are set up like discussions: each first-level response can have two levels of replies beneath it.

• Write in the What do you want to say? field. You can format text, attach files, and embed media. Press Alt + F10 (Mac: Fn + Alt + F10) to jump to the toolbar and use the arrow keys to move between options.
• Select Save a draft to finish later — drafts show with a border and a Draft badge.
• New responses and replies are marked with a New icon. Use the refresh button in the top right to check for activity.
• Delete your own response with the trash icon. You can't edit a response after posting, and your instructor can remove any response.
• Open the participants panel to see who's in the conversation and what they've contributed, and search for a specific person.

Group conversations

When content is assigned to groups, you can switch between your group's conversation and the whole class conversation — select the group title to open the menu and choose. A purple circle marks new activity, and you can search for a specific group or course member.

Organizations work just like courses — content, discussions, messages, file sharing — but they exist for groups that aren't tied to a single class: student clubs, committees, academic programs, and special-interest groups. WSU decides who can create them.

Getting enrolled

Contact the organization's leader about joining; some organizations allow self-enrollment. Once you're in, only a leader or an administrator can remove you. Organization cards show the ID, title, and leader — if there's more than one, a Multiple Leaders option lists them all.

Finding your way around

• Search and filter: search the current page, or use the filter menu to change what's shown. Your filter holds for the session.
• Browse by term: look at past, current, and upcoming organizations.
• Long lists: change how many items appear per page and use the page selector.
• Favorites: select the star icon to pin an organization to the top; select it again to unpin.
• View: switch between list and grid layout, and select More info for a description and schedule.

If your instructor has turned on the Microsoft Education integration, you can reach Teams, OneDrive, Class Notebook, and Reflect from inside your course. Open it two ways:

• Select Open Microsoft Education in the Details & Actions panel.
• Or select View course and institution tools under Books & Tools in the Details & Actions panel.

Teams

Teams gives you and your classmates a collaborative space in Microsoft Teams. When your instructor enables the integration, the team is created and kept in sync with the Blackboard course roster. Reach it from the Microsoft Education dashboard or from the Content Market on the Course Content page.

Teams Meetings

Open Teams Meetings from the Microsoft Education dashboard to see upcoming and past meetings in a tile view. To schedule one:

1. Select New Meeting.
2. Enter the title, date and time, and whether it repeats.
3. Choose whether to invite the whole class or let anyone join, and add guests if you need to.
4. Save the meeting.

For an instant meeting, select the arrow next to New Meeting to generate a join link you can use right away.

OneDrive

1. Open the Microsoft Education dashboard in your course and select OneDrive.
2. Select Add to upload a file from your device, or Create to start a new Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file.
3. Use the sorting and filter options to keep your files organized.

Class Notebook and Reflect

Select Class Notebook from the dashboard for a shared digital notebook for the class, or Reflect for well-being check-ins.