Course Messages vs. Email

Messages are private and secure text-based communication that occurs within a Blackboard course and among course members. Although similar to email, you must be logged in to Blackboard to manually read and send messages. All sent messages are stored within Blackboard and cannot be forwarded to an email account.

Messages are organized in folders, marked as Read or Unread. The Messages area has two folders, Inbox and Sent, which you cannot rename or delete. Additional folders can be created by individuals. A folder created by an individual user cannot be seen by other users.

The Email tool in Blackboard allows users to send an email to anyone and everyone in the course using the SIUE email address. Recipients will need to access their SIUE Email to retrieve the message and use their SIUE Email to respond to it. No copies of the emails are kept within Blackboard. It is strongly recommended that users send an email to themselves as a record.