Course messages are enabled by default for UC instructors and students. You and your students can send messages to each other, multiple people, or an entire class. Messages activity remains inside the system, and you don't have to worry about email addresses that may be incorrect or outdated.
There are also several access points for you to directly act upon information by sending messages to students.
Messages for All Courses
As an instructor, you can quickly send messages to all students about important deadlines and schedule changes. Select Messages from the base navigation menu in iLearn to view a list of courses and directly review and send messages.
Courses with unread messages appear first in the list of the Messages page.
Messages Inside a Course
In a course, select the Messages page. The number of unread messages that you have is indicated within a red circle. All your course messages and responses are on the Messages page. You can easily review the entire list and open a message to read all the responses.
Your unread messages appear first in the list and have a circled number next to the sender's name. Each message displays the profile picture of the sender. Under the sender's name, you can view how many participants are included or if the message is for the whole class.
From the Messages page in a course, you can:
- Send a message. Select the New Message button to send a message. Send to one person, multiple people, a group, or the entire class.
- Select how many messages per page. If you have many messages, you can increase the number of messages displayed on one page.
- Delete a message. Use the Delete button to delete a message. If more responses come in, you'll get them. You can't edit or delete individual responses in a message.
- Navigate to another message. Messages open in a panel with all the responses. Use the View Previous Messages and Next Message buttons at the top to view the previous or next message in the list.
- Add more people. When you create or respond to a message, select the Add Participants button to add additional people unless the message was sent to the entire class. The original recipients see a note in the next message that you added new people or the whole class. The new recipients see the message from the point they were added.
- Follow a conversation. Messages are threaded. When you select anywhere within a message, the panel for that message displays every sent and received message within that conversation. On your course's Messages page, the most recent message in a thread is what's displayed. Your own messages are indicated with a (You) that appears by your name.
Send a Message
Select New Message on the Messages page to begin writing a new message.
Enter recipients. As you enter letters, matching recipient names are suggested in a menu for easy selection. You can continue to add as many names as you want. You can also message the entire class, message only instructors, or message specific groups all at once.
When you message a defined group, such as "All students," recipients won't know the names of others in the group. If you add multiple users individually, each recipient will know the names of the other recipients.
Lead with the most important info. Messages don't have titles, so recipients need to rely on the first part of your message as it will appear in the Messages page as a preview. Use the options in the editor to format your text.
Email Copies
Recipients will receive an email copy of the message. Students might be more likely to read and act on important announcements and course messages when they receive a copy in their inbox. Instructors will also receive email copies of messages sent by students.
Send Messages from the Gradebook
From the student list, you can send a message to anyone involved with your course.
Select the More menu that's associated with the student. Select the Message student option.
Messages you send from the student list will also be on the Messages page.
Send Messages from the Submissions Page
You can message students from the Submissions page. For example, if you want to send reminders to students who haven't submitted yet or if you want to notify students about their grades. All student recipients of a message will be on blind carbon copy (BCC) to ensure confidentiality.
To message students from the submission page, search or filter the recipients. If there's more than one page of students, the filters and selection will apply to all pages. Then, select Send Message to compose your message.
You'll be sent to the New Message page. After sending the message, you will find the conversations on the main Messages page with the rest of your messages.