Using Mail — Student Version

To use the Mail tool, select the Mail link under Course Tools.

This will give you access to send private messages to your instructor and other students in the class.

When you have new Mail, you will be notified with the Mail icon on the My Courses page under the name of the section and a green and white asterisk will appear next to the Mail link under Course Tools. You can go directly to the message by clicking the Mail icon.

Creating Folders

To create folders in the Mail tool, click Create Folder.

A pop-up box will appear for you to create the folder. Enter a Folder Name and click Create.

When you create a folder, it appears under the default folders in Mail.

You can Rename the folder or Delete it at any time. You will find these options from the drop-down menu for the folder. You can use these folders to organize and find your messages.

Creating a Message

To send a private message to someone enrolled in the course, independent of the role they play, click Create Message.

To find the person who you want to send the message to, click Browse for Recipients.

You may want to edit the paging so you can see all the recipients. To do this, click the Edit Paging icon and change the number to be larger than the existing number of recipients. In the following example, there are three recipients, one group, and five roles. In this case, the number should be changed to at least nine, but you can increase the values just to be safe.

When you finish editing, you will select who you want to receive the message. Click the checkbox next to each name.

You can send a message to someone by clicking the To checkbox. You can also CC (carbon copy) someone, which means you want them to see the message but the message is not actually meant for them. You can also BCC (blind carbon copy) someone if you want them to see the message but you do not want anyone else to know you sent it to them. If you want to send the message to everyone, click the header To checkbox in the blue field and all the recipients will be checked at once. When you are finished selecting the participants, click Save.

Once you have chosen your recipients, you need to include a clear and concise subject and enter a message. If you want to include links or formatting, you can use the HTML Creator or you can enter your own HTML coding. If you are going to enter your own HTML, make sure you click Use HTML.

You can also include an equation and an attachment. Once you are finished with your message, you can preview it, save it as a draft, or send it.

After the message is sent, the Mail icon will appear on the My Courses page under the name of the section and a green and white asterisk will be next to the Mail link under Course Tools to alert the participants that there is a new Mail message.

Mail Forwarding

To forward Mail from your course to an external email client, click the Mail Forwarding icon. Enter your external email address and click Save. Be aware that you cannot reply or forward from an external email client back to your course's Mail tool. If you receive a message and want to reply, log in to do so.

Search

You can search within the Mail tool for a topic or person(s). If you are looking for a particular message from someone, enter their name next to Search this tool and all messages referencing the person either as the author, the receiver, or within the text will be retrieved.