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Communicating with Students in your Course(s)

Written by

Ellie Louson

/ Published on

Course instructors may occasionally need to connect with all students in one or more sections of a course or multiple courses. This is a short guide to quickly reach your students in a variety of one-to-many communications.

Emailing through the Office of the Registrar Website

At the beginning of the semester, when enrollment might be changing daily, the most accurate method to reach your students is the Office of the Registrar’s website’s “Email Students in a Class” tool within the Instructor Systems site (requiring your MSUnetID login). After selecting your desired section(s) and/or course(s), you can compose or copy text for an email into the tool, and all students will receive your email as BCC recipients.

Screenshots of the “Email Students in a Class” Tool

Scroll through the screenshots below to see the instructor’s view and learn the step-by-step process instructors can use to email their students.

Homepage of the MSU's Office of the Registrar website. This screenshot is annotated with a magenta arrow pointing to the "Faculty & Staff" menu dropdown, and a magenta box highlighting the "Instructor Systems" item in the dropdown.

Go to the Office of the Registrar Website. Hover over the Faculty & Staff tab in the top-right corner. From the drop-down menu, select Instructor Systems to continue. You’ll be prompted to log in with your MSUnetID.

The Instructor Systems section of the Office of the Registrar Website. The screenshot is annotated with a magenta arrow and box around the Email Students in a Class link on this page, which is the 4th option down in the Class Information section.

On the Instructor Menu page, the first section is Class Information section. Click the Email Students in a Class link in the list of resources.

This screenshot of the Email Students Class Selection website includes a magenta speech bubble which includes "Check one or more course sections" above the "Check/uncheck" tab of a table listing redacted course sections, and a magenta arrow pointing at the compose email button in the lower portion of the page.

Review the instructions about selecting your course(s) and/or section(s). You may check the “All” option to select them at once. When ready, click Compose Email to proceed. You can write your email within this tool or copy text for the email from another program, as well as include formatting, links, and attachments.

Using D2L’s Email Function

Once your course roster is stable, a few weeks into the semester, you can use D2L to email students within one course, drawing from the D2L classlist. Steps and options for this tool are illustrated with screenshots below. Note: students will see these emails within D2L and not in their regular MSU inbox unless they enable notifications.

Screenshot of a course D2L homepage, with a magenta arrow pointing to the Communication dropdown and a magenta box around the Email option in that dropdown.

Under the Communication tab within your D2L course, select Email from the drop-down menu. This will open your email inbox.

A screenshot of the D2L email inbox. A magenta arrow is pointing to the blue "Compose" button.

Click the blue “Compose” button to create a new email.

There are 2 different ways to add recipients in the D2L email tool, indicated with screenshot below. You can either use the Address Book tool or add recipients directly into the To, Cc, or Bcc boxes.

A screenshot of the "Compose New Message" screen, with magenta arrows pointing at the Address Book button on the top right, or the To, Cc, and Bcc links on the left side.

Clicking on any of the links indicated with arrows above will give you options for adding recipients.

Adding One Type of Recipient (To, Cc, or Bcc)

If you only need to add one type of recipient, click on that recipient box label in the screenshot above to open your classlist. Select some or all users, and then click the blue “Add Recipients” button as shown below.

Screenshot of the Address Book with the table of users, a column of check boxes on the left, and a magenta arrow pointing to the "Add Recipients" button on the bottom left.

For example, to add students as Bcc recipients, you would click the Bcc link, then select student users with the boxes on the left, and then click the blue “Add Recipients” button, which will only add Bcc recipients. Clicking “Add Recipients” will return you to the “Compose New Message” page with those users as Bcc recipients, and you can write or copy you email into the email body section.

D2L’s Email Address Book

Use the Address Book if you want flexibility to add course users as To, Cc, or Bcc recipients. For example, you might want to Cc your graduate teaching assistant but have enrolled students as Bcc recipients. Clicking the Address Book opens your D2L classlist with recipient boxes under a set of instructions.

  • The following process is indicated in the screenshot below with red numbered labels
    • Select one or more users by checking the left-side boxes (label 1 )
    • Click the blue To, Cc, or Bcc links on the top left of the classlist table (label 2).
    • You will see those users appear in the appropriate recipient box (3).
    • To finish, click the “Add Recipients” button (4). This will return you to the “Compose New Message” window and you can write or copy you email into the email body section.
Screenshot of the Address Book window with options to select To, Cc, and Bcc recipients. Instructions on this page state "Select one or more recipients, then click on the To, Cc, or Bcc links to add them to the Recipients area. Once you select all your recipients, click Add Recipients to add these recipients to your new message." A red label 1 is placed over the check-box column of the classlist, label 2 points to a magenta box around the To, Cc, and Bcc links, label 3 is placed on the recipient boxes , and label 4 is over the blue "Add Recipients" button.

D2L Announcements

A final way to reach your students is the D2L Announcements function within your D2L course. You can reach this tool either from your course homepage or from the Communications drop-down tab. There, you can create new announcements or edit prior announcements (and decide whether to designate updates as a Major Edit, meaning that the announcement will appear as a new announcement for students even if they’ve viewed the previous version).

Students may not have notifications turned on for D2L announcements; they can be notified according to their preferences under their D2L Notifications settings or in the Brightspace Pulse App where they can view their courses. Otherwise they will see announcements when they connect to their D2L course.

Final Advice

  • Clear expectations matter when it comes to communication with your students. Let your course(s) know your preferred communication channels, how students can expect to get updates from you, and in what context you’ll be using different tools.
    • For example, you may use weekly D2L announcements for regular updates, but email your students if the class is canceled or will switch modalities due to weather conditions.
  • For course emails, use your course code in the subject line to indicate that the email refers to a specific course. This can help students prioritize course-related emails.
  • If you are having any technical difficulties, contact MSU IT for help:
    • MSUIT Service Desk: Call (517) 432-6200 or toll free (844) 678-6200. These numbers are staffed Monday-Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (extended to 9 p.m at the start of semester) except on university holidays.
    • Visit the MSU IT help website for other ways to connect to tech support.

Thanks to Katie Peterson and Jeremy Van Hof from the CTLI for contributing to this resource.

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