Share course policy changes in Blackboard
Help students understand what changed and what they need to do next.
Trigger
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Action
Post course message with bbml support
Creates a new message within a specific blackboard course. this endpoint allows users to compose and send messages to course participants, supporting rich text formatting through bbml, file attachments, and flexible recipient management. it's ideal for course announcements, discussions, or direct communication between instructors and students. the endpoint should be used when there's a need to initiate or continue a conversation within the context of a particular course. it provides comprehensive options for message creation, including subject, body content with rich formatting, recipient lists (to, cc, bcc), and file attachments. however, it does not support scheduling messages for future delivery or sending to recipients outside the course context.
Why this helps
Policy changes can be hard to track when the official update stays in email and students need a course-specific explanation.
- Translate a policy notice into course-relevant guidance.
- Keep the message focused on student actions.
- Reduce the chance that an important change is overlooked.
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Gmail and Blackboard once in the Notis portal.
- 2Create an automation in Automations, New Automation, and give it a name and prompt.
- 3Tell Notis which policy emails qualify, how to identify the course, and to include only confirmed student-relevant changes.
- 4Pick New Gmail Message Received as the trigger and choose where run reports should go.
- 5Test with one policy email and review the course message before routine use.
Questions about this workflow
Will it send every policy email to students?
Specify which kinds of changes matter to the course. Have Notis report unrelated or ambiguous notices.
Can it explain how a policy affects the class?
Ask it to summarize the stated impact. If the source does not explain a course-specific impact, tell it to flag that gap.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Gmail to Blackboard. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Gmail triggers
Blackboard actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Course Announcements Access
Retrieves a list of announcements for a specific course in the blackboard learning management system. this endpoint allows users to access important messages, updates, or notifications related to a particular course. it should be used when there's a need to fetch all announcements or check for recent updates in a course. the tool returns announcement data but does not provide functionality for creating, updating, or deleting announcements. keep in mind that the returned list may be paginated if there are many announcements, and additional calls might be necessary to retrieve all data.
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Get course announcement by id
Retrieves a specific announcement from a particular course in the blackboard learn system. this endpoint allows users to fetch detailed information about a single announcement, including its content, creation date, and any attachments. it is particularly useful for displaying announcement details in external applications or for retrieving updated information about a previously known announcement. the endpoint requires both the course id and the announcement id to ensure precise retrieval of the intended announcement. it should be used when specific announcement details are needed, rather than for listing all announcements in a course.
Email Sent
Triggers when a Gmail message is sent by the authenticated user. It polls the 'SENT' label and emits metadata including sender, recipients, subject, timestamp, and thread ID.
Update child course in parent
This endpoint updates the relationship between a parent course and its child course in the blackboard learning management system. it is used to modify existing course hierarchies, allowing administrators to restructure course organizations or adjust course relationships. the endpoint should be used when there's a need to change the parent-child association between two courses, such as moving a sub-course to a different parent course or updating the hierarchical structure of courses. it's important to note that this endpoint only modifies existing relationships and does not create new courses or new child-parent associations if they don't already exist in some form.
New Gmail Message Received Trigger
Triggers when a new message is received in Gmail.
Upload file to attempt in gradebook
This endpoint allows for the upload and attachment of files to a specific attempt within a course's gradebook in the blackboard learning management system. it is used to associate submitted work, supporting documents, or any relevant files with a student's attempt on an assignment, quiz, or other assessable items. the endpoint should be called after the initial file upload process, using the generated uploadid to link the file to the specific attempt. it's particularly useful for instructors or system integrators who need to programmatically attach files to student submissions, or for building custom submission interfaces that interact with blackboard's backend. this endpoint does not handle the actual file transfer; it assumes the file has already been uploaded to blackboard's system and is now being associated with a specific attempt.
Get oauth2 authorization code
Initiates the oauth 2.0 authorization code flow for the blackboard api. this endpoint is used to obtain an authorization code, which is a crucial step in the oauth 2.0 authentication process. the authorization code can later be exchanged for an access token, granting limited access to user resources on the blackboard platform. this endpoint should be called when an application needs to request permission from a user to access their blackboard data. it's important to note that this endpoint does not directly provide access to user data; it only initiates the authorization process. the response will typically include a redirect url containing the authorization code, which the client application must handle appropriately.
Get user gradebook for course
Retrieves the gradebook information for a specific user within a particular course in blackboard. this endpoint allows instructors or authorized personnel to access individual student grade data, including assignment scores, overall course grade, and any custom gradebook columns. it should be used when detailed grade information for a single student in a specific course is needed, such as for progress monitoring or grade reviews. the endpoint does not modify any data and is read-only. note that this tool only provides grade data and does not include other course or user information beyond what's directly related to the gradebook.
Copy course with specific options
The coursecopytool allows you to create a copy of a blackboard course with fine-grained control over which elements are included in the copy. this endpoint is used when you need to duplicate a course, either creating a new course or overwriting an existing one, while selectively choosing which components to transfer. it's particularly useful for course administrators or instructors preparing for a new semester or creating variations of an existing course. the tool provides extensive customization options, allowing you to include or exclude specific course elements such as content areas, assessments, gradebook settings, and more. however, it does not handle enrollment of students or instructors in the new course - this must be done separately after the copy is complete.
Copy course by courseid
This endpoint creates a copy of an existing course in the blackboard learning management system. it allows instructors or administrators to duplicate course content, settings, and structure into a new or existing course. use this endpoint when you need to replicate a course for a new semester, create a template from an existing course, or backup course content. the operation copies all copyable elements of the source course into the target course specified by the courseid. note that this process may take some time for large courses, and certain elements (such as student data or time-sensitive content) may not be copied. the endpoint does not provide real-time progress updates on the copying process.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
Gmail and Blackboard, or any other combination from 1,000+ integrations.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Save your first hour today.
7-day trial of any paid plan, with 20$ of usage included.
No card. Works with personal or business Blackboard.