Publish Blackboard course announcements from new Google Sheets rows
Keep course updates moving: add a row to your Google Sheet and have Notis post the corresponding Blackboard announcement.
Trigger
New Rows in Google Sheet
Simple polling trigger that monitors Google Sheets for new rows. Detects when new rows are added and returns the complete row data. Perfect for triggering any workflow based on new sheet entries.
Action
Create course announcement
Creates a new announcement within a specified course in the blackboard learning management system. this endpoint allows instructors or course administrators to post important messages, updates, or notifications to all enrolled students. the announcement can be customized with a title, rich text body using bbml, and specific availability settings. use this endpoint when you need to communicate course-wide information, such as syllabus changes, assignment reminders, or important dates. the announcement can be created as a draft for later publication or immediately made visible based on the specified availability settings.
Why this helps
Course updates entered in a tracking sheet can be easy to forget when it is time to notify students.
- Reduce repeated copy and paste between a tracking sheet and Blackboard.
- Help students see updates closer to when they are recorded.
- Keep course communication in the course announcement area.
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Google Sheets and Blackboard once in the Notis portal.
- 2Create an automation in Automations, New Automation, and give it a clear name.
- 3Tell Notis to use each new row as source context for a relevant course announcement.
- 4Choose the New Rows in Google Sheet trigger and select where run reports should go.
- 5Test with one real row and review the announcement in Blackboard.
Questions about this workflow
What starts this workflow?
It starts when the selected Google Sheet detects a new row and returns that row's data.
Does this workflow decide what the announcement should say?
Notis can draft the announcement from the row and your instruction. Include the course context and any writing guidance you need.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Google Sheets to Blackboard. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Google Sheets 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.
Aggregate Metric Changed
Triggers when an aggregate metric (SUM/COUNT/AVG/MIN/MAX) changes in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This trigger monitors an aggregate calculation on a target column (optionally filtered by a search column/value) and fires when the calculated result changes.
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.
Cell Range Values Changed
Triggers when values in a specified A1 range change in Google Sheets. This trigger monitors a specific cell or range of cells and fires when any values change.
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.
Conditional Format Rule Changed
Triggers when conditional formatting rules change in a Google Spreadsheet. Detects when rules are added, updated, or removed. Uses snapshot-based diffing to detect changes between polls.
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.
Data Validation Rule Changed
Triggers when data validation rules change (added/updated/removed) in a Google Spreadsheet. Uses snapshot-based diffing to detect changes between polls.
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.
Developer Metadata Changed
Triggers when developer metadata entries change (new/updated/removed) in a Google Spreadsheet. Uses snapshot-based diffing to detect changes between polls.
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.
Filtered Range Values Changed
Polling trigger that monitors Google Sheets filtered ranges for value changes. Uses snapshot-based diffing to detect when values matching a data filter change. Emits the matched values when changes are detected.
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.
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When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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