Improved Communication with Parents, Students, and Staff

"K-12 schools continue to expand their use of mass notification services to enhance the teaching and learning processes and to engage communities in student success", says Ed Miller, President of Blackboard Connect. "We will continue to lead the industry in delivering solutions that help connect parents, teachers, and students to meet each of their performance objectives."

Further Blackboard Connect enhancements include:

• Document links that let users safely share documents via email notifications without the capacity and delivery challenges associated with traditional file attachments.
• Enhanced accessibility of Blackboard Connect messages, including automatically detecting teletypewriter (TTY) devices for the hearing and speech impaired.
• Automated weather alerts during severe weather events, based on data from the National Weather Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Blackboard Connect is also launching 'Behind the Blackboard', a knowledge base for both Blackboard's AlertNow and Blackboard Connect clients that includes 24-hour access to on-demand help information, communication best practices for school districts, and community discussion boards.

Blackboard has also introduced enhancements to the AlertNow service for K-12 districts and schools, including the rich-text HTML e-mail feature. AlertNow's email tool also now includes a spell check and database mail-merge functions. Additional enhancements include:

• Sample scripts to create and use pre-sent message templates to ensure uniform communication and speed distribution of alerts in urgent situations.
• Print-ready reports, enhanced data integration and automation, and telephone replay options for AlertNow message recipients.

AlertNow clients also now have access to 'Blackboard Connect for Teachers', a powerful service for improving parental involvement that was released for Blackboard Connect clients earlier this year. Blackboard Connect for Teachers puts the power of mass notification in the hands of classroom instructors, allowing them to communicate easily with students' families - in any of 22 languages - helping parents intervene in their child's academic performance or classroom behavior and avert undesired results.

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