BlackBoard Connect

Blackboard Connect allows schools to record or type a message, and then has that message sent as a phone call, text message, and/or email to all or parts of their student population. Daily attendance calls can also be used to help improve student attendance and tardiness.

What happened to Global Connect?
Global Connect and the DOE recognized that GC was falling behind in some of the latest technologies and functionality.  It was decided GC’s clients would be better served using Blackboard Connect.  Blackboard, GC, and the DOE have partnered to get your school on the Blackboard platform.  Blackboard Connect  is the biggest notification system for K-12, and has many different products all focused on education.  With many more customers and resources, the Blackboard Connect system is a large improvement over the outdated Global Connect system.

How do I sign up?
Signing up is easy and painless. All it takes is visiting http://bbbb.blackboard.com/connecttrial and following the steps to fill in your contact and school information. Shortly thereafter, Blackboard Connect will automatically receive your school’s data from ATS, and you will be ready to communicate. Don’t forget, you have a free three-month trial, so you can test Blackboard Connect without having to commit or pay anything.

How do we get the phone numbers?
The DOE and Blackboard take care of that for you.  Since Blackboard Connect is the preferred vendor of the DOE, ATS information is sent every day to Blackboard.  Cell phones are appropriately labeled, so all you will have to do is type in your text messages and hit send.

What if ATS doesn’t have accurate information?
That is a common concern. Although the student information is based on ATS being correct, Blackboard Connect makes that easier by identifying bad phone numbers. After sending out a text or call, “Sent” results are available.  Those results can identify bad numbers, making it much easier to keep ATS information accurate, something every school is required to do.

How else can we use the system?
The beauty of Blackboard Connect is you can do more than just texting.  Blackboard Connect got its start from allowing schools to create phone blasts to go out to their parents.  Then came emails and text messaging.  Now, you can also create Facebook posts, tweets, and add messages to your school website.  Parental engagement and involvement are key to a child’s upbringing and, with Blackboard Connect, there are numerous ways to do so.  There are of course numerous other capabilities like survey calls, period and extended day attendance calls, and translation.

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