[ARCHIVED] Can a student send a Canvas Inbox email to the whole class?

[witherwa]

Can a student send a Canvas Inbox message to all other students in a class at once? (e.g., can a student send an email blast to the whole class via the Canvas Inbox?)

[suzukisa]

Yes, they can select the course and then select all students.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good evening,  @witherwa ...

This Guide should help to answer your question: How do I send a message to all course users in the Inbox as a student?.  Keep in mind, though, that Canvas does not have e-mail.  It's a messaging tool to communicate with people in the same class that you are.  You and your students have complete control (via your "Account" >> "Notifications" screen) on how you want to receive messages sent via the Canvas Inbox (and the frequency of those notifications).  So, it is completely possible that some students will want to be notified via e-mail of Inbox conversations via e-mail...while others want to be notified via text messages on their phone, for example.

How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as an instructor?

How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as a student?

I hope these resources will be of help to you, Wendy.  Please let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[Stef_retired]

Hi,  @witherwa ‌, Chris has given you great information. I'd add that students' ability to send messages to the entire class and to individual course members is a role permission that the account admin can choose to disable for students. If that customization were made at the account level, it would apply to all users enrolled in courses in the student role. The reference document for admins is https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12635-421473661 

[witherwa]

Thank you Chris & Stephanie! I really appreciate your quick reply and good information. In our instance of Canvas, it doesn't look like someone in the student role can "blast" a message through the inbox to the entire class, although they can see individual names and send individual messages. The reason I'm asking is we have student tutors in the "student" role, and we'd like for them to be able to blast a message to the entire class, but I don't think they can with one message. Thanks for your help!

[Stef_retired]

 @witherwa , since "message an individual" and "message the whole class" are two separate permissions, perhaps your Canvas admin could customize the student-based "tutor" role to make that exception?

[witherwa]

That would be great, but I don't know how our admin would customize the role to permit "message the whole class" only for these particular student tutors (there are only 15 of them across the entire campus). Wouldn't our admin have to change the permission for all students? We didn't want to add these particular student tutors in the TA role because that allows viewing and editing of grades, which isn't right in this instance. Welcoming your thoughts! Thanks so much for your help!

[Stef_retired]

 @witherwa ‌, the admin would create a custom role called Student Tutors that is based on the student role. The admin would only change the permissions for the custom role.

[witherwa]

Oh that's fantastic! I'll check with my admin and see if he can do this. Thank you!