Announcements are one way to reach out to students.

By uploading your syllabus, students will know what to expect from the class. 

Instructors can add documents and files to Blackboard as items.

Instructors can post links which refer students to Blackboard internal items, or external websites.

Instructors can create folders to organize their courses and improve navigation.

Instructors can remove or change items once they have been posted.

A forum is an area of the discussion board where participants discuss a topic or a group of related topics. 

A thread is a conversation within a forum that includes the initial post and all replies to it.

You can reply to your students' posts to give feedback and encourage interaction.