Many staff and faculty are working to insure your safety and as part of that effort we are announcing the roll out Blackboard Connect Emergency Notification System. This new system allows messages to be sent by text, email, and telephone in the event of an emergency to everyone who voluntarily signs up for this service.
Signing Up
- Go to the Blackboard Portal
- Use the same APU credentials to log in as you do with University email.
- Input your personal contact information and identify how you would like to receive emergency notices.
The Specific Inputs into the System
Blackboard Connect allows you to store up to six phone numbers and two email addresses. The best emergency contact number is probably your mobile phone. Please provide multiple phone numbers where we can reach you. We are requesting that contacts provide the following:
- Mobile Phone
- Mobile Phone Alternate
- Home Phone
- Home Phone Alternate
- Work Phone
- Work Phone Alternate
- Email Address One
- Email Address Two
This Emergency Notification System can be activated by APU staff in the event of a major emergency. For example, if the National Weather Service issues a major weather alert for an ice storm or sudden, unexpected wind storm featuring hurricane force winds – this system can be activated to send you messages about school closures, late openings, or other instructions relevant to a particular emergency. Should a chemical spill or natural gas leak happen or if someone is on-campus threatening the APU community, a real time alert announcing lockdowns or building evacuations can be instantly sent to everyone signed up for the service. Lastly, in the event of a regional disaster like an earthquake, multiple communication options can be used to help organize a response – if cell service is offline, internet based email messages may be able to get through.
What Do We Want You To Do?
Your personal information is being solicited for emergency purposes only – it will be retained in a confidential database and not used for solicitation or non-emergency purposes. You control how you will be contacted by submitting telephone numbers and email addresses beyond your University contact information. If you change phone numbers or want to opt out of the system, you can sign back into the site and modify the records.
There will be occasional tests of the system to insure it is ready should an emergency occur. Otherwise Blackboard Connect sits in the background waiting to be activated in the event of a campus emergency.
