Retention remains a topic priority at colleges, yet institution initiatives aimed at improving student retention continue to be plagued by significant communication barriers. The SUNY Canton Criminal Justice Department designed and implemented a program aimed at communication collaboration between faculty and enrolled students through the college’s online learning platform. Through cooperation with the SUNY Canton Online Learning Team all fall 2018 criminal justice students enrolled in one of the four departmental degree programs were registered in a newly created BlackBoard shell titled “Criminal Justice Students.” Criminal Justice Department faculty were then registered with instructor privileges for the creation of groups to align advisor with semester advisee listing. Communication collaboration using a BlackBoard shell was designed to target three main areas of frequent correspondence barriers experienced by the college, department, and between faculty and students. The first area addressed was an institutional communication plan to disseminate all relevant college documents through the BB course announcement and email portal. Currently the college sends notifications of relevant information, including term registration, financial aid deadlines, campus activities, etc. through email, but with changing technological demands students do not use this medium as a main form of exchange. The second area addressed was a departmental communication plan between CJ faculty members and all registered students in one of the four degree programs. Currently faculty members are responsible for communication among their respective advisees, but it has been difficult for a consistent level and quality of correspondence to occur. The third area addressed was a criminal justice student body communication plan. Currently criminal justice students spread information relevant to club membership, fundraisers, and events through word of mouth. The Conference on Instruction and Technology presentation will highlight current research on retention efforts, specifically addressing alternatives to communication and the creation of connections between the student and college community. Discussion will occur on the BlackBoard pilot study and include results from the three main areas of communication barriers and conclude with instruction on creation of a similar model for conference participants to bring back to their home institution.