Early Warning System
View step-by-step tutorials on the Early Warning System.
View answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff.
The Early Warning System is a Blackboard tool used to monitor student progress in a course and alert faculty to possible performance problems. The tool can also be used to communicate those warnings to students themselves to let them know how their performance is being measured. Notification warnings can be generated based on a set of rules that take into account graded performance, late or missing course work, or the Blackboard course access.
Creating a Grade Rule
This rule is based on the students' grade for a particular assessment. It can be an automated Blackboard assessment such as a test, a survey, or a SafeAssignment, or a manually added assessment.
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessments click Early Warning System.
- Click the Grade Rule button.
- In the Grade Rule page, enter a descriptive rule name.
- In the Select a Gradebook Item, choose the assessment from the drop-down menu. Then define the criteria and the score for the rule.
- Click the Submit button.
- If a rule has been successfully added, Blackboard will display a yellow bar at the top of the page. To close it, click the Close button.
Note: Blackboard will not automatically run the checks on the rule. Faculty need to click the Refresh button to generate warnings. Please refer to the Refreshing Warning Notification Rules to learn how to do that.
- The rule can now be viewed on the Early Warning Page.
Creating a Due Date Rule
This rule generates warning notifications based on the specified due dates for assessments that are created and graded through Blackboard, such as tests, surveys, and assignments created with the built-in assignment tool. The rule cannot be created for items manually added to the Gradebook or for SafeAssignments.
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessments click Early Warning System.
- Click the Due Date Rule button.
- In the Due Date Rule page, enter a descriptive rule name.
- In the Select a Gradebook Item, choose the assessment from the drop-down menu. Assignment and Assessment Gradebook Items with a Due Date can be selected. Due Date appears in parentheses in the drop-down box.
For Gradebook Items that allow multiple attempts, specify which attempt to use for rule evaluation. Single attempt Gradebook Items are not influenced by this setting. Entering a value in Date Offset will apply to the Gradebook Item's Due Date by either adding or subtracting days without changing the actual Due Date. Specify only positive values.
- Click the Submit button.
- If a rule has been successfully added, Blackboard will display a yellow bar at the top of the page. To close it, click the Close button.
Note: Blackboard will not automatically run the checks on the rule. Faculty need to click the Refresh button to generate warnings. Please refer to the Refreshing Warning Notification Rules to learn how to do that.
Creating a Last Access Rule
The last access rule checks when students last accessed the Blackboard course.
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessments click Early Warning System.
- Click the Last Access Rule button.
- In the Last Access Rule page, enter a descriptive rule name and the number of days since the last access.
- Click the Submit button.
- If a rule has been successfully added, Blackboard will display a yellow bar at the top of the page. To close it, click the Close button.
Note: Blackboard will not automatically run the checks on the rule. Faculty need to click the Refresh button to generate warnings. Please refer to the Refreshing Warning Notification Rules to learn how to do that.
Refreshing Early Warning System Rules
Blackboard does not continuously run checks on the rules set up by faculty. Faculty need to click the Refresh button to generate warnings. To do that, follow these steps:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessments click Early Warning System.
- Click in the checkboxes to the left of the rules to select them, then click the Refresh button to run the checks.
- In the confirmation dialog box press OK.
- Blackboard displays a yellow confirmation bar at the top of the page. To close it, click the Close button. Faculty will receive an email when the refresh process has completed.
- The Early Warning System page needs to be refreshed in the browser for the latest number of warnings to be displayed. Faculty can simply navigate to the Control Panel and then back to the Eearly Warning System page to see the updated number of notification warnings.
Reviewing Warnings and Sending Notifications
Blackboard will not automatically send warning notifications to students. Faculty need to review the warnings and decide to whom they would like to send email notifications. To review the warnings and send notifications, follow these steps:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left-hand side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessments click Early Warning System.
- Click on the name of the rule that you would like to review.
- In the Review Rule Status page, if a student's performance meets the criteria of the rule, it will be indicated in the Meets Criteria column as 'Yes.'
- To contact the students who meet the criteria of the rule, click in the checkboxes to the left of the student names and then in top right-hand corner of the page click the Go button next to the Notify box.
- On the Send Notificaton page, modify the Subject and the Message of the email notification to be sent to students.
- Click in the checkbox next to the Return Receipt to be sent a copy of this notification and, optionally, attach a file.
- Click the Submit button to send the notification.
Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to getting started teaching with Blackboard? Review the answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff regarding getting started teaching with Blackboard. Also, consider attending an upcoming Blackboard workshop.
Last Updated: 03/24/2009
