Automations

Blackboard Automations are designed to help instructors provide personalized, timely support to students without increasing their workload. Automations allow instructors to pair a trigger with a customizable automatic message that is sent to students via Messages in Blackboard. Automations can help instructors provide supportive messages to struggling students, encouragement for strong performers, or reminder messages to check feedback on a graded assessment.

Types of Triggers

Automations can be triggered by a student’s performance on an assessment or a set number of days without viewing feedback.

• Performance-based triggers are activated when a student scores above or below a pre-determined percentage on a graded assessment. For example, a trigger could be set to send a congratulatory message to any student who scores above 90% on an assignment. A trigger could also be set to send a supportive message to students who score below a set threshold.
• Feedback reminders can be triggered if a student has not viewed feedback for a set number of days. You can set one reminder message that applies to all assessments that accept submissions.

Create an Automation

1. Click View/ Automations in the Details & Actions panel, under Course Assistants.
2. Click + New Automation.
3. Click Configure below the desired automation. Current options include (additional capabilities planned):
   • Send congratulatory message
   • Send supportive message
   • Send feedback reminder

Congratulatory or Supportive Messages

Both congratulatory and supportive measures are based on a student's attained grade on an assessment.

1. Type a name for the automation in the upper left.
2. Choose a graded item from the drop-down menu in the automation trigger section. 
3. Choose an option in the Attained grade is... drop down menu (e.g., greater than, less than, etc.) and type a value in the Grade percentage field. Together, these determine when the Message should be sent. 
4. Click Done.
5. To customize the message, click the Pencil icon to the right of the Send course message section. 
6. Draft the text to be sent as a Message (the default text is provided as a model and is fully editable).
7. Click Done.
8. Click Save at the top right. 

Feedback Reminders

Feedback reminders apply to all assessments that accept submissions, including Assignments and Tests.

To set up a feedback reminder, follow the same steps above for grade-based messages, but in step 3 you specify the number of days that should lapse from when feedback is posted before the reminder is sent. 

Edit and Manage Automations 

To edit, duplicate, delete, or set the automation as inactive, click the ellipsis (...) to the right of the automation and choose the desired action.

Activity Log

When automations are sent, you can view the activity in two ways. All automations will be visible on the Messages tab of your course. For a more concise list of the automation history, open the automation by clicking its name and selecting the Activity Log tab in the navigation.