Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Overview Maximize student retention and success by using the Early Warning System to communicate performance concerns to students and their learning partners as soon as they arise. With the Early Warning System, you set Early Warning System rules related to grades, due dates, and attendance. Blackboard Learn™ monitors student performance against those rules. Instructors check the Early Warning System regularly to view alerts that have been generated. The instructor can choose to notify students and their learning partners of the alerts with a customized message. The Early Warning System may also be used to recognize students who have met high-achievement criteria set by a rule, and send them an acknowledgement.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Adding Early Warning System Rules There are three main steps to using the Early Warning System. Adding warning rules is the first step.

You can set warning rules to monitor students by: • Grades o

Example: Set a rule to see warnings for students who receive 65 or less on an exam worth 100 points.

o

Example: Set a rule to see high achievement warnings for students who have received 18 or higher on a quiz worth 20 points.

• Due dates o

Example: Set a rule to see warnings for students who have missed a due date by more than one day.

• Course access o

Example: Set a rule to see warnings for students who have not accessed the course in seven days.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System QUICK STEPS: adding rules 1

On the Control Panel, click Early Warning System under the Evaluation section.

2

On the Early Warning System page, click Create Rule to access the dropdown list, and select Grade Rule, Date Due Rule, or Last Access Rule.

3

On the Add Early Warning System Rule page, enter a name for the rule.

4

Next to Availability, select the radio node next to Yes to activate the rule.

5

Under Rule Criteria, enter or select the information for the rule.

6

Click Submit.

Figure 1.1

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System

Figure 1.2

In the example above, a Grade Rule is added associated with the Advanced Quiz. Consider setting a higher warning at the start of the term so you can notify and offer suggestions to students who are performing at a lower level from the beginning. Doing this encourages students to set higher standards. NOTE: The score is shown next to the Grade Center item in brackets. Also, you select a criterion and choose a score for the item.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Early Warning System Page

Figure 1.3

The Early Warning System page lists the number of warnings sent and details the criteria for each rule.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Running Status Checks on Warnings After adding rules, you have to run status checks to see if any student’s performance has met the warning criteria.

For example, you can run status checks after tests have been taken or assignments are due. If you have added Last Access rules, you can also run periodical status checks.

QUICK STEPS: running status checks 1

On the Control Panel, click Early Warning System under the Evaluation section.

2

On the Early Warning System page, select the check boxes for the rules for which you want to run status checks.

3

Click Refresh on the Action Bar.

4

Verify by clicking OK in the pop-up window.

Depending on the number of students in your course and the number of rules you select to refresh, it may take some time for the updates to run. You will receive an email when the check is complete.

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Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System

Figure 1.4

TIP: You may have to reload the page to see updated warnings. Once you have run a status check, you will see the number of warnings that have been identified.

Figure 1.5

Take Note A In the Number of Warnings column, more warnings have been added. B

Click the Action Link for a rule to access the contextual menu and select Review Rule Status to see which students have met the warning criteria.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Notify Users of Warnings

If students and observers have supplied an email address, you can send an email notification that warning criteria has been met. You can notify students, their observers, or both. For each rule type, there is a default notification message. You can edit and add to these messages. Default Email Messages •

Grade: This message has been sent based on your score on a Grade Center item.

•

Due Date: This message has been sent to remind you that a Grade Center item is due.

•

Last Access: This message is to remind you to log in. Regular attendance is required.

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System QUICK STEPS: notifying users 1

On the Control Panel, click Early Warning System under the Evaluation section.

2

On the Early Warning System page, click the Action Link for a rule to access the contextual menu and select Review Rule Status.

3

On the Review Rule Status page, select the check boxes for the users to notify.

4

On the Action Bar, click Notify to access the drop-down list and select a recipient or recipients for the notification.

5

On the Send Notification page, you can customize the Subject and Message as desired.

You can attach a file, such as a review sheet, to your email message.

Figure 1.6

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System

Figure 1.7

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Using the Early Warning System Accessing the Notification History The Early Warning System also contains a Notification History. The Notification History is useful to confirm that you have sent a warning, as well as for general auditing purposes. To access the history, click Notification History on the Action Bar on the Early Warning System page.

Figure 1.8

If you have sent many notifications, you can search the log by Notification Date, Rule Name, or User.

Figure 1.9

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Using the Early Warning System

Mastering the Grade Center

Ask Dr. C In the table below, Dr. C explains the role of Observer in a course. Your Question

Dr. C’s Reply

What does the Observer role do?

The Observer role is used to link students with their learning partners. In a school setting, Observers are often parents, counselors, or coaches. While in a corporate or government setting, Observers might be managers, mentors, or human resources personnel. Observers cannot participate in the course; they can only observe parts of the course. Observers can be restricted in the areas of the course they can access. One student can have multiple observers. For example, both parents can observe their child from their own accounts, and multiple students can be linked to one observer. For example, one parent can observe all their children from one account.

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