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HELPFUL RESOURCES>BLACKBOARD>NEW FEATURES>BLACKBOARD 7>EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

The Early Warning System is a tool used to communicate warnings to students that there is a performance problem in a course. Warnings will be generated only when an instructor refreshes the Early Warning System and chooses to send out the warnings. There are three options for rules in the Early Warning System:

• Grade Rule: Identifies when student performance on an item is equal to or below a certain level.
• Due Date: Identifies when a student does not complete course work when it is due (only works with Assignments or Assessments created through Blackboard. Due Date Rules cannot be created for manually graded items).
• Last Access: Identifies the last time a Student accessed the course online.

Access the Early Warning System

Add Rules to the Early Warning System

Refresh Rules

Send Notification

To access the Early Warning System, click Early Warning System in the Evaluation area of the Control Panel.

The Early Warning System allows instructor users to define rules that measure user performance based on attendance and items in the Gradebook:

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To add a rule to the Early Warning System, click Grade Rule, Due Date Rule, or Last Access Rule:

Grade Rule:

1. Type the Rule Name.
2. Select a Gradebook Item, Define Criteria, and enter the Score.
3. Click Submit to add the Rule.

Due Date Rule:

1. Type the Rule Name.
2. Select a Gradebook Item, Specify Attempt, Define Criteria, and select the appropriate Date Offset.
3. Click Submit to add the Rule.

For more information on adding Due Dates to Assignments, click here.

Last Access Rule:

1. Type the Rule Name.
2. Define Criteria by specifying the number of days since the last access to the course.
3. Click Submit to add the Rule.

Once the Early Warning System Rules are added to the system, the instructor must Refresh the rule in order to review the most current status of the rule.

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To Refresh a rule in the Early Warning System:

Check the box next to the Rule, then click the Refresh button:

Once the Refresh is complete, the Last Refresh column will update with the date and time of the most recent Refresh. You will also receive an email alerting you to the status of the Refresh.

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To send Notifications through the Early Warning System:

Click on the carrot next to the Rule for which you wish to send Notifications, then click on Review Rule Status.

Choose the students to which you wish to send the Notification and click Notify.

You can choose to notify students, observers, and/or others outside of your course.

Once you make your selection, the Send Notifcation message will open. You have the option to send the message to additional recepients and to modify the message. Click Submit to send the message.

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