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Watch the how-to video
1. Creating Automations
2. Activity Logs for Automations
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1. Creating Automations
In Blackboard you can now set up automatic congratulatory messages for students who achieve high scores and supportive messages for those who may need encouragement due to lower grades. These messages are sent automatically based on conditions defined by the instructor. Instructors can base these messages on the student's overall grade or on grades for a single assignment.
1. On the main course content page, click on the Automations tool located above the Details & Actions section.
2. On the next page, click on the option to create a new automation. Note: these automatic messages will be be sent to all students in your courses and not to individual students.
3. Clicking on new Automation brings you to the page below. You can choose to create an automated message for your students' overall grade or for a grade on an individual assignment. The message below is associated to an assignment called Exploring the Boundaries of Reality (see image). I have given my Automation message the same title as the title of my assignment. For individual assignments, giving your Automation a title that relates to the assignment insures that the student will know which assignment the message is referring to.
4. When you have set up your associated assignment grade point requirement, click Done. You can choose the grading criteria that will activate the delivery of that automated message to your students. You can set a student's attained grade being greater than, equal to, less than and so forth (see images below).
Then set your attained grade criteria and percentage.
5. Next, move further down on the same screen to write your message. You can use the stock message supplied by Blackboard or you can write your own. If you use Blackboard's message, be sure to put the name of the assignment in your message (see example below). After you have finished, click Done.
6. After you've written your message, click Save on the next page.
7. Below is what you will see after you have created several automations for your course. Your new message automation will appear at the top of your Automations message page.
2. Activity Logs for Automations
You can access an activity log for each automation in the course. The activity log displays a list every time the automation has run.
To view the activity log for an automation:
- Select View Automations under Automations.
- Select the automation.
- Select the Activity Log tab at the top of the screen. This will bring you to the activity for that particular automation message (see image to the right).
The Automations activity log includes three columns. The action date contains the date and time the automaton was triggered. The student column lists the name of the student who triggered the automation and received the message. The item column tells you which item triggered the automation for the student.
