Communication Tools for Faculty in eCampus

eCampus contains many features which enable you to monitor students’ work and progress and then communicate directly with them if you see that they are at risk. Communication and early intervention can increase the chances of student success.

View the eCampus Communicating with Students video for details about the communication tools listed below. 

Email in eCampus

You can send an email to everyone in your class, or just to specific categories such as your teaching assistants, a group, or specific individuals.

When you choose Single Users, you can select the individual you want to receive the email. The email will go to the mix email account of the recipients. View the Sending Course Messages and Email in eCampus article for full instructions. 

Course messages

A course message indicator is available to students as soon as they log in. They will see a number in the Messages link in the Navigator Bar. Clicking Messages brings up a list of the student’s courses, with a link underneath the course name showing the number of unread messages. Clicking the unread message(s) link opens the Course Messages screen which shows the number of unread messages in the Inbox folder. Students can then click the Inbox folder and see a list of messages. View the Sending Course Messages and Email in eCampus article for full instructions.

Announcements

You can create announcements containing reminders for students of upcoming tests, assignments, or changes in office hours, and anything else that students need to know. View Blackboard's Announcements page for full instructions. 

Calendar

You can add an event to a calendar as a reminder to students. The student can click the event on the calendar and view details of the event. View Blackboard's Calendar page for full instructions. 

Color coding in the Grade Center

Instructors can create rules to apply color to the cells in the Grade Center that provide visual indicators that a student may need extra attention. For example, you can create a rule that highlights a failing grade in yellow. View Blackboard's Color Code the Grade Data page for full instructions. 

Reminders of past due work

From the Grade Center, you can see that a student has missing work when the column contains double dashes. Clicking the assignment’s contextual menu enables you to send an email to the student that lists the course, coursework, and the due date for the assignment. View Blackboard's Performance Dashboardpage for full instructions. 

Retention Center

The Retention Center helps you discover which students in your course are at risk. The Retention Center contains an email link to the student and help them take immediate action for improvement. View Blackboard's Retention Center page for more information. 

Performance Dashboard

The Performance Dashboard is available from the Evaluation menu in Course Management and displays pertinent information about each student’s progress and activity. You can see the last time the student navigated to your course in eCampus and the number of rules, if any, the student has triggered in the Retention Center. View Blackboard's Performance Dashboard page for full instructions. 

Tasks

From Course Tools, you can select Tasks and then create a task list for students so that they are aware of upcoming tasks and their priorities.  When students complete tasks, they can bring up the contextual menu and choose Set Completed. You can then see which students have completed the tasks. View Blackboard's Tasks page for full instructions. 

Notifications

eCampus contains Notifications under My WVU eCampus for all courses an instructor teaches. Notifications includes items that need attention, to do lists, and what’s new.

Within a course, an instructor can choose to include a Home Page module. A Home Page module displays notifications for that course only, such as a To Do list, My Announcements, My Tasks, and Needs Attention.

View Blackboard's Add Course Modules Pages for full instructions. 

Reports

Several types of course reports can be run from the Evaluation menu to view information about course usage and student activity. Reports contain summaries of course usage such as which course areas are used most frequently and course access patterns for specific students. View Blackboard's Course Reports page for full instructions.