Early Alert

You should use the system to alert any students who are having academic issues in your course, such as poor performance on tests or quizzes, limited participation in discussions or low attendance. 

A rough estimate is to send an “Early Alert” on the lowest performing 10-15% of students or all of the students who may fail the course.

For more serious non-academic concerns, contact the BRT www.hunter.cuny.edu/BRT.

Use the “assignments” alert for students with low performance on tests or quizzes. The “engagement” alert is suitable for students with low participation or attendance. You may also select “prioritize for advising outreach” if you particularly feel that a student would benefit from contact from an advisor.

You can refer students to our campus learning centers (Skirball Science, Dolciani Math, Rockowitz Writing, and Chanin Language). This will populate your email with the information about the centers. In addition, the learning centers will conduct outreach to the referred students.

The alerts are intended to happen early in the semester, to give students ample time to pursue strategies to improve their performance. Please send alerts by October 12 in the fall and March 12 in the spring.

In general, students respond very favorably to a personalized email from faculty. The email should offer supportive guidance to help students complete the course successfully.  This might include info about a learning center, a reminder about departmental or course resources, or a suggestion to meet during office hours that includes your room number/times.

The “Early Alert” system offers a batch alert and mail merge feature.  Please see the step-by-step guide above.

When faculty use the “Early Alerts,” two important things happen that don’t happen when using Blackboard.  

First, depending on your alert type and referrals, advisors and tutors will conduct outreach to help your students connect to the support that they need to successfully complete your course.  

Second, the Early Alert system can determine when students have been alerted by multiple different faculty which will trigger more intensive outreach from from an advisor.

Students simply receive an email from you with information on their course performance and guidance on how to improve. In addition, other members of the Hunter community will conduct outreach to help students connect to the resources that they might need to complete the course. This is a very affirming process that is sensitive to students and their needs.

What if I have a concern that is not academic in nature (e.g. bullying, expressions of hopelessness, suicidal ideation, or others)?

The Hunter College Behavioral Response Team is a group of professionals dedicated to providing support and assistance to students in crisis or in distress.

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to utilize the BRT www.hunter.cuny.edu/brt when they observe behavior by a student that concerns them.

Examples of behavior appropriate for a BRT referral include:

The faculty interface of Early Alert system is not changing with the implementation of Navigate/EAB. However, staff in advising and the learning centers will use Navigate to manage their outreach to alerted students.