You can send email reminders to any students who have not yet submitted to a particular assignment.
There are different workflows depending on the assessment tool being used, and whether it is set as Named or Anonymous.
Please Note: The “send reminder” function in the Gradebook will not work if there is a Release Condition set, which is why these workflows are necessary.
- Turnitin assignment – Named or Anonymous
- Blackboard assignment – Named
- Blackboard assignment – Anonymous
- Blackboard Group assignment
- Non-submission reminder message – default text
Turnitin assignment – Named or Anonymous
You can send non-submission reminders by downloading the submission download list from the Turnitin assignment inbox. This will provide you with a list of named students who have not submitted to the submission point. The same procedure applies regardless of whether anonymity is switched on.
- Locate the Turnitin assignment in the Assessment content area. Click the submission point to open the assignment inbox.
- Click on the Download All button, then select Submission List.
- This will download a spreadsheet to your local files. Locate and open the spreadsheet.
- The spreadsheet will list, by name, all the students who have not yet submitted to the submission point. You can filter column C so you are only seeing the students who do not have a submission. Students who have made a submission will appear as anonymous.
- Navigate back to the submission point and click the three-dot menu icon. Select Student Progress.
- From the Student Progress page, check the box next to each non-submitting student. Then, click Message.
- The New Message page will open, and you can now type a customised message.
You will normally want to use the text of the standard Non-submission reminder message.
Remember to- Include the name of the assignment in your message – Blackboard will not insert this automatically
- tick ‘Send an email copy to recipients’ before pressing Send.
Blackboard assignment – Named
Please note: This option is only available when at least 1 submission has been made to the assignment
- From the Assignment Submissions page, select No Submission from the Student Status dropdown
- This lists all students who have not submitted to this assessment. You can select them all, or individual students.
- Then click Send Message.
- The New Message screen opens
- You can then type a customised message.
You will normally want to use the text of the standard Non-submission reminder message.
Remember to- Include the name of the assignment in your message – Blackboard will not insert this automatically
- tick ‘Send an email copy to recipients’ before pressing Send.
- The message and email copy will be sent to all the selected students.
- Then repeat the process for any students with the status ‘Draft Saved’.
Please note: you will see a ‘Send Reminder’ option in various places in the Gradebook. We recommend that you do not use this option: it does not offer the same flexibility; it does not work on any assignments which have Release Conditions applied; and, crucially, the reminder is sent only as a Message, not as an email.
Blackboard assignment – Anonymous
- With anonymous Blackboard assignments you have to use the ‘Send Reminder’ feature in the Gradebook. Before you can use this function, you need to remove any Release Conditions on the assignment.
All Blackboard assignments created by the EMA Integration have a ‘Show After’ or ‘Access from’ date applied (4 weeks before the due date), and therefore have Release Conditions applied. Removing the Start Date does not have any negative consequences – by the time non-submission reminders are being sent, by definition the Start Date will already have passed. - To remove Release Conditions for the assignment, change ‘Release Conditions’ to ‘Visible to Students’.
- Then open the Assignment and navigate to the Submissions tab; click Send Reminder.
- Or locate the assignment in the Gradebook; click Send Reminder.
- You are asked to confirm
- The standard University non-submission message will be sent to these users; you are not able to customise the message that is sent.
- The reminder will always be sent to students as an email, a copy is not saved in Messages.
Blackboard Group assignment
There is no option in the Gradebook to send a Message for Group assignments, and if you use the Send Reminder feature students will receive this only as a Blackboard message, not as an email.
In order to send a non-submission reminder, use this workaround:
- Go to the Gradebook and identify any Groups which have not submitted; make a note of which Groups you need to contact.
- Go to Messages and send a message to the non-submitting groups.
Non-submission reminder message – Template text
The message will need to be manually sent with the following template and you will need to manually update the <> tags with relevant course information. (the @…@ tags will add course information if sent from the Blackboard course message tools)
@X@course.id@X@: Reminder to complete activity
@X@course.course_name@X@
You have not yet made a submission for this assignment: <Add ‘assignment title’ here>.
Please ignore this email if you have an assessment adjustment, an extension as part of your agreed Individual Learning Plan with the Disability Advisory Service, or you are not formally assessed on this module.
Due date: <Add ‘due date’ here>
- If you receive this email before the deadline please submit your assessment as soon as possible.
- If you receive this email after the deadline, you are still able to submit your work, but a late penalty will apply. (Except where you have an agreed adjustment or extension.)
You are advised to submit work in an unfinished state, rather than fail to submit any work.
Please do not reply to this email.
For any queries about submitting assessments, please contact your Support Centre as soon as possible.
- Henley Business School – contact your programme administrators on the Admin Decks in the HBS or ICMA buildings.
- Reading Global Academy – contact your programme administrators in the Admin Office in the Edith Morley building.
- UoR Malaysia – contact your Student Support Coordinator at ssc.uorm@reading.edu.my.
Late Penalties
If your assignment is submitted late, a penalty will be applied to your work:
Request an Assessment Adjustment
If something unexpected has affected your ability to submit your work, you may be able to apply for an Assessment Adjustment.
Guide last updated on October 3, 2025