Using Brightspace Intelligent Agents for Student Outreach

Relevant to: faculty and staff

This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.

Introduction

Intelligent Agents allow instructors to send automated email messages within the Brightspace LMS to students when certain course criteria have, or have not, been met. For example, instructors can create an intelligent agent to automatically email students a reminder message when they have not logged into the course in more than one week. Instructors could also create an intelligent agent when students get above a certain percentage on each of their quizzes to congratulate them.

Create an Intelligent Agent

1. Select any course in Brightspace to begin creating an intelligent agent.
2. Select Tools.
3. Select Intelligent Agents.

   

   Note: After opening the Intelligent Agents tool, select the Settings button. This will allow the instructor to edit some key settings to make any email communication look more customized and less like Spam mail.

   

   

4. The Agent List page will open. Select New Agent.

   

5. Enter an Agent Name (required) and Description (optional).
6. Select Add Category to create a new category, if desired, or leave this set as No Category.
7. Select Agent is Enabled if the agent is to be active as soon as created.

   

8. Under Scheduling, select the Frequency at which the agent should be activated:

   

   1. No Schedule
   2. One-Time Run: Scheduled Date
   3. Hourly: Repeats Every [ ] hour(s); Schedule Dates (Has Start Date, Has End Date)
   4. Daily Repeats Every [ ] day(s); Scheduled Time; Schedule Dates (Has Start Date, Has End Date)
   5. Weekly: Scheduled Time Schedule Dates (Has Start Date, Has End Date)
   6. Monthly: Repeats Every [ ] month(s); Repeats On: [ ] day of the month; Scheduled Time; Schedule Dates (Has Start Date, Has End Date)
   7. Annually: Repeats on (Select month and date); Scheduled Time; Schedule Dates (Has Start Date, Has End Date)
9. Under "Criteria," determine the criteria the agent looks for:
   1. Under Role in Classlist, select whether the agent will look at All users visible in the Classlist or Users with specific roles. If choosing Users with specific roles, choose ESC Student (non-cascading) from the SUNY wide list.
   2. Under Take Action on Activity :
      • Select Login Activity if the agent should look for user logins within a certain time frame.
      • Select Course Activity if the agent should look for user access to the course within a certain time frame.
      • Select Create& in the Release Conditions section to have the agent activate when a student views or interacts with a specific item in the course. Choose a condition that must be met from the Condition Type menu. Then, specify the actions the student must take in the Condition Details section. Select Create when finished.
10. Under Actions, indicate under Repetition whether the agent should:
    1. Take action only the first time the agent's criteria are satisfied for a user, or
    2. Take action every time the agent is evaluated and the agent's criteria are satisfied for a user.
    3. Note: Select What Action Repetition setting should I use? for more details.
11. Send an email:

    

    1. Select Send an email when a user's actions satisfy the criteria.
    2. Replace strings are bits of code entered into automated emails for personalization. We recommend using the following replace string in the To address field to send the agent email to specific recipients: {InitiatingUser} – The user (student) who performs the actions necessary to satisfy the agent's criteria.
    3. Put your own ESC email address in the cc or bcc fields so you will be alerted when a user satisfies the criteria.
    4. If an email is sent, the Subject for the email will be required.
    5. Enter text within the Message field and attach files as needed.
    6. Note: You may view What replace strings can I use in the subject and message? Here are several recommended replace strings to consider using:
       • {InitiatingUserFirstName} - The first name of the initiating user.
       • {InitiatingUserLastName} - The last name of the initiating user.
       • {LastCourseAccessDate} - The date the initiating user last accessed the course.
       • {LastLoginDate} - The date the initiating user last logged in.
       • {OrgUnitCode} - The code for the org unit (course code).
       • {OrgUnitName} - The name of the org unit (course name).
    7. Under Email Format HTML is selected by default. We recommend leaving this as is.
    8. Here is a sample email using replace strings:

       Dear {InitiatingUserFirstName},

       You did not log into the {OrgUnitName} course site in the last week. Please remember that regular participation in course activities is essential for success in this course!

       Please log in to the course site as soon as possible.

       See you in class,

       Professor Smith

       In the example above, the name of each student and the course title will automatically appear when the email is sent. The bold text in the example below indicates what was added based on the replace string in the above example:

        

       Dear John,

       You did not log into the Western Civilization I course site in the last week. Please remember that regular participation in course activities is essential for success in this course!

       Please log into the course site as soon as possible.

       See you in class,

       Professor Smith

    9. Select Save and Close.

Editing an Agent

To edit an existing agent (even if you have copied over an intelligent agent from a previous semester's course):

1. On the Agent List page, select the name of the agent you wish to edit.
2. Enter your desired changes.
3. Select Save and Close.

Testing an Agent with a Practice Run

Using a practice run with an intelligent agent will create an artificial report of students who would meet the agent's criteria based on their actions in the course. No emails will actually be sent to students, but the list that is generated will indicate which students would have been emailed if the agent had really been used.

1. On the Agent list page, select the down chevron next to the name of the agent.
2. Select Practice Run.
3. Select Run.
4. On the confirmation page, select Done.

Run an Intelligent Agent Manually

You will need to manually run an intelligent agent if it is not regularly scheduled.

1. Select the down chevron next to an agent on the Agent List page.
2. Select Run Now.
3. A confirmation dialog box will open, select Run.