Intelligent Agents send email alerts based on a set of customisable criteria. ... Select the HTML (displays formatting)
Keeping up to date with learning room activity using Intelligent Agents
What are intelligent agents? You can keep up to date with student activity in your learning room with NOW’s Intelligent Agents tool. Intelligent Agents send email alerts based on a set of customisable criteria. If a student meets these conditions, an email can be sent to either the member of staff, the student, or both.
How can intelligent agents help me and my learners? Agents can detect actions that students have taken or achieved (e.g. have submitted files to the Dropbox), performance results achieved/not achieved (e.g. assessment scores or grade), and/or, a limited number of actions students have not taken (e.g. have not logged in). The Agent email alert to a student can contain a personalised message, a supportive statement and/or links to other learning room resources or tools in NOW. However, they cannot include attachments. Agents can also help the tutor identify students who are not engaging with the learning room content. Intelligent agents can be run instantly or regularly scheduled using the calendar tool in NOW. When an agent is set up the following needs to be considered:
The purpose of the email alert and who is to receive it.
The condition that must be met e.g. submission to a Dropbox.
The content of the email that the agent sends when its conditions are met.
How often and when it runs?
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How to set up an Agent 1. Click on the Edit Room link which can be found in the navigation bar at the top of your learning room.
2. Click on the Intelligent Agents to go to the Agent List.
3. Click on New Agent.
4. Give the Agent a meaningful name, e.g. ‘Students NOT logged into the learning room’. NOTE: This name may become important when you have a number of agents created, all reporting on different criteria. 5. Give a description of what this Agent will do, this description is for your own reference and will not be seen by students.
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6. Select the Agent is enabled checkbox to immediately activate the agent once you have saved it. Note : You can activate/deactivate agents at any time from the Agent List. 7. Determine the alert conditions.
If you want the agent to search for search for login activity, under that heading select the Send an agent alert when the following event happens check box and choose which of the two login activities you want to monitor. You can select who has or has not logged in.
If you want the agent to search for access to a learning room, under that heading select the Send an alert when the following event happens check box and choose which of the two access activities you want to monitor. You can select who has or has not accessed the learning room.
To check for other events/conditions in the learning room, click the Attach Existing, or Create and Attach button to select or create release conditions for the agent to monitor.
Of the student
8. Now choose how frequently the email alert is sent if the condition is met You can select only the first time or every time the agent is run.
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If you want the agent to run on a schedule, select the Use Calendar to schedule when the agent runs check box, then click the Update Calendar button.
Set the schedule in the Update Agent Schedule pop-up.
Click the Update button in the Update Agent Calendar pop-up to save the schedule and you will then return to the New Agent page.
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How to define email settings Here, you can define who receives an email alert and its content. 1. Select the HTML (displays formatting) or Plain Text (No formatting) radio buttons for the email format. 2. Enter the names of recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc address fields. Note: You can use special replace strings in these address fields to help sending to groups of recipients. See further instructions below or the on-screen help. 3. Type the subject in the Email Subject field. Note: Again you can use special replace strings in this fields, to customise the subject line. See further instructions below or the on-screen help 4. Type the body of your email in the Message field. 5. Click Save
How to customise email automatically using replace strings What are replace strings? In this context, replace strings are codes which allow you to automatically add customised details into parts of the email.
Addressing emails You can use the following replace string to automatically insert the name of any student who will receive an Agent email alert. To do this, copy and paste the following term (include the curly braces { }) into the To field {InitiatingUser}. To receive an email containing the name of each students who ‘passes’ the conditions, insert your own email address.
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When the agent runs, you will be automatically sent an Agent email alert telling you the number of students fulfilling the agent’s conditions. You can also use the Cc and Bcc fields to send copies to other staff members.
Customising email messages The following replace strings can be used to automatically insert special fields into the message that the student sees when they receives an alert email. For example, you can insert replace strings for the student’s first, last or full name or the name of the learning room. The list of replace strings is set out below. Copy and paste them into the message or, click the Insert Replace String icon in the editor to insert them directly. Replace Strings
Description
{OrgUnitCode}
Learning room code e.g. BIOL075.
{OrgUnitName}
Learning room title e.g. BIOL075 Prog Guide.
{InitiatingUserFirstName}
The first name of the student.
{InitiatingUserLastName}
The last name of the student.
{InitiatingUserUserName}
The full username of the student.
{OrgName}
The name of the organisation e.g. NTU VLE.
{OrgUnitStartDate}
The start date specified for the module.
{OrgUnitEndDate}
The end date specified for the module.
{InitiatingUserOrgDefinedId}
The Org Defined Id of the initiating user.
Note: Replying to email notifications - By default, agent alert emails have a ‘no reply’ from address. If you want the student to be able to reply, include your actual email address within the text of the email message.
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How to run, edit & delete an agent manually Typically, intelligent agents are set up to run automatically. If you do not have a regular schedule set up for an agent, you must run it manually. 1. On the learning room navigation bar, click on Edit Room. 2. Click on the Intelligent Agent icon. 3. Click the manually run agent
icon next to an agents name on the Agent
List page to run it manually.
4. To Edit, click on the name of the agent, make your changers and then click Save to keep any revisions. 5. To Delete click the
icon for the agent you want to delete on the Agent List
page. Note: You cannot recover deleted agents.
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How could you use intelligent agents? Below are a number of examples of how this tool could be used.
Case example 1: An agent for reporting students who have not logged into a learning room Step 1 – Create and turn on the agent 1. Create a new agent (Edit room > Intelligent agents > New agent) 2. Enable the agent (Checkbox)
Step 2 – Define the conditions 3. Select conditions (for login to learning room) > Not accessed the learning room for x days 4. Decide on repetition (‘take action the first time the agent is run’) 5. Enter email details: (To: tutor’s own email address) 6. Enter email subject (e.g. ‘non access to learning room’) 7. Enter email message: (use replace strings to identify the student name and the learning room: e.g. ‘{InitiatingUserUserName} has not accessed learning room for X days’) 8. Save then run the intelligent agent (from Agent list > the Run agent icon) A variation could return the names of students who have accessed or not content topics, discussions etc.
Case example 2: An agent to send a welcome message and what to do now message Step 1 – Create and turn on the agent 1. Create a new agent (Edit room > Intelligent agents > New agent) 2. Enable the agent (Checkbox)
Step 2 – Define the conditions 3. Select conditions (for login to NOW) > ‘User has logged in during the past x days’ 4. Decide on repetition (‘take action the first time the agent is run’); 5. Enter email details (To: use replace strings for the student’s name); 6. Enter email subject (‘Welcome to the module’); 7. Enter email name of the addressee: (use replace strings for the student’s first name – this will personalise the message – e.g. David,);
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8. Enter the body of the message using replace string where possible (e.g. ‘Welcome to the BIOL075 Biomedical Sciences module. Please read the introductory text in the Content area and …’); 9. Save and run the agent.
Case example 3: An agent to send a conditional ‘next steps’ message to students Step 1 – Create and turn on the agent 1. Create a new agent (Edit room > Intelligent agents > New agent) 2. Enable the agent (Checkbox)
Step 2 – Define the conditions 3. Select conditions (for ‘next step’ information) > Release conditions > Condition type: Submission to Dropbox > select Dropbox; 4. Decide on repetition (‘take action the first time the agent is run, for example use the calendar to run the agent every day from the start date to the closing date of the Dropbox.’); 5. Enter email details (To: use replace strings for the student’s name and add the tutor’s email address in the Cc field); 6. Enter email subject; 7. Enter email name of the addressee: (use replace strings for the student’s first name – this will personalise the message – e.g. David,); 8. Enter the body of the message (e.g. ‘Now that you have submitted to the XX Dropbox please note that I have made a self-assessment revision ‘quiz’ available. Feedback for your submission will be available after February 12th’); 9. Save and run the agent.
Further example uses for Intelligent Agents Here are some example alerts emails and conditions:
Student receives a personalised email message of concern from staff (follow up from NOT accessing NOW or learning room).
Student receives a congratulatory email message for the achievement of a grade.
Students all receive an email message telling when to expect feedback for an assignment.
For a week prior to a submission deadline all students receive a reminder email message every time they log into NOW. 9
