Comparing Announcements to Intelligent Agents

What is an Announcement

The Announcements are listed on the Course Home Page where faculty can post messages to the entire class. This is the first thing that students see when they log into the course. 

A screenshot of an announcement in D2L welcoming students to a generic class

The Announcements tool enables the instructor to create news items that help communicate course updates, changes, and new information to students quickly and effectively.  

They are a great way to welcome students to the course, remind them of upcoming assignments, quizzes, or discussions that are coming due. I find it useful to post an announcement to let students know there is a past due past due assignment, and that they still have time to submit the homework. 

a screenshot of an announcement telling students to submit a past due assignment

Students can dismiss an announcement once they read it. 

a screenshot of a student clicking X to dismiss an announcement

If the instructor edits the information, they should check the box to restore the notification for students who dismissed it.   

a screenshot of the major edit checkbox

Announcements can be copied from course to course, making it easy to reuse notices to the class. 

What is an Intelligent Agent? 

An Intelligent Agent is an automated email notification that can help faculty when a defined activity occurs in a course. For example, they are a great way to individually email students because they did not login to the course for the first week of class or post to the Welcome Discussion.

​ A screenshot of the Agent List in D2L brightspace

An Intelligent Agent can be used when certain things happen or don’t happen.  For example, an email communication can be triggered when students: 

  • haven’t submitted an assignment 
  • haven’t accessed your D2L Brightspace course in xx amount of days  
  • have done a great job posting to the discussion  

 A screenshot of an email drafted in the intelligent agents area

D2L Intelligent Agents increase instructor presence by communicating to students about their engagement with the course and provide personalized feedback. Instructors can include links to the assignments or materials. 

From the student perspective, they receive a personalized email with their name outlining what they need to do to be successful in the course. Often, students reply to the instructor saying how much they appreciate the notice and will take care of the issue.

a screenshot of the sample email in a student's inbox

Intelligent Agents can be copied from course to course, making it easy to reuse personalized emails to the students. 

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