The document outlines strategies for improving engagement in online learning, focusing on personalizing the learning environment, using intelligent agents for automated notifications, and implementing conditional release of course materials. Personalization can be achieved by utilizing user-specific names in communications, while intelligent agents can notify instructors and students about course activity and performance. Conditional release allows instructors to control access to content based on specific criteria, enhancing the learning experience.

1. Communications Buffet
Barry Dahl
Sr. Community Manager, Desire2Learn

2. Communications Buffet
• Three Quick Ways to Increase
Engagement
1. Personalizing the Learning Space
2. Utilizing Intelligent Agents
Effectively
3. Novel uses of Release Conditions

3. Personalizing the
Learning Space

4. Not Personalized Learning
• That’s a big topic – a whole day by itself.
• Let’s look at how you can make the
learning space feel a bit more personal to
the students.

5. Adding Names in the LE
• {FirstName}
– Each user’s first name
• {LastName}
– Each user’s last name
• {OrgName}
– College/District org
name
• {OrgUnitName}
– Course name
• Tools where this works:
• News: (Headline, content)
• Discussions: (subject and
message)
• Content Topic: When you
create a new file
• Dropbox: Folder instructions &
feedback
• Quizzes: all custom boxes
• Checklist: Name and Description
• Groups: Description

6. News Item – without
Replace String

7. News Item – without
Replace String

8. News Item – with
Replace String

9. News Item – with
Replace String

10. In Quiz Introduction

11. In Quiz Introduction

12. In Quiz Footer

13. In Quiz Footer

14. In Quiz Questions

15. Example from CU Boulder
Assignment Feedback
assett.colorado.edu/d2l/replace-strings

16. In Custom Widgets

17. In Custom Widgets

18. Intelligent
Agents

19. What’s an Intelligent Agent?
Definition:
Intelligent Agents can assist
instructors, administrators, and
students by providing a quick and
automated notification when defined
activity occurs in a course or when
there is a lack of login or course entry.

20. How do They Work?
•For each agent you need to determine:
• what criteria it is looking for
• how often it looks for those criteria
• What the email should say and who
should receive it when the criteria are
met

21. Client Use Cases in T & L
• Automatic reminders to students:
–Not logging in to D2L
–Not entering a specific course
• Message after poor performance:
–Get their attention and encourage
them to seek extra help
• Message after good performance

22. Advantages of Using Agents
1. Increases communication between
instructor and student
2. Personalized message, doesn’t look
like a canned response.
3. Send links to other resources,
tutorials, tutoring center, etc.

23. Possible Disadvantages
1. Need to manage the agents effectively
to ensure effective communications.
2. If students receive too many of these
messages they’ll know they are
automatically sent (not personal).
3. Something could break.

24. Go to Edit Course

27. Determine Criteria

28. You can do both

32. This email was only
sent to the instructor

39. Release
Conditions

40. What is Conditional Release?
• Conditional Release is used to define
the order in which a student accesses
course materials.
• "Release" means visible or accessible
to students.
• Most commonly used release conditions
are date and time, but other types of
conditions are available.

41. Examples of Conditional Release
• An instructor can use Conditional Release to
specify that:
– a Dropbox folder is available to a student only if
he or she is registered for section number 002.
– only students who have visited a link to the
syllabus can take Quiz #1.
– students who score less than 60% on a quiz will
see a link to a Content topic called "Post-Quiz
Review: What Was Unit 3 All About?"

42. Release Conditions work with:
• Checklists
• Content modules
and topics
• Custom widgets
• Discussion
forums and
topics
• Dropbox folders
• Grade items and
categories
• News items
• Quizzes
• Surveys

43. Release can be based on:
• Group or section enrollment
• Roles (ex: student, TA, instructor)
• Viewing content
• Authoring a Discussion message
• Submitting to a Dropbox

44. Lots of signals about conditions

45. Lots of signals about conditions

46. Sample Welcome Post in News
• In order to get started successfully, you should
carefully review the contents of the Syllabus module.
Before you can progress to the rest of the
course Content and Discussions, you will have to
score 100% on the Course Requirements Quiz,
which will serve as our Course Contract. You may
need to refresh/reload your Internet browser after you
receive the appropriate grade on each quiz to gain
access to the Course Content and Module
Discussions.

47. Example String of Conditions
• Checklist completion
– Quiz is released after checklist is completed
• Quiz grade entered in gradebook
–Widget is released based on quiz score
• Got to the LE for example

48. Communications Buffet
Barry Dahl
Sr. Community Manager, Desire2Learn