Today I attended a D2L webinar titled “Revolutionizing Learning: How AI Enhances LMS Capabilities in Higher Education.” Facilitated by D2L’s Ken Chapman; the panelists were Sheila Unwin of Aspen University, Mary Smith of Medical University of South Carolina, and Luke Hobson of MIT, University of Miami, and the Instructional Design Institute.
Luke shared a CustomGPT he built called the Brightspace Helper. I was already logged in to ChatGPT, so it was immediately available to me. You might find that you need a login (as shown below) to use this tool.
Need to build something in Brightspace or learn to use one of the many tools in the platform? Prompt Luke’s Helper for step-by-step instructions.
As the webinar continued, I opened a new window and started testing out Luke’s CustomGPT. I ran through a couple prompts related to building Intelligent Agents in Brightspace. Here’s what happened.
Prompt #1
How can I create an Intelligent Agent that is triggered whenever a student gets a failing score on a quiz?
Answer #1 from Brightspace Helper
You can create an Intelligent Agent in Brightspace that automatically notifies students (or instructors) when a student receives a failing score on a quiz.
Here’s how you can set it up:
Steps to Create the Intelligent Agent:
- Go to Intelligent Agents
- Navigate to your course in Brightspace.
- Click on Course Admin from the navbar.
- Select Intelligent Agents from the list.
2. Create a New Agent
- Click the New Agent button at the top.
- Enter a Name for your agent (e.g., “Quiz Failure Notification”).
- (Optional) Add a Description to explain what the agent does.
- Check Agent is Enabled to activate it.
3. Set Criteria for the Agent
- In the Role Settings, keep it set to students.
- Under Criteria, check Take Action Based on Grades.
- Click Select a Grade Item and choose the specific quiz from your gradebook.
- In the grade threshold settings:
- Choose Grade Value on a Grade Item
- Select <= (less than or equal to)
- Enter the failing percentage (e.g., 50 for 50%).
4. Set the Frequency
- Under Scheduling, decide when the agent should run (e.g., daily, weekly).
- Click Update Schedule and configure the frequency.
5. Create a Notification Email
- Under Actions, check Send an Email When Criteria Are Satisfied.
- In the To field, use {InitiatingUser} (this will send the email to the student).
- Enter a Subject (e.g., “Quiz Performance Notification”).
- In the Email Body, write a message, such as:
- Hi {InitiatingUser},
- I noticed that you scored {GradeValue} on the recent quiz. If you need any help, please reach out or review the course materials. You can also schedule time with me for additional support.
- Best,
- [Your Name]
6. Save and Test
- Click Save and Close to activate the agent.
- You can manually run the agent to test it by selecting it from the list and clicking Run Now.
This agent will now trigger whenever a student gets a failing score on the selected quiz and will send an automated email to them. 🚀 Let me know if you need more details!
Barry’s Note: This appears to me to be exactly correct.
Next, I wanted to ask the Helper to do something for me that I was 99.9% sure wasn’t possible…just to see how it handled my request.
Prompt #2:
Now I’d like an Intelligent Agent that will email me (the instructor) whenever a student’s recorded attendance (in Brightspace) falls below 75%.
Answer #2 from Brightspace Helper
You can create an Intelligent Agent in Brightspace that will notify you when a student’s attendance falls below 75%. Here’s how:
Steps to Create the Intelligent Agent:
- Go to Intelligent Agents
- In Brightspace, navigate to your course.
- Click on Course Admin from the navbar.
- Select Intelligent Agents.
2. Create a New Agent
- Click the New Agent button.
- Enter a Name (e.g., “Low Attendance Alert”).
- (Optional) Add a Description to explain what the agent does.
- Check Agent is Enabled.
3. Set Criteria for Attendance Monitoring
- Under Criteria, check Take Action Based on Grades.
- Click Select a Grade Item.
- Choose the Attendance register you are using.
- In the grade threshold settings:
- Choose Grade Value on a Grade Item.
- Select <= (less than or equal to).
- Enter 75 (for 75%).
4. Set the Frequency
- Under Scheduling, click Update Schedule and set how often the agent should check attendance (e.g., weekly).
5. Set Up the Notification Email
- Under Actions, check Send an Email When Criteria Are Satisfied.
- In the To field, enter your email address (or use {InitiatingUser} if you want to notify the student too).
- Enter a Subject (e.g., “Student Attendance Below 75%”).
- In the Email Body, write a message like:
Hi [Your Name],The following student has an attendance percentage below 75%:- Name: {InitiatingUser}- Attendance Percentage: {GradeValue}
You may want to reach out to the student to check in.Best, Brightspace
6. Save and Activate
- Click Save and Close.
- (Optional) Run it manually to test.
Now, whenever a student’s attendance falls below 75%, Brightspace will automatically email you! Let me know if you need any tweaks. 😊
Barry’s Note: But…that requires me to manually enter attendance info in the Grades tool and then run an Agent against that data. I want it to automatically work with the Attendance Tool.
I didn’t specifically tell Brightspace Helper that I wanted it to use the Attendance Tool in Brightspace, but that was my intention (because I knew it wouldn’t work). This question actually came to me just yesterday from a customer who wanted an agent that would trigger whenever a student’s attendance fell below a certain threshold. So, I prompted again…
Prompt #3:
Does this solution make use of the built-in Brightspace Attendance tool?
Answer #3 from Brightspace Helper
Good question! No, the solution I originally provided relies on the Gradebook, meaning it would only work if attendance is being recorded as a graded item (e.g., if you manually enter attendance percentages into a grade column).
If you’re using the built-in Brightspace Attendance tool, unfortunately, Intelligent Agents cannot directly track attendance percentages because the Attendance tool isn’t integrated with Intelligent Agents. However, you have two main workarounds:
Option 1: Manually Track Attendance in the Gradebook
- If you want to use Intelligent Agents, the best approach is to create an Attendance grade item in the Gradebook and regularly update it with attendance percentages.
- Then, follow the same steps as before to set an agent based on the grade threshold.
Option 2: Use Attendance Reports & Manually Monitor
- In Course Admin, go to Attendance.
- Click on your Attendance Register.
- Click Export to download attendance data.
- Sort students by percentage and manually follow up with those below 75%.
Since Brightspace doesn’t allow Intelligent Agents to pull directly from the Attendance tool, Option 1 is your best bet if you want automated alerts. Let me know if you need help setting that up! 😊
Barry’s Last Note: these responses seem to be correct to me. I wanted to see if it would give me a B.S. answer for creating an Intelligent Agent where one couldn’t be properly built. Luke’s tool didn’t take the bait, and in fact gave me a couple of options for workarounds which seems pretty helpful to me.
Here’s a post from Luke’s blog where he first (I think) revealed this tool along with two other CustomGPTs, Your UDL Pal, and Instructional Design Interview Coach. Real Instructional Design Cases Using GPTs
Excellent Stuff!
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