Conditional Messages to Students (like Intelligent Agents)

[NatalieLintner]

I am coming from D2L where we had Intelligent Agents that would allow messages to be sent to all students who met certain conditions: missing a specific assignment, haven't logged into the course in the last week, have a certain grade range in t e class or on a specific assignment.

Is there anything similar to that in Canvas?

[thovey]

@NatalieLintner 

Yes, those options are available in Canvas, please have a look at the guides below.

How do I send a message to students from the Gradebook? 

How do I send a message to an individual student based on specific course participation criteria in ... 

How do I send a message to all students based on specific course participation criteria in New Analy... 

How do I send a message to all students based on specific course criteria in New Analytics? 

I hope this answers your question, please reach out if you need further assistance. 

[jhenline]

I don't believe this should have been marked as solved. What makes Intelligent Agents in D2L/Brightspace so much better is they are automatically sent. Once the criteria/conditions are defined, a schedule is set, there is nothing else that needs to be done by the faculty/admin. Intelligent Agents also support replacement strings so the messages can be customized. 

By using Intelligent Agents, instructors can save time on repetitive tasks and focus more on supporting learners effectively.

The only way to get the same functionality in Canvas is by leveraging the API to custom program scripts. 

[BrittnyByrom]

One of my biggest gripes with Canvas is the lack of intelligent agents! The set up was super easy and I didn't have to monitor if a student misses something--the IA would send them a message for me. The IA took care of those small tasks, so I could focus on instruction. 

[Mvarricchio]

I agree with @jhenline - Intelligent agents are nice because they go all by themselves once configured. Paired with the option for replacement strings (which we also don't have), they offer a lot of opportunities to provide an experience that feels smaller and more personalized, which helps learners feel as though they are part of a community more quickly. It can also help with engagement. This is an excellent feature to have for all courses.