Messaging Tools and Replace Strings

Keep students up-to-date on course materials and activities by sending personalized emails utilizing the Replace Strings feature, or provide links to course materials, external resources, update the class and add assignments through the Activity Feed.

On this page:

Messaging Tools

You can message your students by sending an email or by using your course's Activity Feed. Using either method allows you to update your students on the class materials or course progress, provide quick access to links and important materials, and encourage communication between you and your students. Follow SUNY OSCQR standards on Interacting with your class, specifically, standards 38, 39, 40, 42 and 43, to ensure your communications are as clear and inclusive as possible.  

Additionally, UB Learns has an integrated Course Schedule which can be used to remind students to log in and interact with their courses.

Activity Feed

Activity Feed is a course homepage widget that provides a central location for students and instructors to post messages that are visible to the entire class. You can add attachments by copying and pasting a web link or embed code, or using the attachment icons. For a rich and immersive experience, most attachments can be previewed, viewed, or interacted with directly in the feed. This feature gives your students the ability to quickly access links to important materials, comment on messages made by instructors and classmates, and upload files to assignment posts. Instructors can use simple HTML markup to format message posts and assignment instructions. 

To post messages and add attachments:

  1. On the course homepage, click Create a Post in the Activity Feed widget.
  2. Enter a message
  3. Optionally, add an attachment by doing one of the following:
    • To attach a web link or embed code, copy and paste the link or embed code in the message.
    • Click the attach icon, and do one or more of the following:
      • To upload a file from your computer, click File Upload.
      • To attach a link to course materials, click Existing Activity.
      • To attach a web link, click Weblink.
      • To insert videos from YouTube, Vimeo and TED, click Video from Web.
  4. Click Post.

If you click Post Later, you can schedule your post to release on a different date and time. Scheduled posts are not visible to users until the scheduled date and time is reached. Planned assignments are hidden from users until the scheduled date and time is reached. Previously scheduled posts can be modified by clicking on the View Planned Post link. Planned posts are removed from the planned post list once live in Activity Feed.

To post messages and add attachments:

  1. On the course homepage, click Create a Post in the Activity Feed widget.
  2. Enter an Assignment Name and Instructions.
  3. Enter a Due Date.
    •     If you want this assignment to count towards the students' overall class grade, select the Add to Grades checkbox. 
  4. Set the Submission Type:
    • File Submission (attach a file from a computer).
    • Text submission (type directly into a text box).
    • On paper submission (Observed submission via physical copy of a written assignment).
    • Observed in person (Observed submission via an in-person demonstration).
    • Please note: if you select the last two options, you can choose whether to allow your students to mark they have completed work (manually by learners) or you will provide feedback either through providing evaluation (Automatically by evaluation)
       or by a due date (Automatically by due date).
  5. Optionally, add an attachment by doing one of the following:
    • To attach a web link or embed code, copy and paste the link or embed code in the message.
    • Click the attach icon, and do one or more of the following:
      • To upload a file from your computer, click File Upload.
      • To attach a link to course materials, click Existing Activity.
      • To attach a web link, click Weblink.
      • To insert videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and TED, click Video from Web.
  6. Click Post.

If you click Post Later you can schedule your post to release on a different date/time. Scheduled posts are not visible to users until the scheduled date and time is reached. Planned assignments are hidden from users until the scheduled date and time is reached. Previously scheduled posts can be modified by clicking on the View Planned Post link. Planned posts are removed from the planned post list once live in Activity Feed.

Emails

The Email tool allows you to send email from within Brightspace. You can also organize received mail using folders and store email addresses using the Address Book. From the minibar, click the Message alerts icon and then click Email to get started. 

  1. Click Message Alerts in the minibar near your profile icon. 
  2. Click Email.
  3. In the To box, add the email addresses of your intended recipients. 
  4. Compose your message and add any attachments. 
    • Note: The email message, attachments and the number of recipients in the To, CC and BCC fields count towards the email message size and cannot exceed 20MB.
  5. Click Send.
  1. On the navbar, click Classlist.
  2. To email one or more learners (but not your entire class), select the check boxes for every learner you want to email and click Email.
  3. To email all the learners in your course, click Email Classlist.
    • To only email learners with accommodations, set your search filter to only display learners with accommodations:
      1. On the Email Classlist page, click Show Search Options.
      2. Select the checkbox next to Users with Accommodations.
      3. Click the search icon in the Search for text box,. 
  4. Once you have selected your intended recipients, click Send Email. The Compose New Message dialog box appears.
  5. Compose your message and add any attachments.
  6. Click Send.

Personalizing Your Messages With Replace Strings

You can personalize all of your messaging through Replace Strings. Replace strings incorporate your student’s personalized information, such as their name, automatically. This feature can help instructors build better relationships with learners, increase engagement levels and improve the overall learning experience. 

Replace strings are particularly useful within the following:

  • Course Homepage Widgets
  • Custom Navigation Bar Links
  • Navigation Bars
  • Mail Templates
  • Grades when adding bulk feedback

To insert a Replace String into a message, use curly brackets { } where you’d like the text to be replaced with personal user-specific text. Some examples are:

 

Replace String 

Description Sample Display
{FirstName}  First name  Jane
{LastName}
Last name  Smith 
{UserName}  UBITName
jsmith999 
{ExternalEmail}  UB email address  jsmith999@buffalo.edu 
{OrgUnitName} Course name  English 101
{OrgName} Name of university  University at Buffalo  
{RoleName}  The UB Learns role of the user who views the item containing the string.  Student 

Replace strings can be used in Intelligent Agents to personalize the messaging to your students. In the Intelligent Agents email tool, use curly brackets {} to enclose the string of text.  Some examples are: 

Replace String 
Description  For Use In 
{InitiatingUser}  The user who performs the action that meets the agent’s criteria  Email address field  
{InitiatingUserAuditors}  The auditors for the user who performs the action that meets the agent’s criteria  Email address field
{OrgName}  The name of the organization Email body 
{OrgUnitCode}  The code for the Org Unit  Email body 
{OrgUnitName} The name of the Org Unit  Email body 
{OrgUnitStartDate}  The start date specified for the Org Unit  Email body 
{OrgUnitEndDate}  The end date specified for the Org Unit  Email body 
{OrgUnitId}  The org unit ID required to make quicklinks work Email subject line and email body 
{InitiatingUserFirstName}  The first name of the initiating user  Email body 
{InitiatingUserLastName}  The last name of the initiating user  Email body 
{InitiatingUserUserName}  The username of the initiating user 
Email body 
{InitiatingUserOrgDefinedId}  The Org Defined ID of the initiating user  Email body
{LastCourseAccessDate}  The date the initiating user last accessed the course  Email subject line and email body 
{LastLoginDate} The date the initiating user last logged in  Email subject line and email body 
{LoginPath}  The address of the login path for UB Learns 
Email body 

Additional Resources