UDL - Principle of Representation - Guideline 1 Perception

The first principle of UDL, ‘provide multiple means of representation”, help promote an inclusive learning environment on many levels.  When developing a course and focusing on this principle, there are three guidelines to follow.  They are:

1. Perception
2. Language and symbols
3. Building Knowledge

We are not going to take a deeper look.

The first guideline, Perception, in many ways overlaps with creating accessible content.  When creating content, be sure that interaction is flexible and does not solely depend on one sense for its delivery.  As you develop the material be sure that you can meet the following criteria:

1. The option to customize the display of information. By providing malleable content options in digital format that is accessible, you will be increasing the clarity and salience of information for a wide range of learners.
2. Alternatives to perceive information. A picture can stay 1000 words, but not if you cannot see it. These presentations can abandon those with visual disabilities. To ensure equitable access, offer non-visual learners alternatives such as closed captioning and transcripts.  Also, consider visual graphics and infographics to assist learners who perform better visually than with text.
3. Represent a diversity of perspectives and identities in authentic ways. Learners need to see themselves, as well as others, represented in what they study. When students recognize their own experiences and cultures in course materials, it builds validation and belonging. 

Meeting these criteria will reduce barriers to learning. Key information will be equally perceptible to all learners by: 

1. providing the same information through different modalities, and
2. providing information in a format that will allow for adjustability by the user 

Multiple representations not only ensure that information is accessible to learners with disabilities, but also easier to access for other learners from varying backgrounds.

Intelligent Agents in Brightspace

Intelligent agents in Brightspace are not really “intelligent” or GenAI.  Instead, they are rule-based automation tools that monitor learner activity and trigger targeted actions, such as: personalized feedback, or reminders. There are two key actions intelligent agents can do:

1. Change user roles (permissions) and (un)enroll users (Administrator level access required)
2. Instructors can email students alerts based on a triggered rule (Instructor level access)

Intelligent Agents as Instructional Agents

Intelligent agents can help put teaching plans into action automatically so they can immediately reach students, keep them engaged, reduce repetitive tasks, and use course data to guide your teaching in online or hybrid classes. This seems like a lot, but essentially in Brightspace they offer actions that can be automated by conditional statements.

Create and Employ an Agent

You can create an Intelligent Agent by:

1. Going to Course Tools on the NavBar and selecting Course Admin
2. Scroll Down to the Communication tools and select “Intelligent Agents” 
3. Select “New Agent”
4. The New Agent will have 4 features:
1. General: The Basics
1. Give the Agent a Name (Required)
2. Give the Agent a Description
3. Select a Category (Optional – you may need to make one using “Add Category”)
4. DO NOT Select “Agent is enabled.  Only do this once the agent is ready to be deployed. You may want to test your agent first.
2. Scheduling: Do you want this to be something done daily or once?
1. NOTE:  Student patience is fragile. Be careful not to overdo it!
3. Criteria: What triggers the action?
1. Who is affected by their roles:
1. It is best to choose all in the Classlist.
2. Using specific roles requires care.  You could email other course instructors or librarians (folks with roles other than students).
2. Take Action or Activity
1. Select warnings for late log in activity by either:
1. Brightspace Log-on
2. Course log-in (this is best)
3. Release Conditions: This is a vast list of options.  Some include:
1. Not posting in a discussion section
2. No Quiz Attempts
3. Scoring Below or above a number on a Quiz
4. Not visiting a content page
4. Action: 
1. Occur only once or (caution) repeatedly
2. Send Email” select the box 
1. Be sure to make the email informative.
2. OPTIONAL: Replacement Strings can personalize your message.
5. Save and Close

If you enabled the agent, it will run when scheduled. In addition, you can enable the agent from the list.

If you want to run it right now, select the agent’s chevron and select “Run now”.

What are Replacement Strings?

“Replacement strings” are bits of code entered into automated emails for personalization.

Use the following replacement string in the “To” address field to send the agent email to specific recipients: {InitiatingUser} – The user (student) who performs the actions necessary to satisfy the agent's criteria.

 

What replacement strings can I use in the subject and message? 

Here are several recommended replacement strings to consider using:

• {InitiatingUserFirstName} - The first name of the initiating user.
• {InitiatingUserLastName} - The last name of the initiating user.
  
  
• {LastCourseAccessDate} - The date the initiating user last accessed the course.
• {LastLoginDate} - The date the initiating user last logged in.
  
  
• {OrgUnitStartDate} - The start date of the course. (Access to the Brightspace course)
• {OrgUnitEndDate} -The end date of the course. (Access to the Brightspace course)

*Replacement strings are case sensitive!  Be sure to use them exactly as they are shown, else you could look like uncaring automaton or an idiot to the recipient. *

Example of a Message with Replacement Strings

The following text with replacement strings:

Dear {InitiatingUserFirstName},

I see that you did not log into the you course, {OrgUnitName}, last week. I hope everything is okay.  If there is an issue, do not hesitate to contact me to see what we can do. Please remember that regular participation in course activities is essential for success in this course. You can get back on track by first logging in to the course as soon as possible.

Looking forward to your return to the course,

Professor Wolf

This will look like:

Dear John,

I see that you did not log into the you course, PSY222-73 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, last week. I hope everything is okay.  If there is an issue, do not hesitate to contact me to see what we can do. Please remember that regular participation in course activities is essential for success in this course. You can get back on track by first logging in to the course as soon as possible.

Looking forward to your return to the course,

               Professor Wolf

Strategically Employed Intelligent Agents are Powerful

Using Intelligent Agents in conjunction with Conditional Releases can create powerful rule-based tools that can engage students, provide immediate feedback, and otherwise help add a more personal touch to your class.

For example, Intelligent Agents can:

• Send reminders to students who have not logged in recently,
• Congratulate learners who perform well on assignments, or
• Provide additional resources when students struggle with course material (via email link).

These automated messages help maintain communication, encourage engagement, and support student success without requiring instructors to manually monitor every course interaction.

See the D2L Community Resource for more on setting up Intelligent Agents

Video Note in Brightspace

 

You know that short video increases student engagement, however you do not have the finances or time to purchase complex video creation software.  Getting a video production crew on a teacher’s salary is just not possible.  How can one take advantage of video in their online courses?

What if I told you that there is a tool that can easily create short video clips for your online course, embed the clips, and automatically generate closed captions?  Ensuring that the experience is accessible, the tool generates transcripts automatically.

How to use Video Note

Video Note can be accessed by using the “Insert Stuff” icon.

When selected you have to option to:

• Record live using your web camera or
• Upload a premade video.

Remember to keep the video short, or you will lose the attention of the viewers.

Remember to give the video:

• a name,
•  description,
• select the video’s language and
• select “Automatically generate captions from audio”.

Select next to review and insert (or re-record).  The video will be in embedding into the web page. Video Note will even keep your video in your course – so there is no commercial access or issues with social media!

 

There are so many uses! Video Note can be used in any editor in Brightspace and is excellent for giving feedback when grading.  Use it in the feedback section so students will then be able to easily click on the video with one click when viewing their grades – increasing their likeliness to review the feedback!

 

Other video editing tools and transcript tools can cost you thousands of dollars.  Video Note cost nothing – and can be paid in four small payments of $0.

I only want Audio

What if you do not want video, but only want audio, can you embed that with Video Note?  Yes.

Whatever your reason, be it being an international spy or that you just want to remain faceless, you can use Video Note to upload audio.  Simply select the audio only feature or upload the audio file, and Video Note can create an interactive player that proves captioning and transcripts.