Online Studies: Blog

Course Personalization Part I - The Basics of Replacement Strings

**This blog is part I of a series to introduce you to features in Falcon Online to personalize your online courses.**

Part II - Release Conditions
Part III - Intelligent Agents

Hello Instructors,

In this blog, we introduce you to replacement strings.  Replacement strings are command variables to replace the corresponding configuration variable values in Falcon Online.  A replacement string lets you personalize communications with your students and customize course content through the magic of the HTML editor.  There are additional features, which we will introduce in the series, to personalize the course without having to target students individually.  Replacement strings are most often used in Homepage widgets and Announcements.  A recent addition in D2L is the ability to use replacement strings in Grades when adding bulk feedback.  A great feature to engage substantively with your students!   

Curly brackets {} identify replacement strings and the brackets act as placeholders for system variables like name, org id, and course id.  The HTML editor will replace the string (i.e., {FirstName}) with predefined text (configuration variable value) in Falcon Online.  Here is a list of commonly used replacement strings:

1. {OrgUnitName} – The name of the current course.
2. {UserName} – The user's Falconmail prefix.
3. {OrgDefinedId} – The user's DSC ID.
4. {FirstName} – The first name of the user.
5. {LastName} – The last name of the user.
6. {RoleName} – The user's role in the course (e.g., Instructor, Student).

There are three items to consider of when using replacement strings.  

1. Replacement strings will not pick up a nickname.  The configuration value is set to a predefined field, and there is not a nickname configuration variable in Falcon Online.  
2. You cannot use replacement strings in the body of an e-mail.  Please note this is different than using them in an e-mail template.  We will provide more information on the e-mail template in our Intelligent Agents blog. 
3. DO NOT use replace strings in content. Replace strings in content are evaluated only once and replaced with the relevant data. So if you use replace strings in content and then copy the course to a new shell, the new shell will show the information from the old shell in place of the replace string unless you recreate the replace string(s) in the content of the new shell

You can view the video below from Brightspace by D2L to learn more about adding replacement strings to personalize your course. 

As we stated, replacement strings are to personalize the student experience in Falcon Online, and if you want to use them in your course, please stop by the Faculty Innovation Center for assistance. 

Aaron Sunday
Instructional Designer
aaron.sunday@daytonastate.edu | 386-506-3209