A university with 10,000 Moodle courses wants to implement a welcome message for each course. While Moodle 4.5 includes a welcome message feature, its customization options are limited, and deploying it across hundreds or thousands of courses can be cumbersome.
Proposed solution
To streamline this process, we will first use the automation engine to send the welcome message. Later, to demonstrate both the differences and similarities with the Pulse activity, we will implement the same welcome message using a Pulse activity.
Prerequisites
Since this use case doesn’t rely on any course-specific settings or content, there are no prerequisites.
Implementation with the automation engine
Due to the architecture of the automation engine, it is necessary to first create a template. Once the template is created, an associated automation instance can be created within a course to trigger the notification. For this use case, we configure all settings within the template itself to eliminate the need for additional configuration in the individual instances.
Create a template
Create a new template in the templates overview and configure the settings as follows. Generic link to templates overview: yourmoodleinstallation.com/mod/pulse/automation/templates/list.php
Under ‘General’ configure the following settings.
Title: Welcome to course
Reference: Welcome-
Internal Notes: This automation sends a personalized welcome message to students upon enrollment in a course.
Under ‘Condition’ configure the following settings.
User enrollment: Upcoming
Under ‘Notification’ configure the following settings.
Sender: Course teacher
Recipient: Student
Subject: Welcome to {Course_Fullname}
Header content:
University of Decency
Static content:
Dear {User_Fullname},
Welcome to the course {Course_Fullname}! We are excited to have you with us.
My name is {Sender_Firstname} {Sender_Lastname}, and I will be guiding you through this course. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to me at {Sender_Email}.
Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect:
{Course_Summary}
{Course_Courseurl}
Please note that this course will conclude on {Course_Enddate}.
Best regards,
{Sender_Firstname} {Sender_Lastname}
Footer content:
Note: You received this email, because you enrolled for the course {Course_Fullname} on {siteurl}.
Save changes made to the template.
Deployment over multiple courses
Now that you have created the template with the necessary settings, the next step is to create associated instances in courses within the Moodle installation. To do this, open the template settings and navigate to 'Instance management.'
Select all courses where you want to add an associated instance.
Scroll down and click ‘Add instances +’.
Result
Every student who enrolls in a course with an added instance will receive a personalized welcome email. Students who are already enrolled will not be affected.
Implementation with the Pulse activity
A Pulse activity can be created based on a preset which is similar to an automation template. For this use case, we will not make use of a preset.
Create a Pulse activity
Add the module Pulse inside a course and configure the settings as follows.
Under ‘General’ configure the following settings.
Title: Welcome
Content: Welcome to the course.
Under ‘Invitation’ configure the following settings.
Send Pulse Notification: Enable
Use notification content instead of general content: Enable
Notification Subject: Welcome to {Course_Fullname}
Notification content:
Dear {User_Fullname},
Welcome to the course {Course_Fullname}! We are excited to have you with us.My name is {Sender_Firstname} {Sender_Lastname}, and I will be guiding you through this course. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to me at {Sender_Email}.
Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect:
{Course_Summary}
{Course_Courseurl}
Please note that this course will conclude on {Course_Enddate}.
Best regards,
{Sender_Firstname} {Sender_Lastname}
Notification recipients: Student
Under ‘Common module settings’ configure the following settings.
Availability: Make available but don’t show on course page
Save and return to course.
Deployment over multiple courses
Once the Pulse activity is created, its effects are limited to the Moodle course where it was added. To deploy the Pulse activity across multiple courses, you must import the module into each course individually.
Result
Every student who enrolls or is already enrolled in a course with the Pulse activity added will receive a personalized welcome email.
Differences of automation engine and Pulse activity for use case #1
The practical differences lie in the control over who receives the welcome message. In the automation engine, you can specify whether all enrollments or just future enrollments should trigger the notification. In contrast, with the Pulse activity, it is not possible to differentiate between already enrolled users and newly enrolled users regarding the module's availability. However, if you add the Pulse activity or automation to a course when no students are enrolled yet, this distinction will not matter.
The automation engine allows you to add custom header and footer content, which is useful for organizing notification content. However, in practice, you can also include this additional content directly within the notification itself when using the Pulse activity.
The biggest difference lies in deployment across multiple Moodle courses. With the instance management feature of the automation engine, this can be done easily with minimal effort. In contrast, manually importing the Pulse activity into each course can be very time-consuming.
Conclusion
In this use case, given the scale of 10,000 courses involved, the automation engine is clearly the preferred option. Not only does it offer more efficient deployment, but it is also designed to be resource-efficient, minimizing the strain on server capacity. However, if you only need to implement a quick welcome message for a single course, using the Pulse activity is a perfectly viable option.
Customizing settings for different or extended use cases
Use case #1a: Change the automation to send a notification upon course completion instead of a welcome message.
General:
Reference: coursecompletion
Condition:
Course completion: Upcoming
User enrollment: Disabled
Notification:
Subject: Congratulations on completing {Course_Fullname}
Static content: Congratulate students on completing the course and add further information such as the student's grade, additional resources related to the course topic, or even promote other courses to encourage further learning.
Use case #1a can also be implemented with the Pulse activity by restricting its availability to students who have completed the course and adjusting the notification content accordingly.
Table check list for settings
Automation Engine
Prerequisite | Setting | Template | Instance |
none | General |
|
|
| Title | Welcome to the course |
|
| Reference | Welcome- | Is set automatically when using instance management |
| Internal Notes | Description of the template function. |
|
| Condition |
|
|
| User enrollment | Upcoming |
|
| Notification |
|
|
| Sender | Course teacher |
|
| Recipients | Student |
|
| Subject | Welcome to {Course_Fullname} |
|
| Header content | Contact of institution |
|
| Static content | Welcome message to students |
|
| Footer Content | Additional information |
|
Pulse activity
Prerequisite | Activity settings |
|
none | General |
|
| Title | Welcome |
| General | Welcome to the course.
|
| Invitation |
|
| Send Pulse Notification | Enable |
| Use notification content instead of general content
| Enable |
| Notification Subject | Welcome to {Course_Fullname} |
| Notification content | Welcome message to students |
| Notification recipients | Student |
| Common module settings |
|
| Availability | Make available but don’t show on course page |