January 2021 – CAT FooD

Brightspace Tip #205: ‘Observed in Person’ Assignments

Janice FlorentJanuary 31, 2021Leave a comment

The 'Observed in Person' assignment submission type is for situations where a learner needs to present something or demonstrate something and an instructor needs to confirm that it was completed. This submission type allows instructors to create assignments for a wide variety of activities and provide evaluation and feedback for these assignments in Brightspace.

The ‘Observed in Person’ submission type is meant for scoring and evaluation of a learning activity such as demonstration, presentation, lab test, etc.

There are four submission types to choose from when creating an Assignment in Brightspace. The submission types are:

File submission: learners upload and submit a file to the assignment.
Text submission: learners post text, image, or a link to their work in a text box within the assignment.
On paper submission: learners submit a physical copy of their assignment directly to their instructor. No file upload is required to complete the assignment.
Observed in person: allows instructors to observe learners as they perform tasks, such as in-class presentations, and evaluate the observation. No file upload is required to complete the assignment.

There are three options to mark an ‘Observed in Person’ assignment as completed:

Automatically on due date – Brightspace marks the assignment as completed on a pre-set date.
Automatically on evaluation – Brightspace automatically marks the assignment as complete when the instructor evaluates the assignment using any of the assessment methods in Brightspace.
Manually by Learner – The student will mark the assignment as complete.

The assignment can be assessed using text/audio/video feedback, Brightspace interactive rubric, or by assigning a grade.

Want more information?

What is an ‘Observed in Person’ assignment?
Create assignments and assess submissions
Brightspace Tip #142: Simplify Assignment Collection
Brightspace Tip #204: Interactive Rubrics
Brightspace Tip #102: Video Notes
Brightspace Tip #157: Video Notes - Closed Captions
Brightspace Tip #169: Video Notes - Recording Limit

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Brightspace Tip #204: Interactive Rubrics

Janice FlorentJanuary 30, 2021Leave a comment

interstate highway with rubrics road signs

Brightspace interactive rubrics help instructors:

Increase Efficiency - Rubrics are built into the grading workflow. Rubrics click-and-score simplicity saves time.
Provide Consistent and Quality Feedback - Rubrics enable instructors to provide consistent evaluation and contextual feedback to students.
Promote 21st Century Skills - Rubrics make it easier to assign essay questions, individual and group assignments, and discussion forums as assessment activities which foster critical thinking and collaboration.

Rubrics allow instructors to establish set criteria for grading assignments; instructors can attach rubrics to submission folders so that the criteria are available to students before they submit their assignment.

Weighted analytic rubric creation example

Rubrics contain criteria that list the attributes on which an assignment will be assessed and levels that list the standards each criterion must meet. A specific grade or score is usually assigned to each level. In Brightspace, you can use a rubric to calculate scores for multiple criteria to determine an overall score for an assignment.

example of grading with a rubric — Grade using a rubric example

Rubrics can be used to display the number of points students were awarded for each criterion after the assignment is graded and rubrics can also be used to provide customized feedback.

Instructors can choose to have the rubrics visible to students at any time, only after grading has been completed, or not shown to the students at all.

If you are looking for more information on rubrics, check out these resources:

NOTE: The Brightspace Rubrics tool is different from Turnitin Rubrics.

Follow these steps to do it.

To create a rubric you should:

On the navbar, click Course Admin.
Click Rubrics.
On the Rubrics page, click New Rubric.
Enter a name for your rubric.
Change the status of your rubric, if necessary.
Choose the rubric Type and Scoring method.
Enter the criteria, levels, criteria/level details, and initial feedback for your rubric.
Enter details for the Overall Score feedback.
Click Options and choose the options for your rubric.
Click Close.

Note: Rubric changes are automatically saved.

To attach a rubric to a Discussion topic:

Note: You must first create a rubric and set its Status to Published.

On the course home page, click Discussions in the NavBar.
Click Edit Topic from the context menu of the discussion topic you want to attach a rubric to.
In the Assessments tab, click Add Rubric.
Select the check box for the rubric you want to attach to the discussion topic.
Click Add Selected.
Click Save and Close.

To attach a rubric to an Assignment:

Note: You must first create a rubric and set its Status to Published.

On the NavBar, click Activities and then click on Assignments.
Click Edit Assignment from the context menu of the assignment you want to attach a rubric to.
In the Properties tab, click Add Rubric.
Select the check box for the rubric you want to attach to the assignment.
Click Add Selected.
Click Save and Close.

Want more information?

Rubrics Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)
Create a Rubric
Create an Analytic Rubric (video)
Create a Weighted Rubric (video)
Create a Holistic Rubric (video)
Add a Rubric to an Existing Activity (video)
Attach a Rubric to a Discussion Topic (video)
Grading with a Rubric
Add Feedback and Evaluations to Assignments (video)
Rubrics FAQ

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: "Rubric Highway" by Jen Hegna licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Brightspace Tip #203: January Continuous Delivery Updates

Janice FlorentJanuary 29, 2021Leave a comment

D2L (the company that owns Brightspace) uses Continuous Delivery to update our Brightspace system. The Continuous Delivery model gives us regular monthly updates allowing for incremental and easily integrated changes with no downtime required for our Brightspace system.

Our Continuous Delivery update occurs on the 4th Thursday of each month. D2L provides release notes to help users stay up-to-date with the changes.

Here are a few updates in the January 2021/20.21.1 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Assignments - Multiple rubric support in the consistent evaluation experience

This feature is a continuation of the Assignments - Consistent evaluation experience | New feature that was introduced in the December 2020/20.20.12 release.

If an assignment includes multiple rubrics, they are all visible to instructors using the Consistent evaluation experience. Instructors are also able to choose the default scoring rubric. Previously, the consistent evaluation experience would only display one rubric on the assignment evaluation screen.
For additional information on the Consistent evaluation experience, visit Brightspace Community.

2) Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers

Brightspace Learning Environment's browser version check now displays warnings for browsers earlier than the following versions:

Google® Chrome™ 85 (released Aug 2020)
Apple® Safari® 13 (released in September 2019)
Mobile Apple Safari 12 (released in October 2018)
Mozilla® Firefox® 80 (released August 2020)
Chromium-based Microsoft® Edge 85 (released August 2020)
All versions of Microsoft Edge Legacy (in preparation for Microsoft’s end-of-support in March 2021)

You can access Brightspace with older versions of the supported browsers; however, D2L does not test Brightspace against these older versions. This means you may encounter unexpected user interface behavior and appearance or broken and unsupported functionality. In most cases, D2L does not fix software defects experienced in unsupported browser versions. For an optimal experience that offers better performance, accessibility, and security, D2L strongly recommends that all users access Brightspace with a supported browser.

3) Course Export - Export file upload attribute for written response questions

Written Response quiz questions that allow for file upload can now be imported and exported from Brightspace Learning Environment. With the ability to import and export these questions users can share them with users from other instances of Brightspace.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the January Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform January 2021/20.21.1 Release Notes.

Additionally, refer to the Brightspace Release Notes for Continuous Delivery Releases, for details about current, past, and to preview upcoming continuous delivery updates.

Want more information?

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: image by geralt from Pixabay

Meditation by App(ointment)

Bart EversonJanuary 26, 2021January 26, 2021Leave a comment

We are continuing our popular mid-week meditation series, but as with so many things it will be a little different because of the pandemic. We won't be meeting in the chapel. Rather, we will be "meditating in place" -- separately but together, through the miracle of information technology.

Yes, there's an app for that. In fact, there are many, but we've selected Insight Timer. It's free! Install on your phone or use the website. Be sure to use your Xavier (xula.edu) email when creating your account, so you can join the CAT+FD Circle.

We'll use the app for a group meditation on Wednesday mornings at 7:30am whenever classes are in session this semester. Meditations will be short (about ten minutes) using music or spoken word. No interaction required on your part; just tune in and chill out.

It starts this Wednesday, January 27th, at 7:30am.

You needn't have any experience with meditating; just give it a try. There's no commitment and no pressure. This is an easy way to dip your toe in the waters and get started.

Why bother? Meditation has numerous well-documented benefits, including stress management, improved emotional balance, increased focus and awareness and increased responsiveness to student needs.

Don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or run into any technical glitches.

Full disclosure: CAT+FD staffer Bart Everson has a remunerative relationship with Insight Timer. It ain't much but it does exist. He has attempted to resolve this potential conflict of interest. Full details on his personal blog.

Brightspace Tip #202: Simplify Grading and Giving Feedback

Janice FlorentJanuary 24, 2021Leave a comment

female student looking at computer screen

Giving students timely, useful feedback can greatly enhance learning and improve student achievement. ICYMI, read my Give Students Feedback That Helps Them Learn blog post for information on providing better feedback.

Are you looking for ways to simplify grading and for providing feedback on assignment submissions? These Brightspace tools can help:

Annotations Tool

The Annotations tool allows instructors to provide feedback directly in submitted assignments. Feedback can be provided as text highlighting, freehand drawing, text annotation, and note annotation.

The use of a stylus is not required when using the Annotations tool. However, it could help to speed up the process of marking up the assignment submissions.

For more information, refer to this how to use the Annotations tool blog post.

NOTE: The Assignment Grader app allows instructors to make annotations on assignments. The Assignment Grader app is no longer available for download to new users. Existing users may continue to use the app if they have it installed on their device, but no further updates or support will be made available by D2L and the app is scheduled to be removed from app stores. As an alternative mobile grading option, D2L recommends using the Quick Eval tool.

Rubrics

Rubrics allow instructors to establish set criteria for grading assignments. Using the rubrics click-and-score simplicity saves time when grading. With a rubric you can provide consistent evaluation and contextual feedback to students. You can add additional personal feedback to each criterion, expanding on why you chose that level and what additional work would be required to improve on it.

For more information, refer to this using interactive rubrics in Brightspace blog post.

Video Notes

Audio and video feedback can provide richer and more detailed feedback than may be possible through written comments. Visual or audio feedback also provides a more personal way of giving feedback. You have the option to provide audio and/or video feedback in Brightspace. Use Video Notes to provide short, video-based feedback, comments, or instructions.

Here are a few blog posts with more information:

Quick Eval

Quick Eval allows evaluators to see a list of unevaluated learner submissions from all their courses. Submissions from Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes are displayed in one location to improve efficiency when locating work that requires evaluation and providing feedback to learners.

For more information, refer to this blog post on using Quick Eval.

The Orange Room

Have you visited The Orange Room (Brightspace Educator Share Showcase)? The Orange Room is a community where educators can learn from each other about efficient and innovative ways to use Brightspace. Several of your colleagues shared tips and suggestions already. Here are two contributions that may be of interest to you:

Want more information?

Brightspace Tip #142: Simplify Assignment Collection
Brightspace Tip #143: Annotate Assignment Submissions
Brightspace Tip #167: Interactive Rubrics
Brightspace Tip #102: Video Notes
Brightspace Tip #157: Video Notes – Closed Captions
Brightspace Tip #169: Video Notes – Recording Limit
Brightspace Tip #120: Quick Eval

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Photo credit: photo by #WOCinTech Chat is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Brightspace Tip #201: Notifications

Janice FlorentJanuary 23, 2021January 26, 2023Leave a comment

Students can control how they receive information about course activity through their notification preferences. They can customize which actions in Brightspace will trigger a notification.

The Notification tool allows users to:

Subscribe to a summary of activity for each course and receive a daily email.
Specify your preferred email address and mobile number for instant notifications and announcements.
Receive instant notifications about course activity, such as edited content, new discussion posts, assignments, grades, course announcements and upcoming quizzes.

Instructors can help their students to keep up with their coursework by encouraging them to setup their notification preferences. Additionally, there is a Getting Started for Learners Video Playlist that students should watch to get familiar with Brightspace.

Follow these steps to do it.

To customize notification preferences, users should:

From your Personal Menu (located in the Minibar), select Notifications.

Select the email address and/or register the mobile phone number to which notifications will be sent.
Select the course activities for which you would like to receive notifications.
Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

Want more information?

Navigate Brightspace - Notifications - Learner (video)
Getting Started for Learners Video Playlist

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: image by tranmautritam from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #200: Respondus LockDown Browser / Respondus Monitor

Janice FlorentJanuary 19, 2021September 5, 2021Leave a comment

Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB) is a customized browser that increases the security of test delivery in Brightspace. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser to access an exam, they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. Once an assessment is started, students are locked into it until it's submitted for grading.

Respondus Monitor builds upon the power of LockDown Browser, using a student's webcam and industry-leading video analytics to discourage cheating during online exams.

RLDB / Respondus Monitor Resources

You may find these resources helpful if you are planning to use Responus LockDown Browser / Respondus Monitor:

Practice Quiz

: If you are using Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB) / Respondus Monitor for online exams, you should require students to take a practice quiz before the first test that requires RLDB/Respondus Monitor. The practice quiz should have a few questions in it to simulate what the student would experience when taking an actual exam. By taking the practice quiz the student can ensure that their computer, webcam and internet are working properly. Allow unlimited attempts on the practice quiz, so students can take it whenever their device or networking environment changes. Here are some tips on how to run a successful practice quiz.

Respondus 24/7 Live Chat

: 24/7 Live Chat is available for students who may experience problems while taking an exam that requires RLDB/Respondus Monitor. Students can access built-in troubleshooting and live chat from within Respondus Monitor if they encounter a technical problem when taking an exam that requires RLDB/Respondus Monitor. You should provide your students with the link to the RLDB/Respondus Monitor Student Resources which includes information on how to access the 24/7 Live Chat (by Respondus Tech Support).

RLDB Settings in Copied Courses

: If you copy a course that has tests/exams with RLDB enabled, you will have to access the LockDown Browser Dashboard once after the copy to update the RLDB settings in the destination course. This has to be done before students will be able to take exams that require RLDB.

Want more information?

For Instructors:

For Students:

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Updated: 9/4/2021

Brightspace Tip #199: Hide Inactive Courses by Unpinning Them

Janice FlorentJanuary 18, 2021April 20, 2021Leave a comment

The My Courses widget (on the My Home page) uses tile-based images to make finding your courses easier. Users can choose which courses they see in their My Courses widget by pinning and unpinning courses.

Pinning a course makes it appear in the My Courses widget.
Unpinning a course makes it disappear from the My Courses widget.
Pinning a course also makes it rise to the top of the Select a Course list and on the My Courses widget.

Search through all of your courses and manually pin and unpin courses to ensure that your most relevant courses are visible on the My Home page.

Follow these steps to do it.

To pin/unpin a course, you should:

From the Minibar, click Select a course (i.e., the waffle icon).

Type the name of the course that you want to pin or find it by searching in the Search for a course field or scroll down to find the course.
Click the Pin icon beside the course. The pinned course will move to the top of the Select a Course list and to the first position in the My Courses widget.

To unpin a course click the Pin icon beside the course.

Change the order of your pinned courses:

: If you want to completely change the order in which your courses are displayed, unpin all your courses and then pin them in the reverse order of how you want them to appear in the My Courses widget. The course that is pinned last will appear first.

Want more information?

Pin courses to the top of the Select a Course list
How to Pin Courses (pdf)
How to Reorder Pinned Courses

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #198: Copy Assignments

Janice FlorentJanuary 12, 2021Leave a comment

The Assignments tool is an efficient way to manage and collect your student's individual and group assignments digitally. Students use the Assignments tool to upload and submit assignments directly in Brightspace, eliminating the need to mail, fax, or email their work to instructors. On paper submissions, and observed in person assignments are also available and do not require file submissions to be made in Brightspace.

Did you know that you can quickly create new assignments from existing assignments using the Copy Assignment option? The Copy Assignment feature copies all settings of an existing assignment except the associated grade item and Turnitin settings.

Example of the Copy Assignment option as it appears in the drop-down menu for existing assignments — The Copy Assignment option appears in the drop-down menu for existing assignments

Follow these steps to do it.

To copy an existing assignment, you should:

On the NavBar, click Activities and then click Assignments.
From the drop-down menu of the assignment you want to copy, click Copy Assignment.
A new assignment, Copy of [original assignment name], appears at the bottom of the assignments list.
Click Edit Assignment to update the name, score, due date, instructions and other settings of the copied assignment.
Click Save and Close.

Want more information?

Copy an existing assignment
About Assignments
Create assignments and assess submissions
Brightspace Tip #142: Simplify Assignment Collection
Brightspace Tip #143: Annotate Assignment Submissions
Brightspace Tip #178: New Assignment Creation Experience

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Brightspace Tip #197: Is Your Course Pulse Friendly?

Janice FlorentJanuary 11, 2021Leave a comment

Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app that can help learners stay connected and on track with their Brightspace courses. It provides one easy view of course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades, and announcement items. The app can help learners make better decisions about how to handle their workload, when to submit assignments, and when to prepare for tests. Real-time alerts can let learners know when classes are canceled, class is meeting in an alternate location, or new grades are available. The schedule view and weekly visualization enables learners to quickly at a glance view what is due today, this week, and upcoming across all their courses.

While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too.

While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too. When instructors enter due dates or end dates for assignments and activities the information is populated in the Pulse app enabling learners to stay connected and on track. Thus, instructors can spend less time reminding and more time teaching.

Instructors can make their courses Pulse friendly by including due dates or end dates for assignments and activities. When instructors do not enter due dates or end dates, no associated information is available in the Pulse app.

The Pulse app is great for helping students stay on track in face-to-face classes as well. Instructors can set up their face-to-face assignments and activities as events in the Brightspace course calendar. Students will get those date feeds in the Brightspace Pulse app.

Help keep students on track for success in all their courses by including a due date or end date for assignments and activities.

Want more information?

Brightspace Pulse App
Brightspace Tip #112: Due Dates
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for Content (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for an Assignment (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for a Discussion Topic (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for a Quiz (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Availability for a Calendar Event (video)
Brightspace Tip #74: Manage Dates
Brightspace Tip #176: Drip-Feeding

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

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To create a rubric you should:

To attach a rubric to a Discussion topic:

To attach a rubric to an Assignment:

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1) Assignments - Multiple rubric support in the consistent evaluation experience

2) Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers

3) Course Export - Export file upload attribute for written response questions

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The Orange Room

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RLDB / Respondus Monitor Resources

Practice Quiz

Respondus 24/7 Live Chat

RLDB Settings in Copied Courses

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For Instructors:

For Students:

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Follow these steps to do it.

To pin/unpin a course, you should:

Change the order of your pinned courses:

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Follow these steps to do it.

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