Brightspace Tip #396: July Continuous Delivery Updates

1) Brightspace Editor – Edited images are saved with their original names to improve ease of location

With this release, images edited within Brightspace Editor are saved with their original names followed by a date-time string, which helps instructors find changed images easily in Manage Files. Changes to an image using Edit image in the floating toolbar are saved as a copy of the image with the name format "OriginalFileName_yyyyMMddHHmmss.jpg."

This update resolves the Brightspace Editor - Crop function for images does not function as expected issue. For more information about which defects have been resolved by this update, refer to the Known issues and Fixed issues lists on Brightspace Community.

Previously images that were edited were given a different, random filename on saving.

2) Discussions – Consistent settings and interface of availability dates across Brightspace

This feature updates the settings and format of availability dates and states in Discussions, to align with other activity tools and create a unified content experience for both instructors and learners. This update is a continuation of the changes introduced to the Assignment list tab in June 2023 Continuous Delivery Updates.

Availability dates in the Discussions list are now displayed as a simple date range below the titles of discussion topics. Hovering over the date range text displays a tooltip that includes the information about start and end dates. Tooltips also include applied settings to explain how the discussion topic appears to learners before and after these dates.

Previously, the availability dates in the Discussions topics did not include a hover tooltip.

The corresponding update for Quizzes is planned for a future release.

3) Quizzes – Quiz Timing Improvements Featuring Auto-Submission

This release updates the Quiz Creation experience for instructors by simplifying the quiz timing setup workflow, adding useful new features, including the ability to auto-submit, and removing obsolete quiz timing options.

With this release, learners can show or hide the timer, receive time warning messages, and access more information about their quizzes.

Note: All Quiz Timer settings behavior and User Interface changes will immediately be applied to existing and in-progress quizzes with the Continuous Delivery Update.

Instructors Workflow Changes

The following workflow changes and advanced Quiz Timing options are now available for instructors.

• Simplified and redesigned Quiz Timing & Display settings
  • The updated settings allow instructors to choose if they want to set a time limit by selecting the Set time limit checkbox, which is cleared by default. If Set time limit is selected, instructors can add a Time Limit and edit the Timer Settings.
  • The previous Prevent the student from making further changes option has been changed to Automatically submit the quiz attempt. Quiz auto-submission automatically hands in quizzes on enforced time limit quizzes at the end of the set time, improving quiz integrity. This behavior is changed on all existing and in-progress quizzes with the update.
    Note: The Automatically submit the quiz attempt option is now the default setting for all newly created quizzes with a time limit and is used automatically if the instructor does not edit the quiz timing settings. The previous default setting was Allow the student to continue working.
  • The previous Allow the student to continue working option has been changed to Flag the attempt as exceeded time limit and allow the learner to continue working. This behavior is changed on all existing and in-progress quizzes with the update.
  • The Grace Period and Allow student to continue working but automatically score zero options are removed to further streamline the process of quiz creation. With this update, any existing and in-progress quizzes that include these settings are changed to the following new behavior:
    • A quiz that previously had a grace period now uses the time limit set on the quiz.
    • A quiz previously set to Allow student to continue working but automatically score zero now sets the quiz to Automatically submit the quiz attempt.





• The Timing & Display section displays comprehensive summary information in either collapsed or expanded view, helping instructors to find errors and to understand which settings they could change.



• The Special Access settings are updated to simplify setup and incorporate the updated settings.

Improvements for Learners

The following improved Quiz Timing options are now available for learners:

• Option to show or hide the timer to reduce anxiety during quiz taking.
  Note: Once a learner sets their preference, the setting preserves across all quizzes.



• Warnings displayed at certain times to support awareness of time left. The following warnings are applied:
  • 1 minute remaining on the quiz
  • 5 minutes remaining (only on quizzes with 10 minutes or longer quiz time limit)
  • Half of the elapsed time (only on quizzes with 20 minutes or longer quiz time limit)



• The simplified Quiz Results page appears when a learner completes a quiz attempt or returns later to view their quiz results (previously known as Submission View). The page now displays the text ‘Your work has been saved and submitted’ to all learners. This text is no longer editable by instructors. The existing text field allows adding a custom message to be displayed within the Quiz Results page under the new default message.



• Option to review quiz instructions and details without leaving the quiz.

If a learner is taking a quiz at the time of the update, they will notice the user interface changes and new quiz timer setting behaviors immediately following the Continuous Delivery update. For more information about the impact to existing and in-progress quizzes, refer to the Quiz Timing Improvements – Pilot Summary blog post.

4) Quizzes – The New Quiz Creation Experience is now universally enabled

In this release, the New Quiz Creation Experience reaches the end of the adoption phase of feature development and becomes the only editing experience for all customers. The New Quiz Creation Experience is now set to on as the default with no option to opt out.