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 some of the updates in the April 2024/20.24.4 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Brightspace Community – Navigation and content improvements
To enhance the user experience in Brightspace Community, D2L is making the following improvements:
- New and improved search functionality (available late Q1).
- Relaunch of the Approved Support Contact (ASC) homepage (available early Q2).
- New Brightspace tool navigation structure for Instructor Documentation (Higher Ed) (available early April 2024).
New and improved search functionality
An improved search tool is scheduled to be implemented in Brightspace Community.
This improved search uses natural language processing AI to iteratively improve the accuracy of search results and supports the use of search synonyms for terms often used interchangeably (for example, Dropbox and Assignment).
Additionally, this new federated search indexes and surfaces content from external sources such as corporate blogs, the Brightspace Tutorials YouTube channel, Brightspace Learning Center, and Developer (Valence API) documentation.
New Brightspace tool navigation structure for Instructor Documentation (Higher Ed)
Based on higher education instructor feedback gathered during Fusion 2023, we are restructuring the Instructor Documentation (Higher Ed) knowledge base to organize content into alphabetized Brightspace tool categories. This new navigation structure will be available in early April 2024.
2) Discussions – View attached file feedback for discussion evaluations
Instructors' attached files now appear in the Attached Files section for each learner's discussion evaluation. Learners can view attached file feedback when viewing their evaluated discussion topic.
Instructors can view all attached files by clicking on the learner's name and selecting Discussions. Learners can view all attached files by clicking on Discussions in Class Progress. Instructors and learners can view all attached discussion evaluation files in the Class Progress tool.
Additionally, the Discussions tool's evaluation process is now consistent with the Assignments and Quizzes tools' evaluation processes.
If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the April Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform April 2024/20.24.4 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
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