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Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #471: Assignments – Date Availability, Visibility, And Access Options

Updates to the Assignment tool give instructors greater control over the behavior of availability dates for their learners. As a result, instructors can:

  • Stop late submissions.
  • Let learners view assignment information and submissions after it ends.
  • Schedule the visibility of an assignment.
  • Allow learners to view an assignment while preventing them from attempting it.
  • Post the start and end of an assignment to the Calendar.

The Assignment list page for both instructors and learners now contain all activity dates and date settings, including:

  • Access restricted
  • Submission restricted
  • Hidden
The Availability Date Defaults page, the Assignment page with activity dates and date settings.
The Availability Date Defaults page, the Assignment page with activity dates and date settings

The availability date settings will let instructors setup assignments to achieve a few different workflows for students:

  • To stop late submissions, set an end date that is submission-restricted. Learners will be able to see the assignment information after the end date, but will not be able to submit.
  • To let learners access their submissions after the assignment has ended, set an end date that is submission-restricted.
  • To prevent learners from attempting an assignment but still allow them to view details like instructions and attachments, set a start date that is submission-restricted.
  • To schedule the visibility of an assignment you want students to see at a specific time, set a start date that is hidden to completely hide it from students; or set a start date that is access-restricted to let students see the name and dates of the assignment but no other details.
  • To show the start and end of an assignment in the Calendar, include start and end availability dates on the assignment and select Add availability dates to Calendar.

Instructors can choose the default settings for availability dates for any new assignment. The settings are available on the Availability Date Defaults page, which can be found under Course Admin.

The Availability Dates Defaults page displaying the different options for Start and End Dates in Assignments and Discussions.
The Availability Dates Defaults page displaying the different options for Start and End Dates in Assignments and Discussions.

Important: Making a change on the Availability Date Defaults page will not affect the availability dates of any previously-created assignment or discussion, but it will affect the date properties of special access dates.

New Properties of Availability Dates for Assignments

The availability dates for Assignments have new properties as described below. These new properties align and behave the same way as the same properties available to Discussions topics and forums.

The Availability Start and End Dates will each have a set of three options. Instructors will be able to select one option for each date. By choosing an option, you are deciding whether learners can see the assignment and access it. The options are:

  1. Visible with access-restricted (before start/after end)
    • The assignment will be visible to learners before the Start Date or after the End Date, but they cannot click or open it.
    • This behavior is consistent with how Classic Content, Assignments, and User Progress treat assignments outside of availability dates currently.
    • With this setting, learners can see the name, dates, and restrictions. Learners cannot see the assignment description or attachments.
  2. Visible with submission-restricted (before start/after end)
    • The assignment will be visible to learners before the Start Date or after the End Date and they can click or open it, but they cannot submit or mark it as complete.
    • With this setting, learners can see all details about the assignment including description, attachments, and rubrics, but they cannot upload files, enter comments, or mark the assignment as complete (for observed in person/on paper submission).
  3. Hidden (before start/after end)
    • The assignment is hidden to learners until the start date is reached or after the end date passes.
    • Learners will not see the assignment anywhere across Brightspace, including corresponding Calendar events and Notifications.

The Assignment List page contains all activity dates and date settings. The hover tooltip includes the information about start and end dates with settings to explain how the assignment appears to learners before and after these dates.

The Assignment page with activity dates and date settings.
The Assignment List page with activity dates and date settings.

Assignment Special Access

The special access screens for Assignments remains unchanged when the new dates feature is enabled. However, special access dates inherit the date properties as follows:

  • When the parent assignment has an availability date set, its date property is inherited by the corresponding special access date. For example, if the assignment is hidden before a start date, then the special access start date is also treated as hidden.
  • When the parent assignment does not have an availability date, the special access date inherits its date property from the course default. For example, if the assignment does not have an end date, then a special access end date is set for a learner. This also occurs if the course default for assignment end dates is submission-restricted, making the special access end date be treated as submission-restricted.

Note: Whenever the availability date settings are changed from the Availability Date Defaults page, those changes will immediately impact the date properties of special access dates.

See the New Assignments Date Feature - Updated Date Availability, Visibility, and Access Options knowledge article for an in-depth look at all the feature and capability changes with this redesign.

Want More Information?

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
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.

Published on Leave a comment on #LEX Advanced Certification

ICYMI, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development (CAT+FD) at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is proud to announce that we received the 2024 D2L Excellence Award for our work on #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX) and #LEX Advanced. The D2L Excellence Award recognizes leaders, educators, and trainers who have used D2L Brightspace to help further the innovation, progress, and betterment of learning experiences in their organizations.

#LearnEverywhereXULA (#LEX) is our Brightspace course that is organized around the eight General Standards for Higher Education set forth in the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric Sixth Edition. The information, activities, and assignments in the #LEX course aids faculty in developing high quality, well-designed, objective-driven courses on Brightspace for Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) students.

hot air ballons

When faculty complete the #LEX course, they have the opportunity to expand their horizons even more through #LEX Advanced certification. With the certification, faculty learn about using design and automation features available in Brightspace to apply better pedagogical practices within their courses by making them more user-friendly, accessible, and efficient.

#LEX Advanced takes a deeper dive into tools like Rubrics, Release Conditions, Intelligent Agents, HTML Templates, Awards & Badges, and more. #LEX Advanced certification also includes topics such as accessibility, academic integrity, securing online testing environment, alternative assessments, online discussions, group work, and video lectures.

A #LEX Advanced badge can be earned for participation in a #LEX Advanced workshop OR for completing its corresponding module in the #LEX course.

Our #LEX Advanced certification has five levels. Faculty can move up a certification level with every fourth #LEX Advanced badge they earn. Complete four modules to earn the #LEX Advanced Level 1 certification. Complete eight modules to earn the #LEX Advanced Level 2 certification. Complete twelve modules to earn the #LEX Advanced Level 3 certification. Complete sixteen modules to earn the #LEX Advanced Level 4 certification. Complete twenty modules to earn the #LEX Advanced Level 5 certification.

Faculty can view the badges they've earned by clicking on Activities in the NavBar and then click on Awards within the #LearnEverywhereXULA course.

Are you interested in becoming #LEX Advanced certified? Attend one of our upcoming #LEX Advanced workshops to start earning your badges. Alternatively, you can earn badges by completing modules in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course.

NOTE: Faculty who are not enrolled in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course can request enrollment using this enrollment request form.

#LEX Advanced Certifications

#LEX Advanced certificate

Congratulations to those faculty who have earned #LEX Advanced Certification!

#LEX Advanced Level 1 Certificate Awardees

  • Ayyad, Dr. Ahlam
  • Bailey-Wheeler, Dr. Janel
  • Bellone-Hite, Dr. Amy
  • DiMaggio, Dr. Stassi
  • Earls, Dr. Martha
  • Edwards, Dr. Andrea
  • Farudi, Dr. Giti
  • Gaudin, Dr. Wendy
  • Gstohl, Dr. Mark
  • Hammer, Dr. Elizabeth Yost
  • Helm, Dr. Amanda
  • Laborde, Dr. Katheryn
  • Ma, Dr. Timmy
  • Manley, Dr. Elizabeth
  • McFerrin, Dr. Harris
  • Nguyen, Dr. Nam
  • Plaisance-Meyers, Dr. Sierra
  • Ratnayaka, Dr. Harish
  • Rousselle, Dr. Elizabeth
  • Salm, Dr. Steven
  • Sirohi, Dr. Sunil
  • St. Julien, Dr. Danielle
  • Taylor, Dr. Ashley
  • Todd, Dr. Jason
  • Verma, Dr. Abha

#LEX Advanced Level 2 Certificate Awardees

  • Ayyad, Dr. Ahlam
  • Bailey-Wheeler, Dr. Janel
  • Earls, Dr. Martha
  • Edwards, Dr. Andrea
  • Gstohl, Dr. Mark
  • Hammer, Dr. Elizabeth Yost
  • Ma, Dr. Timmy
  • Todd, Dr. Jason

#LEX Advanced Level 3 Certificate Awardees

  • Ayyad, Dr. Ahlam
  • Edwards, Dr. Andrea
  • Hammer, Dr. Elizabeth Yost
  • Ma, Dr. Timmy
  • Todd, Dr. Jason

#LEX Advanced Level 4 Certificate Awardees

  • Ayyad, Dr. Ahlam
  • Hammer, Dr. Elizabeth Yost
  • Todd, Dr. Jason

Image credits:
image by PDPhotos from Pixabay
"#LEX Advanced Certificate of Completion" by Bart | CC BY 4.0

Established in 1994, CAT+FD is one of the older centers for teaching and learning (CTL) in the country. This is perhaps not surprising considering Xavier's commitment to excellence in teaching. Over the coming year, we will be posting a variety of reflections about the evolution of CAT+FD on this blog.
Published on Leave a comment on CAT+FD at 30, Part 1
The 30th anniversary version of the CAT+FD logo
A special logo for our trigintennial!
Original by Jim Rose.
Adapted by Bart Everson.

By now, everyone at Xavier knows that the university will be celebrating its centennial in 2025. Not everyone may realize that CAT+FD is currently celebrating its
30th anniversary. (I think it's a shame we've let a word like trigintennial fall out of common use.) Since this is my first year as director, I thought I'd use this space to reflect on how things have changed over the past 30 years.

Established in 1994, CAT+FD is one of the older centers for teaching and learning (CTL) in the country. This is perhaps not surprising considering Xavier's commitment to excellence in teaching. Over the coming year, we will be posting a variety of reflections about the evolution of CAT+FD on this blog. If you're interested in a deep dive into the history and evolution of CTLs in general, pick up a copy of Mary C. Wright's excellent Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape in Higher Education (2023, Johns Hopkins University Press).

Page one from the CAT News Report, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1994
The first edition of the CAT News Report. Click the image for a PDF of the newsletter.

CTLs came about, in part, through the recognition that while graduate programs were doing excellent work developing their students into expert scholars in their disciplines, they were not always doing a good job of developing their students into expert teachers. However, because of the timing, the earliest CTLs placed a lot of emphasis on what would eventually become know and educational technology, or EdTech. In the inaugural issue of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching News Report, Dr. Ann Barron, then interim director, explained that the the new Center was committed "to advancing the art of teaching — at ALL levels — in a technological age," an interesting and significant distinction. That issue includes an article about the first Kellogg Mini-grant awards, which supported faculty interested in revising one of their classes, and an article about using Apple's HyperCard to create "multimedia courseware".

The link between CTLs and technology should not be surprising. Consider the year CAT+FD began (for newer readers, CAT+FD was originally just CAT). 1994 was a particularly significant year in terms of publicly available technology. That year, Netscape Communications released Netscape Navigator, which would become the first widely used web browser; Sony released the PlayStation, which, now in its fifth generation, is still one of the most widely used gaming consoles; Sun Microsystems introduced the Java programming language, one of the most influential programming languages; and Kodak released its DC40 camera, one of the first consumer-level digital cameras. The world changed that year, and CTLs like CAT+FD stepped up to help faculty adapt to those changes.

Thirty years later, CAT+FD continues to be true to that original committee, even as the scope of our work has expanded. We are committed to supporting faculty in all aspects of their career in this ever-evolving technological age. Whether faculty want become expert users of our LMS, Brightspace, or improve their student mentoring, whether they want to learn how to incorporate artificial intelligence into their classes or ways to embrace a pedagogy of kindness, CAT+FD continues to provide faculty with the resources they need to shape their professional lives at Xavier.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #470: Automatic Zero Grading for Missing Submissions

ICYMI, an Automatic Zero Grading for Missing Submissions feature was introduced with our July Continuous Delivery updates. The automatic zero grading feature automatically assigns a score of zero (0) to unsubmitted learner activities once the due date passes. This automation eliminates the need for instructors to manually assign zeros to missing submissions, simplifying the process of identifying learners who have not submitted their course work. Additionally, learners benefit by receiving a more accurate view of their grade calculations for individual activities and the overall course.

Automatic zero grading is an optional feature that must be enabled by the instructor. It is enabled on a course-by-course basis. You will see the option to enable Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions in the Setup Wizard and in Grade Book settings.

Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions checkbox
For instructors, the Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions check box appears in the Grade Calculations area of Grade Settings when the Automatic Zero function is turned on.

The Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions grading option comprises two main features:

  • Automatically assigning a grade of zero for unreceived submissions past due date: This feature ensures that any assignment not submitted by the due date is automatically given a zero.
  • Automatically tagging the assigned zero grade: This indicator shows the grade was automatically assigned, not manually graded by the instructor.

You can differentiate between system-added zero grades and manually entered zero grades in the Grade Book.

On the Enter Grades tab in the Grade Book, instructors see a dashed underline applied to automatic zeros (0) along with a tooltip, that appears when you hover over it, to indicate that the system automatically applied the zero (0).

zero grade is underlined and automatic zero tooltip showing missing submission on due date message
Dashed underline applied to automatic zeros(0) along with a tooltip indicating the system automatically applied the zero (0) grade.

On the View Grades page, learners see a zero (0) grade appear, along with a default text message stating: This activity is overdue, and you haven’t completed it. Complete it now to update your grade. This default text is dynamic: learners can only see the message until the end date for the activity, at which time the feedback disappears. Instructors cannot edit this dynamic message text. Instructors must manually enter their own feedback comments if they want the learner feedback to persist.

NOTE: The default text is not grade feedback. The message text disappears when the grade item is regraded, hidden, or past the end date. Additionally, the default text does not appear in grades notifications, data sets, or user progress. Therefore, instructors must manually enter a comment if they want to provide feedback on the zero grade.

learner's view of grades when automatic zero is applied
Learners see a zero (0) grade along with the default text message stating: This activity is overdue, and you haven’t completed it. Complete it now to update your grade.

Timing and Availability for Automatic Zero Grading

Timing

  • The Automatic Zero feature is most effective when implemented at the start of a course. Once automatic zero grading is turned on, only activities with due dates in the future will be able to trigger automatic zero grading.
  • Automatic zero will not affect grades retroactively. Manually grading missed submissions is still required in this situation.
  • There is no retroactive automatic zero grading applied for new users enrolled after the due date has passed for activities. Courses with frequent additions of new users should consider this limitation.
  • This feature is based on local time zones for both instructors and learners. It follows the same rules as existing due dates.
  • Automatic zero grading is triggered within minutes of a due date passing. Note that it may take up to 15 minutes for zero grades to appear in the Grade Book.

Availability

  • Automatic zero grading only applies to course activities with grade associations and a future due date. Editing an activity to change its past due date to a future due date also applies the automatic zero grading feature.
  • Automatic zero grading only applies to visible and available activities. If an assessment has Release Conditions and due date, a learner will only receive an Automatic Zero if they meet the release conditions when the due date passes.
  • Automatic zero grading is course-wide setting. It cannot be selectively enabled or disabled at the activity or grade item level.
  • Automatic zero grading applies to individual and group assignments.
  • Automatic zero grades apply to special access due dates. In the event special access is added after the original due date, the original 0 grade remains in place until the activity is evaluated manually.
  • Learners can submit a course activity after the due date after they have received an automatic zero (if the activity remains available). Instructors can manually grade and override the zero. In this case, the corresponding overdue indicators will be cleared in the gradebook and learner view of grades.
  • Automatic zero functionality publishes grade items with zero to learners automatically in the Grades view.
  • Like other grade settings, automatic zero setting is respected and copied over when copying a course. Note the setting does not persist when importing or exporting a course or grades.

Want more information?

About automatic zero grading for missing submissions
How course activity types interact with automatic zero grading

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
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.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #469: Test/Quiz Question Generator

Do you want your students to take a quiz or test online? Do you have a test that you normally administer on paper and you don’t want to retype all the questions into Brightspace? Learning and Teaching Services at Algonquin College developed a Test/Quiz Question Generator that provides an easy way of creating a collection of questions that can be imported into Brightspace.

the word test written in chalk on a chalkboard

Quiz questions have to be in a special format in order to be imported into Brightspace. The Test/Quiz Question Generator allows you to reformat your questions and it will create a CSV file that can be imported into Brightspace.

Additionally, the Brightspace Community developed a Quiz Question Converter that you can use to add a bank of questions to the Quiz Question Library. One benefit of using the Quiz Question Converter is that you can add feedback and hints to the quiz questions you are importing into Brightspace. Therefore saving you time in importing quiz questions with feedback and hints into Brightspace.

Want more information?

Test/Quiz Question Generator (Algonquin College)
Quiz Question Converter (Brightspace Community)

About Quizzes
Quizzes, Surveys, and Question Libraries
Question Types and When to Use Them
Understanding Grading Options for Question Types
Use Quiz Results Displays to Show Quiz Results

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
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

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #468: Quizzes – Set Accommodations by Learner for All Quizzes

Instructors can grant quiz accommodations to learners through the Classlist tool. Instructors can assign accommodations to specific learners that apply across ALL quizzes instead of applying them on a quiz-by-quiz basis. The accommodations option allows the instructor to give the learner more time to complete quizzes at the course level.

The Edit Accommodations option in the Classlist
The Edit Accommodations option in the Classlist

The Edit Accommodations dialog box
The Edit Accommodations dialog box

Once granted, the accommodations apply to all quiz activities in a course for that learner. The additional time can be applied in terms of quiz time multipliers (for example, 1.5 x quiz time) or +minutes (for example, an additional 30 minutes) on every quiz in a course.

Accommodations for Instructors:

  • An icon appears next to the learner’s name in the Classlist to indicate that the learner has an accommodation.
  • Instructors can filter the Classlist by Accommodations.
  • Instructors can also Print or Email a list of users with accommodations by adding the filter to those pages.

Accommodations for learners:

  • An icon appears next to learners’ own names in the Classlist to indicate they have an accommodation. To view accommodation details, learners can click My Accommodations from their learner context menu.
  • When commencing a quiz, the accommodation icon appears next to a learner’s quiz time to indicate that their accommodation has been applied. If a learner’s time accommodation has been overridden by a quiz-specific special access, this icon does not appear.

Example of a Classlist page highlighting the Learner has Accommodations icon
Classlist page highlighting the Learner has Accommodations icon

Example of accommodations reflected in the quiz's time allowed.
Learners can see accommodations reflected in the time allowed when taking quiz

Quiz-specific special access can overwrite an accommodation for any user on a quiz-by-quiz basis. When you overwrite an accommodation and then click Save, a warning describing the impact of overwriting the accommodation appears. Accommodations set for learners in Classlist are displayed in the Special Access for the quiz.

Accommodations indicator in Special Access
An example of how Accommodations set for a learner in Classlist will show up in the Special Access for a quiz

Want more information?

Set Up Brightspace Accommodations by Learner for All Quizzes
Brightspace Tip #207: Quizzes – Special Access
Special Access in Quizzes
Quizzes FAQ: Hot tips and workarounds
Brightspace Tip #254: Tests and Quizzes
Resources for the Quizzes Tool

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
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.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #467: Are You Ready?

image showing various disasters

Each threat of tropical storms, heavy rains, and street flooding in our area should be a reminder that course delivery is vulnerable to unplanned events. Potential interruptions to class activities include but are not limited to natural disasters, widespread illness, acts of violence, planned or unexpected construction-related closures, severe weather conditions, and medical emergencies.

Here are a few things you can do in Brightspace to help you prepare should the need arise.

For those who missed our "Preparing to Teach During an Interruption: Strategies for Maintaining Instructional Continuity" workshop and for those who want to learn more about instructional continuity, you will find a link to the workshop recording, PowerPoint slides, and resources discussed in the workshop here:

Want More Information?

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.

Image credit: "The threat of disasters is real" by jflorent is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Published on Leave a comment on Student Tech Struggles: What Educators Should Know

young black woman looking at a computer screen

A misconception about 21st-century students is that they are proficient with all technology, even in the absence of clear instructions. Many students know how to use online platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for fun, but have no idea how to leverage them for academic or professional use.

In an article in the Times Higher Education, Elizabeth Losh says universities must stop presuming that all students are tech-savvy. Many educators assume that young people are digital natives and they should know how to use technology. Gen Z may be savvy about using social media personally. However, they are not as savvy about how to use tech tools academically or professionally.

I don't appreciate when professors just assume because we are young we know how to use this stuff...we are learning with y'all. - Anonymous Xavier Student

In feedback from some Xavier students, they stated that their professors assume they know how to use Brightspace when in fact they do not. To better serve our students, faculty should not assume students are digital natives. Instructors can help students learn the basics for the tools that will be used in their course by providing them links to how-to resources.

Did you know that we have a list of Brightspace how-to resources for students on our CAT FooD blog? You can find Brightspace how-to resources at the following links:

Additionally, here's an example of how you might include how-to instructions for a discussion forum in your Brightspace course:

example of a Q&A discussion forum
Example of Q&A discussion forum with instructions on how to post to the forum

In this example, instructions for the Q&A forum are provided along with instructions on how to post to the forum as well as a link to a how-to video.

Including information on how to use course tools will go a long way to helping students to be successful in your course.

Image credit: image by Aspen from Nappy

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #466: Copy Assignments

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 and the Copy to Other Courses options?

The Copy Assignment feature copies all settings of an existing assignment except the associated grade item and Turnitin settings.

Example of the Copy Assignment and Copy to Other Courses options as they appear in the drop-down menu for existing assignments
Example of the Copy Assignment and Copy to Other Courses options as they appear in the drop-down menu for existing assignments

Instructors who teach multiple courses can Copy Assignments to Other Courses. To copy assignments to another course, you must be enrolled in both the source and destination course with a role having the permission Assignments > Copy to Other Courses in order to copy from source to destination.

Instructors can copy the following assignment attributes to the new destination:

  • Assignment folder and its properties, including instructions, assignment category, and visibility
  • Assignment properties including description and category
  • Attachments like direct file attachments, uploaded from Google Workspace or OneDrive, and audio and video files
  • Grade item and grade category
  • Availability dates
  • Submission and completion information, including the Optional Grade item and the course scheme if used.
  • Rubric(s) associated with the assignment. When copying an assignment that uses a shared rubric, instead of linking a copied assignment to a shared rubric, the rubric is also copied. The copied assignment links to the copied rubric. If an assignment uses a rubric that is archived, the rubric is copied and retains its archived state in the destination course.

The following attributes are NOT copied:

  • Instruction Quicklinks and attachment resources created with the Attach link to existing activity action
  • Instruction images added using Insert Image that were saved to course files
  • Availability release conditions and special access settings
  • Submission and completion information, including group assignment designation
  • Evaluation and Feedback information including Turnitin associations, competency, and outcome associations
  • Content topic associations (for example, if the assignment is linked from content)

Note: In some cases, references to links and images that are not copied may result in broken links.

Follow these steps to do it.

To copy an existing assignment, you should:

  1. On the NavBar, click Activities and then click Assignments.
  2. From the drop-down menu of the assignment you want to copy, click Copy Assignment.
  3. The copied assignment opens in edit mode. Update the name, score, due date, instructions and other settings of the copied assignment.
  4. After reviewing all the details, click Save and Close to go back to the Assignments page.

To copy an assignment to another course, you should:

  1. On the NavBar, click Activities and then click Assignments.
  2. From the drop-down menu of the assignment you want to copy, click Copy to Other Courses.
  3. Click to select the rubrics and/or grade items if you want those items copied with the assignment.
  4. In the Choose Destinations area, search by keyword or semester to find the destination courses for the assignment.
  5. Click to select the destination course(s) for the assignment.
    Note: By default, the maximum number of courses you can select is 10.
  6. Expand the Destination course to set the assignment location and visibility.
  7. Click Next and you will be taken to the progress page.

NOTE: The progress page indicates the status of each destination course and any issues. If you navigate away from the progress page, a minibar notification in Brightspace indicates when the assignment has been copied to all the destination courses. You can click the notification to open the progress page to review the status and logged issues.

Want more information?

Brightspace Tip #464: Simplify Assignment Collection
Copy an existing assignment
Copy assignments to other courses
About Assignments
Create an assignment
Observed in person assignments
Allow Special Access for assignments
Evaluate assignment submissions from Content
Brightspace Tip #143: Annotate Assignment Submissions

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
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.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #465: Work To Do Widget

Learners sometimes have a hard time keeping track of what they need to get done. They may need to hop in and out of several courses to determine if there are upcoming assignments or projects with due dates in the near future (or even in the past!). The “Work To Do” widget helps by providing learners with a summary of assigned learning activities from all their courses that are overdue or have an upcoming due date.

The Work To Do widget is designed for learners and it displays all their overdue and upcoming learning activities across courses or within a course. This widget can help learners to keep track of assignments and activities that are due.

All quizzes, assignments, checklists, etc., with due or end dates in the near future or past appear in one place on the learner’s My homepage in the “Work To Do” widget. Overdue work appears at the top of the list, and upcoming items appear below.

Example of the Work To Do widget
Example of the Work To Do widget

Learners will see the “Work To Do” widget on their My Home page as well as their course homepages. The learner will be able to see overdue and upcoming learning activities for each course where the default course homepage is being used.

Example of the Work To Do widget with no activities due
Example of the Work To Do widget showing no activities due

The Work To Do widget can be seen by users with the role of student. Instructors will see the Work To Do widget when they view the course as a student.

Note: Instructors who have opted to customize their course homepage and want their students to be able to see the Work To Do widget on their customized course homepage, will have to add the widget to the course homepage.

For additional information and frequently asked questions about the Work To Do widget, see the following article in the Brightspace Community: Introducing the Work To Do Widget.

Want more information?

Brightspace Tip #50: Customize Your Course Homepage
Homepages and Widgets
Design a Course Homepage with Widgets (pdf)
Adding the Work to Do Widget to Course Homepage (video)

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call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

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