Brightspace – Page 2

Brightspace Tip #506: Grade Book – Enter Grades and Feedback

Janice FlorentApril 13, 2025Leave a comment

Assessments measure student achievement. They may take the form of traditional assessments such as exams, or quizzes, but may also be part of learning activities such as group projects, discussions, or presentations.

Brightspace has a number of tools instructors can use to assess learners and the Grades tool is useful for assigning and keeping track of learner grades. If you are not familiar with setting up your Grade Book, review Brightspace Tip #503: Grade Book for information.

There are multiple ways to enter grades for learner submissions in Brightspace. Three ways instructors can enter grades in their Brightspace courses are:

Using Quick Eval
Within Individual Tools
In the Grade Book

Quick Eval

Quick Eval is a tool that 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. Instructors can use Quick Eval to assess learner submissions.

Within Individual Tools

For assessments that are created using a Brightspace tool, such as Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions, instructors will associate the assessment with a Grade Item in the Grade Book. The association is made within the tool itself. When you are ready to grade the student’s work, you will grade it within the tool and the grade will automatically transfer over to the Grade Item in the Grade Book.

In the Grade Book

For assessments that occur outside of Brightspace, instructors have to create a Grade Item in the Grade Book, and then manually enter student grades into the Grade Book. Examples of in-class assessments where you may need to manually enter grades in the Grade Book include participation grades, tests administered on-paper, presentations, and demonstrations.

Instructors can manually enter grades for assessments in the Grade Book’s Standard View or Spreadsheet View.

Standard View

The Standard View allows instructors to enter grades by grade item for all students in the course or for an individual student.

The standard view allows instructors to evaluate individual learner submissions. Each submission type has a unique icon and new learner submissions are identified with a dot on the corner of the icon.

Learner submission icons with a new submission indicator dot on the discussion icon

Click the associated icon next to the learner submission to evaluate the submission.

Spreadsheet View

The Spreadsheet View allows instructors to enter grades for all students and all grade items in a single spreadsheet view. For quick edits, click “Switch to Spreadsheet View” (the button toggles back and forth between “Standard View” and “Spreadsheet View.”)

The Spreadsheet View allows instructors to manually enter or modify grades in cells. Instructors can also override previously-entered grades using the Spreadsheet View.

Entering the new or updated grade in the field for the learner and the submission

Spreadsheet View is ideal for entering grades for assessments that occurred outside of Brightspace. Once you’ve entered the grades, save the changes before leaving the page.

Entering Feedback

You can enter feedback by clicking on the arrow to the right of the grade item (column) you want to add feedback to, then select Enter Grades.

Locate the name of the student you want to provide feedback for, then select the pencil icon under the Feedback column and enter the feedback.

feedback's pencil icon identified — The pencil icon opens the feedback dialog box

Once you’ve entered the grades and feedback, save the changes before leaving the page.

NOTE: When entering feedback you have the option to enter private comments that will only be visible to you and users with grading privileges. Learners cannot see private comments.

Important

Remember tool-based assessments should be graded using the respective assessment tool.
Use the Enter Grades tab to easily view all learner grades, grade categories and grade items. From the Enter Grades tab, instructors can assess and evaluate grades for activities conducted outside of Brightspace.

Want more information?

Brightspace Tip #503: Grade Book
Brightspace Tip #475: Quick Eval
Enter Grades in the Grades tool
Grading in Brightspace
Brightspace Tip #204: Interactive Rubrics

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: Grade book by David Mulder | CC BY-SA 2.0 (image cropped)

Brightspace Tip #505: Demystifying Bonus Items in a Weighted Grade Book

Janice FlorentApril 11, 2025Leave a comment

I am writing this blog post as a follow up to my Brightspace Tip #504: Grade Book - Bonus Points blog post. I've received a few questions about bonus items in a weighted grading system. This blog post addresses how bonus items work in a weighted Grade Book.

Bonus refers to optional activities. Students are NOT penalized for skipping the activity. Points earned for Bonus activities will improve the student’s grade. Checking the Bonus option means that any points earned will be added onto the Final Calculated Grade. Bonus items appear in the Grade Book with a Star next to them.

Bonus grade items are not included in the maximum points for a category or final grade. They are added on top of the calculated grade. The Can Exceed option must be selected in order for users' grades to exceed the maximum points specified.

The Can Exceed and Bonus options can both be selected for a grade item.

If you allow an item to exceed 100% or include Bonus items, but do not check the box "Can Exceed" in the category and/or “Final Calculated Grade” settings, then extra credit will count but it will be limited to no more than 100% for the category or “Final Calculated Grade.”

If you create a “Bonus” item with no category, limit its weight to the most you wish to add to the final course percentage. For example, if you do not want to add more than 3% to any given final grade, limit the Bonus item’s weight to 3%. The bonus points can be any number of points because the weight makes the difference in the overall calculation.

Refer to this Demystifying Bonus Items in a Weighted Grade Book document for example of weighted grading system with bonus item and an explanation of the final grade calculation.

Want more information?

Demystifying Bonus Items in a Weighted Grade Book
Brightspace Tip #504: Grade Book - Bonus Points
About Bonus Grade Items
Extra Credit
Create a Grade Item (video)
Brightspace Tip #503: Grade Book

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 credits: extra png from pngtree.com and image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #504: Grade Book – Bonus Points

Janice FlorentApril 10, 2025Leave a comment

red tag with the word bonus written on it

There are two ways to give extra credit in Brightspace. The first is to allow the grade item to exceed the maximum number of points for the assignment. The other option is to indicate the grade item is a “Bonus” item.

The differences between the two options are explained here:

Can Exceed means in grading an item you are able to add extra credit to the assignment, quiz, or any item in the Grade Book. You indicate this by checking the Can Exceed box.
- The Can Exceed option can boost student’s score on activity making it feasible to earn more than 100%. For example, on a grade item where the maximum points is 10 and the Can Exceed option is selected, a grade of 12/10 is a perfect score with 2 extra credit points added.
- When you choose Can Exceed for a grade item in the Grade Book, you should also select Can Exceed for the Category in which the grade item resides.
Bonus refers to optional activities. Students are NOT penalized for skipping the activity. Points earned for Bonus activities will improve the student’s grade. Checking the Bonus option means that any points earned will be added onto the Final Calculated Grade.
- Bonus items appear in the Grade Book with a Star next to them.
- Bonus grade items are not included in the maximum points for a category or final grade. They are added on top of the calculated grade. Bonus grade items cannot make users' grades exceed the maximum points specified, unless the Can Exceed option is selected.

The Can Exceed and Bonus options can both be selected for a grade item.

NOTE: When you place bonus items in a category in your Grade Book, you should make sure to edit the category and select "Can Exceed" for the category because you want the category to exceed 100%. This way the student’s bonus points will count toward their final grade, and not just the category.

Want more information?

About Bonus Grade Items
Extra Credit
Create a Grade Item (video)
Brightspace Tip #503: Grade Book

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: “bonus” by jflorent is licensed under CC0 and is a derivative of image by ElisaRiva from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #503: Grade Book

Janice FlorentApril 10, 2025Leave a comment

The Brightspace Grades Tool is useful for providing students with up-to-date information about their current standing in the course. For instructors, it’s useful for assigning and keeping track of student grades. Students can view grade entries and monitor their progress throughout the course.

As an instructor, you can determine how to set up your Grade Book to best reflect your approach to evaluation, including the grading system and grade scheme that is most appropriate for your course. You can select how grades display to learners, how they update in the Grade Book, and how you want to deal with ungraded items. You can create grade items for projects, assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc. to include in your Grade Book, and even associate them with other tools (e.g. Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions).

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links to how-to documents to help you to use the Grades Tool:

Want more information?

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: Grade book by David Mulder | CC BY-SA 2.0

Brightspace Tip #502: March Continuous Delivery Updates

Janice FlorentMarch 27, 2025Leave a comment

the word update written on a chalk board

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 March 2025/20.25.03 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Awards – Option to enter Issue Date when manually issuing awards

To provide greater flexibility when issuing awards, instructors can now use the Issue Date field in the Issue Award dialog. Instructors can manually enter an Issue Date when issuing awards, allowing them to backdate awards as needed. The Issue Date field defaults to the current date.

Previously, instructors could only edit the issue date of an award via API.

The Issue Date field appears below the Select an Award field in the Issue Award dialog. — The **Issue Date** field appears below the **Select an Award** field in the **Issue Award** dialog.

2) Quizzes – Additional question types in new quiz evaluation experience

The new quiz evaluation experience, introduced in September 2024/20.24.09, initially supported a subset of question types, including Multiple Choice, Written Response, True or False, Short Answer, Fill in the Blank, and Multi-Select. It also allowed Question Pools containing these question types.

To fully support the new quiz evaluation experience, this release expands support to include the following additional quiz question types:

Arithmetic
Matching
Ordering
Multi Short Answer
Significant Figures

With full question type support, organizations can now transition entirely to the new quiz evaluation experience for a seamless and feature-complete workflow.

For additional information about the new quiz evaluation experience and planned updates, refer to the Release of the new quiz evaluation experience blog post.

3) Rubrics – Added Rubric Level Range Visual

This release introduces rubric level ranges in rubric headings, improving clarity for instructors and learners:

Instructors can now see rubric level ranges while creating and evaluating rubrics, except for holistic rubrics and non-sequential custom points.
Learners can view rubric level ranges in assessments, ensuring a clear understanding of point distributions.

Previously, instructors had to manually explain rubric level ranges to learners. This feature enhances consistency and reduces ambiguity.

The following behavior is expected:

Instructors can see the rubric level ranges when creating and evaluating rubrics, except for holistic rubrics and custom points that are not sequential.

analytic rubric with rubric scoring levels and criteria showing custom points — Define the scoring levels and criteria when creating or editing a rubric. Adjust custom points by entering values in the corresponding fields under each level column.

Learners can see the rubric criteria level range when viewing rubrics, except for holistic rubrics and custom points that are not sequential.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

D10881 (Hide rubric overall grade range and make it clearer)
D8693 (Make Rubric Levels Ranges)

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the March Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform March 2025/20.25.03 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?

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

Brightspace Tip #501: Product Idea Exchange (PIE)

Janice FlorentMarch 12, 2025March 12, 2025Leave a comment

Pi (π) Day is celebrated on March 14th (3.14). Did you know the Brightspace Community has a PIE? Yes, there is a PIE (Product Idea Exchange) in the Brightspace Community. The PIE is a system that allows Brightspace users to share their suggestions on how to make Brightspace better. I invite you to take a few minutes to explore the Brightspace Product Idea Exchange (PIE).

We’ve put together this collection of PIE ideas you can consider upvoting so that we can add our voice to the community to make the Brightspace experience better. To get you started, here are links to articles on baking a better PIE and what makes an idea great. You can also search the PIE for ideas to upvote or submit your own idea to the PIE. Let us know if you submit your own idea to the PIE so that we can upvote it.

Want more information?

How can I access the PIE?

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: "073/365 - Pi Day Pies, 2012" by Dennis Wilkinson is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

ICYMI: Rethinking Assessment Strategies in the Age of AI

Janice FlorentMarch 10, 2025Leave a comment

Rethinking Assessment Strategies in the Age of AI [49:24]

Thanks to those of you who attended last month's "Rethinking Assessment Strategies in the Age of AI" workshop. The workshop, the 21^st in our #LEX Advanced series, helps you to build on the skills you learned in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course and will assist you in designing alternative/authentic assessments that challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful ways in this age of AI.

In case you missed last month’s training session or if you attended the training session and want to recap what was covered, a copy of the workshop recording and resources referenced in the workshop are available. You can find the workshop recording and other resources in support of the workshop on the CAT+FD wiki.

Additionally, if you did not get the opportunity to earn a digital badge for participating in the workshop, it's not too late to earn that badge. We have a corresponding “Rethinking Assessment Strategies” module in the #LearnEverywhereXULA (#LEX) course that you can complete to earn a digital badge for this topic. The badge will count towards your #LEX Advanced certification.

Brightspace Tip #500: February Continuous Delivery Updates

Janice FlorentFebruary 27, 2025February 26, 2025Leave a comment

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 February 2025/20.25.02 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Brightspace Editor – Updated Accessibility Checker icon

This release updates the Accessibility Checker icon in Brightspace Editor to improve user recognition and understanding.

The updated Accessibility Checker icon is now a human figure within a circle, replacing the eye symbol with a check mark for better clarity.

The previous Accessibility Checker icon of an eye and checkmark.

2) Email – Validation required when using the Copy external mail on all sent messages option

Users must validate their external email addresses whenever they use the Copy external mail on all sent messages option. This option is selected in either Email Settings or the Account Settings > Email tab.

Users can configure the Copy external mail on all sent messages option in the Account Settings > Email tab. — Users can configure the Copy external mail on all sent messages option in the **Account Settings** > **Email** tab.

Account Settings, Email Options with send a copy of each outgoing message to [email address] checked — Once you have an external email address configured, the text of the option changes to **Send a copy of each outgoing message to [external email]**.

Email Settings, Email Options, send copy of each outgoing message to [email address] box unchecked — Users can also configure the **Copy external mail on all sent messages** option in **Email Settings**. The text in this location also changes to **Send a copy of each outgoing message to [external email]**.

Once users save their changes, the system sends a validation email message to the external email address. Users click the link in the email to validate the setting and email address. Unverified email addresses display a Not Verified - Click to Resend Verification Email status next to the Send a copy of each outgoing message to [external email] option. Users can resend validation emails, but the system does not copy messages to the external email address until it verifies the address. If users change their external email address, they must repeat the validation process.

Email Settings, Email Options, Not verified message — Unverified emails are indicated with the **Not Verified - Click to Resend Verification Email** status. Users can click that status to resend the verification email.

Previously, Copy external mail on all sent messages did not require validation of external email. Any users who have previously configured Copy external mail on all sent messages do not require validation unless their external email address is altered.

Note:

An external email is considered any email outside of Brightspace, regardless of whether it is within your institution's domain or not.
Once you have an external email address configured, the text of the option changes to Send a copy of each outgoing message to [external email].

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the February Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform February 2025/20.25.02 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?

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

Brightspace Tip #499: Turnitin – Quick Submit

Janice FlorentFebruary 18, 2025Leave a comment

Turnitin is a plagiarism detection tool that is integrated into our Brightspace system. Turnitin checks student work for potential plagiarism and allows instructors to provide electronic feedback to students through markup, proofing, and rubrics tools.

Instructors typically create an Assignment submission folder with Turnitin enabled. When students submit their assignments they are checked for potential plagiarism. However, there may be situations where an instructor needs to submit a paper to be checked by Turnitin.

The Quick Submit feature allows instructors to submit papers and receive Similarity Reports without creating an Assignment in their course. This is ideal for instructors who would like to use Turnitin to spot check submissions and have these papers in electronic format. Quick Submit SHOULD NOT be used if the instructor desires to have students submit their own papers or plans on using PeerMark (peer review assignment tool) or GradeMark (make comments on and assess student papers). Instructors should create an Assignment and enable Turnitin for the assignment instead.

Follow these steps to do it.

To use Quick Submit to submit a paper:

Log in to your Turnitin account natively through www.turnitin.com.
Activate Quick Submit by clicking on User Info from the top of the instructor homepage.
On the preferences page, select yes from the activate Quick Submit drop-down menu. The Quick Submit tab will appear on the instructor homepage, making the Quick Submit inbox available for use.
To start the upload process, click on the Submit button in the Quick Submit inbox and follow the instructions.

Want more information?

Activating Quick Submit
Quick Submit
Assignments and Turnitin
Interpreting the Similarity Report

Brightspace Tip #464: Simplify Assignment Collection
Brightspace Tip #498: Turnitin Feedback Studio
Brightspace Tip #122: Getting the Best out of Turnitin Feedback Studio

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.

#LEX Advanced Certification

Janice FlorentFebruary 17, 2025February 16, 2025Leave a comment

#LearnEverywhereXULA (#LEX) is our award winning 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.

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, rethinking assessment strategies in the age of AI, securing online testing environment, 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

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
Ratnayaka, Dr. Harish
Rousselle, Dr. Elizabeth
Todd, Dr. Jason

#LEX Advanced Level 3 Certificate Awardees

Ayyad, Dr. Ahlam
Edwards, Dr. Andrea
Gstohl, Dr. Mark
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

Quick Eval

Within Individual Tools

In the Grade Book

Standard View

Spreadsheet View

Important

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1) Awards – Option to enter Issue Date when manually issuing awards

2) Quizzes – Additional question types in new quiz evaluation experience

3) Rubrics – Added Rubric Level Range Visual

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1) Brightspace Editor – Updated Accessibility Checker icon

2) Email – Validation required when using the Copy external mail on all sent messages option

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Follow these steps to do it.

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#LEX Advanced Certifications

#LEX Advanced Level 1 Certificate Awardees

#LEX Advanced Level 2 Certificate Awardees

#LEX Advanced Level 3 Certificate Awardees

#LEX Advanced Level 4 Certificate Awardees

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