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update

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 is an update in the May 2023/20.23.5 release that was added to our system this month:

1) Awards – Add criteria to awards in compliance with the latest Open Badges standard

Instructors can now specify what a learner must do to achieve a particular award.

This feature complements the use of evidence for awards by adding the new required Criteria field to the Awards tool.

The new required Criteria field on the New Award page
The new required Criteria field on the New Award page.

Availability of Criteria and Evidence fields meets the latest Open Badges 2.0 standard from 1EdTech (formerly known as IMS Global):

  • When instructors manually grant awards, they can now check the award's criteria and enter evidence describing what the learner did to meet the criteria and earn the award.
  • When the award is automatically issued, the release conditions determine if learners meet the criteria.
  • If learners share their award via a public link, both the Criteria and Evidence fields now appear on the Public Award page.
The new Criteria field on the Public Award page
The new Criteria field on the Public Award page.

This feature implements PIE item D6128 (Incorporate Open Badge 2.0 Standards).

For existing awards that do not have explicitly stated criteria, Brightspace treats the Criteria and Evidence fields as the same.

Previously, there was no criteria field available in the Awards tool. When learners shared their awards to Badgr, the same field values were used for both Evidence and Criteria fields.

If you are interested in getting more information about this and all the May Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform May 2023/20.23.5 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

update

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 April 2023/20.23.4 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Discussions – Introducing the new creation and editing experience

The new discussion creation experience brings create and edit consistency changes from Assignments and Quizzes to Discussions, making it familiar and easy to learn. This first release is at full parity with classic discussions and brings refreshed workflows and improvements to restricting group topics and threads, associating topics to forums, and wording changes to a few settings that you may be familiar with.

The new Discussions creation and editing experience
The new Discussions creation and editing experience

The primary panel on the left contains the same frequently-used fields as Assignments and Quizzes. These fields are most relevant to learners and are core to discussion topic creation. The right-hand panel provides advanced options such as start and end dates and release conditions. These options follow the same logical groupings as found in Assignments and Quizzes. Other topic-specific settings can be found in the right-hand panel.

Refer to the Introducing the New Discussion Creation Experience knowledge article for an in-depth look at all the feature and capability changes with this update.

2) Quizzes – Confirmation dialog for learners exiting a quiz

This feature introduces a confirmation dialog to learners closing in-progress quizzes. The dialog is context-based, providing additional information about the impact of exiting the quiz (such as whether a learner will be able to return to their quiz after exiting).

An example of a confirmation dialog displayed to learners closing in-progress quizzes
An example of a confirmation dialog displayed to learners closing in-progress quizzes

Previously there was no dialog or warning to learners who exited a quiz accidentally or on purpose.

Note: The dialog only appears when the learner selects the X [Close this Quiz] for the quiz. Closing the browser window or tab does not display the confirmation dialog.

This feature implements the PIE item D7289 (Close/Exit Quiz errors correction).

The X (Close this Quiz) button appears to a learner attempting a quiz
The X (Close this Quiz) button appears to a learner attempting a quiz

The message shown when a student tries to exit a quiz depends on the time limit and end date settings for the quiz. In every scenario after exiting a quiz, learners are directed back to the Quiz Details page.

The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with no time limit, no end date, or a time limit that expires before the end date
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with no time limit, no end date, or a time limit that expires before the end date
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the April Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform April 2023/20.23.4 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
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

update

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 March 2023/20.23.3 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Awards – Share achievements to LinkedIn profiles

Learners can now share achievements from the Awards tool directly to their LinkedIn profiles.

This feature simplifies showcasing awards in LinkedIn profiles. Awards can now be shared directly from Brightspace without using a third-party tool or creating a link to the award first.

To share an award to their LinkedIn profiles, learners can navigate to the My Awards page, select the desired award, click Share, and then click the new Share to LinkedIn button.

Shared awards appear in the Licenses & Certifications section of learners' LinkedIn profiles.

Options to allow users to share awards
Allow users to share awards
Option to share award to LinkedIn
Share award to LinkedIn

Previously, awards could be shared to LinkedIn by first sharing the award to Badgr or creating a public link to the award (available as of November 2022) and then copying the link to LinkedIn.

This feature implements PIE item D8491 (Share Badges Directly to LinkedIn).

2) Calendar – Prevent duplicate calendar events on copy/import to reduce performance issues

With this release, calendar events are checked to see if they are duplicates when performing a course copy or import. When either action is performed, Brightspace only copies the following:

  • Calendar events that have an association, such as to an activity that is being copied into the course offering.
  • A single unique Calendar event that is manually created.

When a user manually creates multiple calendar items, Brightspace compares the following fields when checking for duplicates:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Start Date (or Start Day for All Day Events)
  • End Date (or End Day for All Day Events)
  • If its an All Day Event
  • Repeat Every (e.g.: every day, every second month)
  • Repeat On (day of week, only valid for Weekly events)
  • Repeat Until Date
  • Repeat Type (None, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually)
  • Event Visibility
  • Location
  • Group associations

This feature only applies when performing a copy into a course offering and when importing course packages. It does not check if existing events are duplicates.

Previously, manually created or imported calendar events were not checked for duplication, creating duplicate calendar items.

3) Media Library – Adapt the player to match available space or video resolution while using ISF Plugin

The ISF player insert is now responsive and adapts to match screen size. When using Insert Stuff in Brightspace Editor to insert a video, the video preview screen is updated to show a responsive player and will now scale to the available maximum width. Height and aspect ratio are still respected. Previously, the player was too small, especially for users with smaller devices. In addition, users had to specify a size to embed the player via ISF.

The layout slider will be removed as the responsive nature of this update makes it redundant. Existing videos that were added to Brightspace Editor before the 20.23.3 release will remain statically sized.

For customers using the sample HTML v3.0 Templates, the Video Lecture page, or who are managing any Learning Creative Services or third-party HTML templates and styles: please be aware that after the 20.23.03 update, videos hosted in the Brightspace Media Library are responsive automatically without having to insert videos into the video wrapper sections. Customers can now insert Brightspace Media Library videos where needed into any template as there is no longer a need to insert into a video wrapper section to make the video responsive. Customers wishing to continue using the video wrapper section with Brightspace Media Library videos can explore how to update their versions of the Sample HTML v3.0 CSS by visiting HTML Template (Version 3.0) - Brightspace.

4) User Management and Settings – Easily change language preferences using the User Menu

A new language selector is available in the user menu to easily change the language setting to the user’s preferred language. Previously, a user had to navigate to Account Settings or use a custom installed widget with a complex workflow. Users can continue to access language and locale within the Account Settings page; this update provides an option that you can more easily access.

Note: Only languages that are enabled by your organization are available for selection.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

  • D8920 (Language toggle feature)
  • D7508 (Preferred Language Selector)
The User Settings menu with the current language highlighted.
The User Settings menu with the current language highlighted.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the March Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform March 2023/20.23.3 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

update

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 February 2023/20.23.2 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Intelligent Agents – Support for copying One-Time Run agents

This feature allows users to copy, export, and import One-Time Run agents and their schedules. This allows users who utilize course shells which are copied to multiple courses to schedule One-Time Run agents to run as needed in all destination courses.

Note: This functionality only applies to agents that have yet to be run. If the agent has been run, no schedule exists to copy.

Previously, agents that were configured with scheduling frequency One-Time Run would copy without a scheduling frequency.

This feature implements the following PIE item:

  • D9467 (Copy One-Time Run agents with their schedules)

2) Media Library – Support added for Bulk Actions

To improve the audio-video content management experience, this release adds the ability to perform bulk actions in Media Library.

Instructors can perform the following bulk actions:

  • Delete files
  • Restore files in Media Library > Recycle Bin
Bulk Delete action in the Media Library
The bulk Delete action in Media Library.

Previously, instructors could only perform these tasks individually.

3) Quizzes – Add quiz availability dates to your Calendar

Instructors can now add quiz availability dates to the Calendar tool in the Availability Dates & Conditions menu in the new quiz creation experience. Instructors can select the Add availability dates to Calendar checkbox when creating a quiz to add quiz availability dates to their Calendar. This feature provides instructors with more control over where Start Dates and End Dates appear to learners. Previously, only the Due Date was automatically added in the new quiz creation experience; and control over adding availability dates was limited to the Manage Dates tool. Instructors previously had to revert back to the legacy quiz creation experience to add quiz availability dates to their Calendar.

The following is a reminder of how Calendar events are generated when using either the legacy or new quiz creation experience:

  • If the Start Date and End Date are set, an End Date event is created.
  • If the Start Date is set, a Start Date event is created.
  • If the End Date is set, an End Date event is created.
Availability Dates & Conditions menu displaying the Add availability dates to Calendar checkbox.
The Availability Dates & Conditions menu displaying the Add availability dates to Calendar checkbox.

4) Quizzes – Additional paging options

Two new paging options are available in the Timing & Display menu in the new quiz creation experience. Instructors can choose to display 5 questions per page or 10 questions per page. The change optimizes instructors' options when building quizzes with page breaks.

This feature partially implements PIE item D9327: Manually add page breaks in the New Quiz design.

The new paging options in the Timing & Display menu in the new quiz creation experience.
The new paging options in the Timing & Display menu in the new quiz creation experience.

5) Rubrics – Keep track of changes to assessed rubrics with enhanced visual cues

To maintain the integrity of assessments, any rubric that has been used to assess a grade item is locked. However, there may be incidences where it is necessary to add or update the text on a rubric without changing any points, or without adding or deleting any criteria or criteria levels. The text on the rubric, including criteria names and descriptions, level names, and default feedback, can continue to be updated after the rubric has been locked. To increase the value of the Rubrics – Clarify grading criteria by editing text fields in assessed rubrics | New feature released in November 2022, you can now use enhanced visual cues to keep track of the changes you have made.

Note: It is not possible to edit the name of the rubric using this feature.

When an instructor makes a change to a previously assessed rubric, it is updated with a blue highlight and the text Edited in the lower right corner. When the user saves and closes the rubric, the edit indications no longer appear.

Note: It is only possible to make changes to assessed rubrics that are created in the current course or are copied from another course. Shared rubrics remain locked.

This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria:

  • WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics
  • WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.1 Use of Color
The Edit Rubric window with changes highlighted and indicated with the word Edited.
The Edit Rubric window with changes highlighted and indicated with the word Edited.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the February Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform February 2023/20.23.2 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

update

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 2023/20.23.1 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Brightspace – Supported Browsers

This release updates the list of retro or legacy browsers (specific older versions of supported browsers). If you are using a browser below the latest updates, the "Your browser is looking a little retro" warning message appears. The browsers include:

  • Chrome 107+ (released October 2022)
  • Android Chrome 107+ (released October 2022)
  • macOS Safari 16+ (released September 2022)
  • iOS Safari 16+ (released September 2022)
  • Firefox 106+ (released October 2022)

Previously this message would only show for browsers under Chrome/Edge 100, Safari 15, and Firefox 99. There are no changes to legacy browser requirements that remain at versions below Chrome/Edge 74, Safari 13, and Firefox 67.

2) Brightspace Editor – Equations render consistently for all users

To improve consistency in Brightspace Editor, this release updates the Editor so that it renders all equations during editing or creation in the same MathJax format as when published. This helps with correct formatting and spacing of equations, which makes it easier to review work prior to publishing.

Previously there were layout and styling differences during creation and editing; the former used WIRIS format rendering and the latter MathJax.

Note: There are no changes to the Equation Editor used to create an equation to insert into the editor.

The Equation Editor showing the rendering of an equation during creation after the January 2023/20.23.1 Release.
The Equation Editor showing the rendering of an equation during creation after the January 2023/20.23.1 Release.
The Equation Editor showing the rendering of an equation during creation prior to the January 2023/20.23.1 Release.
The Equation Editor showing the rendering of an equation during creation prior to the January 2023/20.23.1 Release.

3) Pulse - View topic descriptions

Building upon the Brightspace Pulse – Access links and images in module descriptions when you’re on-the-go feature originally released in October 2022/20.22.10. This feature improves the experience of learners using Pulse to review course topics by making full HTML topic descriptions available.

Previously, learners could access Content in Pulse, but could not see information included in topic descriptions that were visible in the Brightspace web application.

The View Description option for a topic in Pulse.
The View Description option for a topic in Pulse.

4) Release Conditions – Additional Replies Only release condition for Discussions

This release alters the existing release conditions for Discussions by adding a new Replies Only option to the Posts authored in topic and No post authored in topic condition types drop-down menus. This helps instructors release material, or not release material, based solely on replies.

Previously the only options were New Threads Only and Threads and Replies.

The Create a Release Condition dialog with the new Replies Only option selected from the Type drop-down menu.
The Create a Release Condition dialog with the new Replies Only option selected from the Type drop-down menu.

5) Rubrics – Discard incomplete evaluations

The Rubric evaluation workflow provides an autosave feature to streamline the evaluation process; however, if an instructor exited the partial evaluation, the automatically saved parts of the assessment were committed to the rubric and visible to the learner. To provide a better experience in Consistent Evaluation (inline and pop-out views), the instructor has the option to Publish the current evaluation, or to Save as Draft. If the instructor chooses to Save as Draft, the working copy of an evaluation is saved to a temporary file until the instructor clicks Publish, and then commits the assessment to the Rubric. If an instructor clicks the new Cancel button, the working copy is deleted. If an instructor edits a previously published evaluation and then decides to cancel before updating, all the changes in the evaluation, including the rubric evaluation changes, are discarded.

Note: Portfolio and Grade book pop out windows and the Rubric Create and Edit windows currently only support the auto-save functionality.

The Discard button on an in-process evaluation. The Saving and Saved indicators no longer appear at the top of the evaluation window.
The Discard button on an in-process evaluation. The Saving and Saved indicators no longer appear at the top of the evaluation window.

6) Rubrics – Statistics icon moved to allow more space to grade tasks

The Rubrics Statistics icon is available when the rubric tile is collapsed and expanded. When the rubric tile is collapsed, the icon appears at the bottom of the rubric tile. When the rubric is expanded, the icon now appears inside the grading task. This change provides expanded horizontal space for evaluators to complete the grading tasks.

Previously, when the icon appeared outside the expanded rubric tile, the space available to grade tasks was limited by the space used by the icon.

This change provides parity between the legacy evaluation experience and the new Consistent Evaluation experience.

Image showing how the Rubrics Statistics icon appeared before update
Previously, the Rubrics Statistics icon appeared outside the collapsed Rubrics tile.
Image showing how statistics icon appears at the bottom of the collapsed Rubrics tile
Now, the Rubrics Statistic icon appears at the bottom of the collapsed Rubrics tile.
Image shows how statistics icon appears inside the expanded Rubrics tile
The Rubrics Statistics icon also appears inside the expanded Rubrics tile.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the January Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform January 2023/20.23.1 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

update

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 December 2022/20.22.12 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Assignments – Consolidate availability dates

This feature updates the assignment availability dates to be consistent with the new availability date model, which was previously added to Discussions. Instructors can now include availability dates in the Calendar and have 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

Previously, most Brightspace tools restricted access to assignments outside of availability dates with a manually managed visibility toggle (except the New Content Experiences, which will continue to hide both access restricted and hidden assignments).

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 this 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.

NOTE: For more details about changes to Assignments, refer to: New Assignments Date Feature - Updated Date Availability, Visibility, and Access Options.

This feature implements the following PIE items: D6797, D8173, D8004 (partial), D7195, D4958, D7273, D4900, D4217, D3670, D3153, D2536, D1746, D1672 (partial), D1396, D3398.

2) Quicklinks – Easily find audio-video content with improved Quicklink filters

To help users more easily find Media Library content, users can now use improved Brightspace Editor Insert Quicklink filters to better locate content available in Media Library. These new filters include:

  • Ownership: Filter by the owner of the audio-video (AV) content (administrator only).
  • Note: The owner of AV content is the person who initially uploaded or added the content.

  • Content Type: Filter by either audio or video content type.
  • Source: Filter by where content was added from. Multiple filters can be selected:
    • Content: Filter by AV content uploaded from the Content tool and Lessons.
    • Media Library: Filter by AV content uploaded or created in Media Library.
    • Audio or Video Note: Filter by content created using Audio and Video Note.
    • Imported: Filter by content added from course imports.
    • Other: Filter by content added prior to the addition of source tracking.
  • Date Modified: Filter by date modified. This changes to Date Deleted on the Recycle Bin screen.
  • Date Created

Previously, the Insert Quicklink feature included in Brightspace Editor did not provide the ability to filter Medial Library content.

The new filter options included with the Insert Quicklink feature of Brightspace Editor.
The new filter options included with the Insert Quicklink feature of Brightspace Editor

3) Intelligent Agents – Improved consistency with the removal of legacy scheduling options

Building on the Intelligent Agents – Create Agent page facilitates more flexible scheduling and frequency options | Updated feature released in April 2022 / Version 20.22.4, this feature cleans up the Intelligent Agent scheduling interface by removing the unused Scheduled Agents Run Time area from the Intelligent Agents Settings page. This also entails the removal of the unused d2l.Tools.IntelligentAgents.PreferredRunHour configuration variable.

Clients with a course export package containing Intelligent Agents created prior to the 20.22.4 release, those agents are now imported without a schedule. Previously, these agents' schedules were supported based on the PreferredRunHour configuration.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the December Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform December 2022/20.22.12 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

update

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 November 2022/20.22.11 release that were added to our system last month:

1) Awards – Share achievements with Public URL sharing for awards

Learners can now share their awards with a Public URL directly from the Awards tool using the new Awards Sharing option.

The new method simplifies sharing a badge or certificate to showcase achievements. The user can create a public URL for an award, which can then be shared on a digital resume or social media profile, for example, LinkedIn.

To share an award using a public URL, a learner can navigate to the My Awards page, select the desired award, click the Share link, and then click Create Link.

The Share option in Awards
The Share option in Awards
The Create Link button in Awards
The Create Link button in Awards
The Copy Link button in Awards
The Copy Link button in Awards

As a result, the public URL of the award is generated and appears. Learners can copy and share this link or delete it if needed.

Previously, there were no methods of directly sharing learners' awards with external resources without first sharing them with another tool.

This feature implements the following PIE item:

  • D5202 (Make Awards/Badges External).

2) Media Library – Create content with webcam recordings

This update introduces a webcam feature as an option in Media Library. Users can create both video and audio-only recordings, which improves their ability to directly record content for their course within Media Library.

Note: The Video Note record bar is now changed to show the New Recording option and the Audio only toggle. To record a video, or video note, click New Recording. To record only audio, or an audio note, toggle the Audio only switch to ON.

The Add drop-down menu in Media Library, with the Record Webcam option selected
The Add drop-down menu in Media Library, with the Record Webcam option selected
Webcam Recording session in Media Library
Webcam Recording session in Media Library
Record Webcam dialog box with the Title and Description fields, as well as auto-captioning options in Media Library
Record Webcam dialog box with the Title and Description fields, as well as auto-captioning options in Media Library

3) Media Library – Easily search content with improved filter-sort options

Media Library now offers improved filter-sort functionality when searching for files. Audio-visual content is now easier to find and improves options for finding content in Media Library.

Users can search for specific pieces of content using the following old and new filters:

  • (NEW)Content Type: Audio, Video, or Both
  • (NEW)Source: Where content was added from. Multiple filters can be selected. Filters include:
    • Content - Uploaded from the Content tool
    • Media Library - Uploaded or created in Media Library
    • Audio or Video Note - Content created in Audio or Video Note
    • Capture App - Created and published via the Capture App
    • Imported - Added from course imports
    • Other - Content added prior to the addition of source tracking
  • Date Modified
    • Note: Changes to Date Deleted on the Recycle Bin screen.
  • Date Created

Note: Quicklinks are not available with this release, but will be available in a future release with the same options.

Search filters in the Media Library Management tool
Search filters in the Media Library Management tool
Search filters in the Media Library ISF plugin
Search filters in the Media Library ISF plugin

4) Media Library – Improve the content consumer experience by viewing and downloading audio-video transcripts

Users can now view and download transcripts from audio-video content in Media Library with the new Transcript View. This update consolidates and ensures that the media player experience is the same for all files uploaded to Media Library.

Transcript View allows users to pair playback of a video file with the captions scrolling as opposed to the standard bottom of the screen. This introduces a button in the media player that allows users to download the transcript in TXT format or the caption track in VTT format to their device. The ability to turn on Transcript View is an option in the media player's menu.

This feature fulfills the following PIE item:

  • D9297 (Introduce transcripts for video captions).
Media Player with the View transcript option highlighted
Media Player with the View transcript option highlighted
Media Player in the Transcript View mode
Media Player in the Transcript View mode
Media Player Transcript and Captions download options
Media Player Transcript and Captions download options

Note: Transcript view and the download function will only appear if transcripts have been generated for the content.

5) Pulse – Personalize notifications for email and SMS

This feature builds upon the Personalize push notifications feature originally released in October 2022/20.22.10. With the release of this feature, you will be able to choose which email or SMS notifications you receive by accessing settings directly from the Pulse app. Previously, you could only personalize email notifications through Brightspace.

The Instant Notifications section of the Email/SMS Notifications page in Pulse
The Instant Notifications section of the Email/SMS Notifications page in Pulse

6) Improved population method for calculating standard deviation

With this release, in Quizzing statistics, the method of calculating standard deviation from the sample standard deviation is changed to the population standard deviation.

The population standard deviation (Excel STDEV.P) is a more appropriate method since sampling is not conducted when calculating statistics. This new method ensures that the values in Quizzing are consistent with the ones calculated in the Performance+ Assessment Quality Dashboard and are statistically more correct. The updated value appears in the Brightspace Quizzing tool after viewing Quiz Statistics or downloading reports.

7) Rubrics – Clarify grading criteria by editing text fields in assessed rubrics

Users with the new Edit Assessed Rubrics permission can now edit the text fields in rubrics that have already been used for evaluation. This feature is intended to let instructors correct spelling errors, clarify wording, and make other minor changes that do not impact the academic integrity of the rubric. Instructors still can't make structural changes (such as adding evaluation levels or criteria), edit points, or add outcome alignments to assessed rubrics.

Previously, after an instructor used a rubric for an evaluation, the rubric was locked and couldn't be edited. To make changes, instructors had to completely remove the rubric, make edits to a copy of the rubric, attach the copy of the rubric to the grade item, then redo all the assessments.

Alert box on the Edit Rubric page with new Edit Text button
Alert box on the Edit Rubric page with new Edit Text button
The Edit Rubric page showing which text fields can be edited within an assessed rubric
The Edit Rubric page showing which text fields can be edited within an assessed rubric

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the November Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform November 2022/20.22.11 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

update

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 October 2022/20.22.10 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Brightspace Pulse – Access links and images in module descriptions when you’re on-the-go

To help improve the overall experience in Brightspace Pulse, users will be able to view module descriptions in a web view that displays images and preserves links. This presents a new user experience that is more aesthetically pleasing and functional.

Previously, users could only view module description text without any rich text elements or HTML. This meant that any links or images placed in a module description in Brightspace were not preserved or available in the module description while using Brightspace Pulse.

The new View description option in Brightspace Pulse with images and functional links.
The new View description option in Brightspace Pulse with images and functional links.

2) Brightspace Pulse – Personalize push notifications

To help improve the flexibility of push notifications in Brightspace Pulse, users will be able to choose which push notifications they receive. Previously, it was not possible to limit or control push notifications.

This feature implements PIE item D8239: Controlling Pulse Notifications from the Student’s Profile Notifications/Settings Page.

Push Notifications settings in Brightspace Pulse.
Push Notifications settings in Brightspace Pulse.

3) Grades – Removal of unused and duplicated grade schemes in Grades

Building on the Grades – Copy grade items only copies unique or in-use grade schemes | Updated feature released in the July 2022 / 20.22.7 release, this update performs a one-time deletion of all unused or duplicate grade schemes, leaving only unique grade schemes. This ensures increased performance during grade scheme copies and reduces errors when attempting to access grade schemes in existing org units where a large number of grade schemes exist.

Instructors may see their lists of grade schemes reduced as part of the release.

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the October Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform October 2022/20.22.10 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

update

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 September 2022/20.22.9 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Quizzes – Reduce test anxiety by creating quizzes without time limits

With this release, instructors have the option to create quizzes with no time limit. The No Time Limit option is now the default Timing setting for new quizzes.

Previously, instructors who wished to create quizzes with no time limit had to use the Recommended Time Limit option, which was selected by default and set to 120 minutes. This led to confusion for learners because the recommended time limit displayed on the quiz itself.

Instructors can create quizzes with no time limit in the Restrictions tab, under Timing, select No Time Limit.

Learners who take a quiz with no time limit now see No time limit under Time Allowed on the Quiz Summary page and Est. Length: No Time Limit on the quiz itself.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

  • D4998 (Quiz: "No Time Limit" option)
  • D3582 (Hide the quiz timing information (Est Length) in the student UI when there is no Enforced Time limit)
  • D4441 (No Time Limit Enforced Reinstated for Quizzes)
Instructor view of the New Quiz page with the new default No Time Limit option selected
Instructor view of the New Quiz page with the new default No Time Limit option selected
Learner view of a quiz attempt in progress before this update, displaying the recommended time limit
Learner view of a quiz attempt in progress before this update, displaying the recommended time limit
Learner view of a quiz attempt in progress after this update, with no recommended time limit displayed
Learner view of a quiz attempt in progress after this update, with no recommended time limit displayed

2) Release Conditions – Choose the last date of enrollment in the current org unit

To help users with more flexibility around course design, the release condition Date of enrollment in current org unit now includes the following options:

  • Use first enrollment date
  • Use last enrollment date
The Release Conditions menu with the choice of the date of enrollment in the current org unit highlighted
The Release Conditions menu with the choice of the date of enrollment in the current org unit highlighted

This feature can also be used to set an Intelligent Agent; e.g., for learners who have been enrolled more than once in the course, you can decide if the agent applies based on the first time or the last time they were enrolled.

Intelligent Agent with enrollment date used
Intelligent Agent with enrollment date used

Previously the release condition for Classlist Date of enrollment in current org unit was based on users’ first enrollment into the org unit.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

  • D6684 (Reset IA schedule run dates upon reenrollment)
  • D8405 (Allow Intelligent Agents to check days based off the latest enrollment date, not the first)

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the September Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform September 2022/20.22.9 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

update

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 August 2022/20.22.8 release that were added to our system this month:

1) Assignments – Access new shortcuts to undo and redo PDF annotations on evaluations

Previously, the only way to remove PDF annotations in Assignments was to use the eraser tool or delete the selection. Now, an undo/redo button is added for PDF annotations when evaluating in Assignments. Alternatively, standard keyboard shortcuts are now also supported for undoing and redoing annotations:

  • Ctrl-z | Command-z (Apple) - Undo
  • Ctrl-Shift-z | Command-Shift-z (Apple) - Redo

This feature implements PIE items D6620, D7342, and D8698.

The top of the image shows the menu bar before the update; the bottom shows the menu bar after the update
The top of the image shows the menu bar before the update; the bottom shows the menu bar after the update

2) Assignments – Apply the filters Show everyone and Show all groups for individual and group assignments

Previously, in Assignments, the search filter defaulted to Users with submissions for individual assignments and Submitted groups for group assignments. Now, instructors will instead default to Show everyone for individual assignments and Show all groups for group assignments. These modified filters are the new default search option. After applying one of these default filters, instructors can apply additional filters to improve search optimization.

New default search filter in Assignments
New default search filter in Assignments

This feature implements PIE items (D1659 and D5126). Data also shows that instructors prefer to display all users before applying additional filters.

3) Brightspace Editor – Easily insert code snippets with the Insert Code option

There is a new option in Brightspace HTML Editor that allows instructors to directly insert a code snippet into their content. This is done by selecting the Other Insert Options menu from the Editor toolbar, and then selecting the new Insert Code option. From there, instructors select their programming language from a list of available choices and add their code into the interface to format before inserting it into the Editor.

Previously, instructors had to use the <code> tag and build out their own code to add a code snippet in the editor.

Note: The Insert Code option is not available in the Quizzes tool.

Brightspace Editor with the Other Insert Options menu opened, with Insert Code as the final menu option
Brightspace Editor with the Other Insert Options menu opened, with Insert Code as the final menu option
The Insert Code interface window
The Insert Code interface window
The code snippet inserted into the content with Brightspace Editor
The code snippet inserted into the content with Brightspace Editor

4) Brightspace Editor – Insert Stuff now includes Media Library

Media Library is now available as an option within Insert Stuff. This allows users to embed any audio or video files added via Content since 20.22.1 and any existing Audio Notes and Video Notes into any supported Brightspace Editor field.

Previously, Media Library was not accessible from Insert Stuff and it was only possible to insert Video notes via Search for Video or Insert Video Note.

This release also allows instructors to embed a new inline Audio Player using Insert Stuff.

The Insert Stuff dialog with Media Library listed
The Insert Stuff dialog with Media Library listed

5) Brightspace Editor – Quickly access and manage the files you uploaded using Insert Stuff

This feature releases an improvement to the Brightspace Editor > Insert Stuff dialog.

Now, when you are in the Brightspace Editor and you upload a file using Insert Stuff, a message appears indicating that the files uploaded using Insert Stuff are saved in the Manage Files area. The message also indicates that files in the Manage Files area are potentially accessible to all users enrolled in the course or to anyone who has access to the course.

As best practice, do not include individual learner feedback in the files you are uploading using Insert Stuff.

The Brightspace Editor > Insert Stuff dialog before this update
The Brightspace Editor > Insert Stuff dialog before this update
The Brightspace Editor > Insert Stuff dialog with the message
The Brightspace Editor > Insert Stuff dialog with the message

6) Intelligent Agents – Create more flexible agents with fewer criteria

On the New Agent page, in the Criteria section, all selections under Take Action on Activity are now optional. This means users can now create a new Intelligent Agent that applies to certain roles and doesn't require any other criteria. Users are still required to select one of the options under Role in Classlist.

Previously, to create an Intelligent Agent, users had to select the roles the agent applies to, and one or more conditions the agent must check against: login activity, course activity, or release conditions. If a user attempted to save the agent without selecting a condition to check against, they received an error saying No Agent Criteria Defined.

Also in this update, on the New Agent page, in the Criteria section, under Role in Classlist, the option All users visible in the Classlist is no longer selected by default. This is a precaution to prevent users from accidentally creating an agent that runs against everyone.

The Criteria section before this update, showing the No Agent Criteria Defined error message when none of the options under Take Action on Activity are selected
The Criteria section before this update, showing the No Agent Criteria Defined error message when none of the options under Take Action on Activity are selected
The Criteria section after this update, with All users visible in the Classlist no longer selected by default, and an asterisk next to Role in Classlist to indicate that the user must select one of the options
The Criteria section after this update, with All users visible in the Classlist no longer selected by default, and an asterisk next to Role in Classlist to indicate that the user must select one of the options

7) Quizzes – End of Life for Disable Right Click option

As of this release, the Disable Right Click option in quizzes is removed from Quizzes in Brightspace Learning Environment. The option is no longer available in Quiz Setup, and existing quizzes with the setting no longer enforce the limitation on learners.

This option was previously intended to allow Instructors to disable right-clicking during the time a learner was taking quiz, thus making it more difficult for learners ability to copy or print the quiz and share it with others. However, as browsers have reduced the ability for web sites to control end-user behavior, the Disable Right Click setting could not necessarily be applied to all students, and it provided a false sense of security around quiz content.

For more information concerning this change, refer to Advanced Notice: Retirement of Quizzes "Disable Right Click" Setting in Brightspace Community.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

  • D7267 (Add configuration variable for Disable Right Click)
  • D6981 (Disable Right Click default setting)

8) Quizzes – Save time and prevent data loss with the Restore Deleted Quizzes functionality

This feature adds a new option in quizzes that allows instructors to restore deleted quizzes. This option appears in the More Actions menu in the Quizzes tool. Instructors using this option are provided with a list of deleted quizzes that indicates when they were deleted and by whom, along with a button to restore a selected quiz.

Restored quizzes automatically have any associated quiz attempts that were already taken, statistics, and scores for those quiz attempts restored as well. Learning Outcomes associated to quiz questions are unaffected, and re-appear with the questions when the quiz is restored. Links to a grade item and competencies are not restored.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

  • D2807 (Restore Deleted Quizzes)
The Restore option in the More Actions drop-down menu of the Manage Quizzes tab
The Restore option in the More Actions drop-down menu of the Manage Quizzes tab
The new Restore Quizzes page
The new Restore Quizzes page

If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the August Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform August 2022/20.22.8 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