Tag: updates

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

1) Brightspace Platform Requirements - Receive browser update alerts

The supported browser list is updated to reflect browsers that need to be updated. Users will receive the message “Your browser is looking a little retro” that prompts users to update their browser. Legacy Browsers are also updated. All users of Legacy Browsers receive the message “Unsupported Browser” either before or after logging in. There are no changes to the ability to access Brightspace.

2) Grades – Copy grade items only copies unique or in-use grade schemes

This feature updates the Copy Course Components functionality in regard to copying grade schemes to prevent unnecessary duplicates.

When a grade item is copied, any grade scheme associated with the item is also copied. If a grade scheme is not associated to a grade item within the course offering, the scheme is only copied if the grade scheme is unique (i.e., there are no duplicates which match on name, and ranges).

Previously, unassociated grade schemes were always copied over with the grade items, causing numerous unnecessary duplicates.

3) Turnitin – Rearrangement of options for the Turnitin integration

The Turnitin integration options layout and feature names are changed with this release. The option changes can be viewed on the Turnitin Integrations options page.

GradeMark is now Online Grading and Originality Check is now Similarity Report. Instructors can enable features for Online Grading and Similarity Report separately within the Turnitin Integration options page.

4) Turnitin - Restrict files to file types supported by Turnitin with the updated panel

Previously, Turnitin similarity check only supported specific file types while Turnitin grading check accepted any file type.

Instructors can now restrict file types to those supported by Turnitin. If an invalid type is submitted, an error is reported with no other side effect.

The updated side panel now indicates which Turnitin services are enabled. The text on these indications reflects the new Turnitin feature names for Similarity Report and Online Grading.

5) Turnitin - Turnitin feature names are now reflected in Brightspace Learning Environment’s user interface

In Brightspace Learning Environment, the submission view now reflects the new Turnitin feature names that match Brightspace’s user interface styling and text. The column titled Turnitin Similarity is now Turnitin® Similarity Report. The column titled Turnitin® GradeMark® is changed to Turnitin Online Grading.

There is no change in the functionality of submission views.

1) Assignments – Save time by copying assignments to other courses

Instructors who teach several courses and have the new Assignments > Copy to Other Courses permissions are now able to copy assignments between their courses. The copied assignment includes the following key assignment properties:

• Assignment folder and properties, including instructions, assignment category, and visibility
• Assignment properties including description, attachments (direct file attachments, uploaded from Google Workspace or OneDrive, and audio and video files), and category
  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 the archived state in the destination courses.

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.

The Copy to Other Courses option appears in the context menu of assignments.

In the Copy Assignment dialog, you can select any rubrics and grade items associated with the selected assignment to include them in the copy package. The Choose Destinations area enables you to search by keyword or semester to find the destination courses for the assignment. Only course offerings for which a user has the Copy to Other Courses permission appear in the Choose Destinations list. By default, the maximum number of courses you can select is 10.

After you have completed the Copy Assignment dialog, 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 Learning Environment 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.

This feature partially implements PIE item D6762 - Post the same assignment to multiple courses, and D5754 - Export assessments to multiple courses.

2) Brightspace Pulse – Pulse App now only supported on Android 6 / iOS13 and above

With this release, the Brightspace Pulse App is now only supported on the following mobile operating systems:

• Android 6 and above
• iOS13 and above

This ensures that mobile level support is consistent across all D2L Apps, rather than being on a per-app basis; and consistent with Android and Apple policies concerning operating system support.

Previously, Brightspace Pulse was supported on Android 6 and iOS12 and above.

3) Classlist – View user pronouns next to names to further personalize learning

Classlist can now display users' pronouns next to their names. Users with the existing Set My Pronouns permission enabled for their role can choose whether to display their pronouns to other users in the Account Settings > Pronouns menu. They must check the Allow others to see my pronouns check box for their pronouns to display in Classlist. Users must have the existing See Pronouns permission enabled for their role to see their classmates' pronouns in Classlist.

Previously, the only location where pronouns displayed was in a user's profile card. Refer to Brightspace Tip #270: Pronouns for more information.

This feature implements PIE items D5207 (Preferred Pronoun field in Classlist) and D8232 (Display Pronouns in Classlist).

4) Quizzes – Create engaging assessments quickly with the new quiz creation experience

The new quiz creation experience brings create and edit consistency changes from Assignments to Quizzes.

The primary panel on the left contains common, frequently used fields that are always displayed. These fields are most relevant to learners and are core to quiz creation. The add/edit question workflow has been brought into the primary panel, giving users the ability to easily modify quiz questions without the need to navigate to a separate interface.

The right-hand panel organizes additional, more advanced options such as start and end dates, release conditions, and special access. These options follow the same logical groupings as found in Assignments. Other quiz-specific settings can be found in the right-hand panel including creating a password protected quiz, applying IP restrictions, adjusting quiz timing, setting display options, managing attempts, and altering evaluation and feedback settings.

See the Welcome to the New Quiz Creation Experience knowledge article for an in-depth look at all the feature and capability changes with this update.

5) Rubrics - Quickly determine a Rubrics state with archived tags and selection list descriptions

To provide consistency with other Rubrics experiences and build on the value of the Rubrics tool, there are several improvements in this release.

Archived Rubrics now appear with an archived tag

The Archived tag enables users to update rubric versions while keeping the existing evaluation records available for instructors and learners to review. Previously, when you changed a rubric, previous evaluations were removed. Now, if you change the status of a rubric to Archived, there are no effects on the alignment of rubrics to any assessment activities or previous evaluations that were completed using the rubric. Rubrics that are changed to an Archived status after the initial alignment to the activity continue to display and can be used for evaluation. There is a new Archived tag that appears on rubric tiles in activity creation and activity evaluation workflows to provide information to instructors and course developers that a rubric previously aligned to an activity is now archived. The Archived tag appears in both full-screen and pop-out views of the rubric in Grades, Competencies, and in the Consistent Eval experience. In addition, it appears in rubrics results pages and during evaluation for instructors in collapsed, expanded, and full-screen view. You cannot add archived rubrics to assessment activities and new rubric alignments - this behavior has not changed.

Note: The archived state tag is not visible to learners. If you have been evaluated using an archived status rubric, the learner can see those evaluations and feedback.

Rubric descriptions now appear in the Rubric picker list

The Rubric selection dialog window now includes the first two rows of the rubric description to enable instructors and course designers to better identify the version of a rubric when its name is being reused for a current rubric.

The help description for Status in the Rubrics tool now more clearly explains the interaction of archived status rubrics

The help text icon now appears next to the Status column heading, and the Archived Status text now more accurately reflects the available interactions with archived status rubrics. Specifically, it expands the description to indicate that archived rubrics do not appear in default search results and cannot be added to activities; however they can be evaluated. Further, archiving a rubric does not remove it from activities or published feedback.

1) Audio/Video – Manual transcoding option to optimize video files

Depending on the file format of audio and video files, they might not play in a web browser by default. Previously, all uploaded audio and video files were transcoded; now, transcoding only occurs when necessary, All MP3 and MP4 video files are saved in their original form because they can play in a browser without transcoding. Other files, such as WMV and AVI, which would not play by default, continue to be automatically transcoded.

With this update, the new Optimize for Streaming option in the editing tool enables users who want to manually transcode original versions of the files, for example, to reduce the file size or enable multi-bitrate streaming.

Note: This feature applies to uploading audio and video files in Content, Lessons, and Video Note upload. Original versions of videos are used for editing and playback. This feature does not apply to Video Note web cam recordings, which continue to be transcoded automatically.

This feature has accessibility impacts, including:

• WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria 1.2.1 Audio-only or Video-only (Prerecorded)
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)

2) Brightspace Learning Environment – Updated default font and color stylings for improved accessibility

This feature introduces a color change to fonts and icons in Brightspace Learning Environment to meet WCAG guidelines.

Previously the dark grey font #494c4e did not meet the 3:1 contrast ratio with the color of our links. The new font #202122 (still grey!) is darker and meets the WCAG link contrast criteria for accessibility. This change is visible in most locations in Brightspace Learning Environment.

This feature has accessibility impacts, including:

• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.1 Use of Color
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

3) Brightspace Pulse – Added @mentions push notifications

Brightspace Instructors (depending on their role definition within their institution) can now use @mention push notifications to direct a message to Learners using Pulse. Originally, @mentions came through Brightspace Learning Environment but were only visible if the user opened Pulse and viewed their Subscriptions tab under Notifications. Now, the new functionality sends a push notification to the user when they are @mentioned.

Note: These notifications are available in the Pulse Notifications > Subscriptions area and are still available in Discussions. @Mentions are currently not supported in Activity Feed.

4) Brightspace Pulse – Updates and subscriptions now align with all update subscription Alerts in Brightspace

In Brightspace Pulse, the Updates and Subscriptions tab is now aligned to show the same items as the Alert Bell and Discussions in Brightspace Learning Environment.

All Brightspace alerts now display within the Pulse Updates and Subscriptions tab. Improved logic in how alerts are sent to Pulse ensures that alerts are no longer sent from courses that are inaccessible (courses that are inactive or past their end date).

5) HTML Editor – Improved context link menu supports previewing of quicklinks in Brightspace Editor

This feature implements a new and improved context link menu in Brightspace Editor. The new menu has the same functionality as before – enabling users to highlight text and create a link, edit the link, remove the link, and preview the link – but now also enables support for the previewing of quicklinks that contain replace strings while editing their HTML. The new formatting context menu continues to allow users to highlight text within the editor and apply formatting or create links.

Previously, when a user created a new quicklink within the editor that contains a replace string, this proved not replaceable by the context menu. Clicking to preview the link resulted in a 404 Error.

6) Manage Files – Improved error message when invalid files are uploaded

Building on the Manage Files – Users receive warning message when uploading a file blocked due to security | New feature added in the November 2021/20.21.11 release, this feature adds an improved error message to the File Upload dialogue. When a user attempts to upload a file containing one or more illegal characters in the file name, this message explains to the user the reason why the upload failed.

Previously, users received a generic "Oops! Your file could not be uploaded" message, which did not explain the reason the file upload failed.