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 2021/20.21.10 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Brightspace Editor – Drag/drop and copy/paste images
Note: Similar to current functionality, image files added to these areas are saved in the root of the Manage Files area of the organization unit the user is currently in.
2) Brightspace Editor – Email notifications for users tagged in discussion posts and threads
This feature updates the Brightspace Editor – Additional functionality | Updated feature released in June 2021 / 20.21.6 and now adds the ability for users tagged in discussion posts and threads to receive email notifications.
3) Brightspace Pulse – Operating system support
The latest version of Brightspace Pulse is supported on devices with iOS® 12+ or AndroidTM 6.0+ (2015 release). Older versions of Brightspace Pulse will continue to work on devices with iOS 11 or Android 5.0, but will not receive any app updates. For an optimal experience, D2L recommends installing the latest version of Brightspace Pulse on devices with iOS 12+ or Android 6.0+.
4) Content - Add Print Button to PDF file types
This feature adds the option to print PDF file types to Classic Content.
The Print button is visible when viewing a PDF topic or the Course Overview as a PDF. This button will also only appear for users with Compile and Print Content permission.
No option to print PDFs was previously available.
Image is highlighting the absence of print functionality in the PDF view before the updateImage is highlighting the location of the Print button in the PDF view (in the Content area)
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.
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 2021/20.21.9 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Assignments – Create select box grade items in the New Assignment Creation Experience
This feature builds on the Add categories capability in the Assignment Creation Experience | New feature released in July 2021/20.21.7.
With this release, the new assignment creation experience supports creating new select box grade items. Previously, only numeric grade items could be created from the new assignment creation experience.
In addition, this feature provides support for choosing a grade scheme when creating numeric or select box grade items. Grade categories now progressively display when creating a grade item. Previously, grade categories always displayed when available.
Also, to make interface text more clear, the following labels have been renamed in the new assignment creation experience:
Score out of is now Grade out of
In Grades is now In Gradebook
Choose in Grades is now Edit or Link to Existing
Remove from Grades is now Not in Gradebook
When creating a new assignment as an instructor, under Grade Out Of, click Ungraded.
Click In Gradebook, and then select Edit or Link to Existing.
From the Edit or Link to Existing dialog, the following options may display under Create a new grade item:
If the Grades tool has available grade categories, the Choose Grade Category option displays. Clicking this button displays available grade categories for association.
If the Grades tool has multiple grades schemes, the Change Grade Type & Scheme option displays. Clicking this button displays available grade types and schemes for association.
Click OK, and then Save.
In Gradebook options when creating a new assignmentEdit or Link to Existing options when creating a new assignment
2) Assignments - Restricting file extensions for submissions
Instructors can now specify the extensions of files that learners can upload as assignment submissions. When an instructor is creating a file submission assignment, there is a drop down in the Submission and Completion section of the New Assignment Creation Experience. In this drop-down list, instructors can choose the restrictions they want. Choices include:
Files that can be previewed without any conversion, such as .HTM, .HTML, .MHT, .MHTML, and .BMP
Images and Videos
Custom File Types
The Allowable File Extensions drop down menu in the New Assignment Creation Experience
Note:
When a .GIF file is converted to PDF, only the first frame of the .GIF displays.
If an instructor choses Custom File Extensions, they can then enter file extensions that are allowed for file submissions. When this restriction is set, learners are presented with a list of acceptable file extensions for their assignments. When a learner attempts to upload a file submission for an assignment of an file extension type that the instructor has restricted, an error message appears.
3) Brightspace Learning Environment - Set and view user pronouns
Users now have the option to indicate their preferred pronouns in their user profiles. Brightspace user profiles are visible to anyone who shares a course with a particular user, including students, instructors, administrators, etc.
The area under Account Settings, where you can set your pronounsA user profile card with the pronouns displayed
NOTE: You can find the option to indicate your preferred pronouns in your Account Settings.
4) Discussions - New Discussion Evaluation Experience
This feature is a continuation of the Discussions - Consistent evaluation experience feature introduced in August 2021/20.21.8.
With this setting, the new evaluation experience for Discussions appears first for all users, but they have the ability to opt-out until the December 2021/20.21.12 release, at which time the new evaluation experience for Discussions will become the only option available.
Example of the new Discussion Evaluation Experience Screen
Now when you export Brightspace Learning Environment course packages, you can export Release Conditions and any associations. As a result, you no longer need to re-create these Release Conditions when you import the course package.
6) Rubrics - Additional information on Grade tiles
When a rubric is collapsed, instructors can now see if the rubric is complete. If the rubric is complete, the collapsed rubric shows the overall level of the rubric, and if the rubric is not complete, the number of unscored criteria appears on the tile.
Previously, it was only possible to see the overall score of the rubric when the rubric was expanded.
New Experience collapsed tile for partially scored points-based rubricNew Experience collapsed tile for completed rubrics (points-based and text-only rubrics)
The Brightspace Editor toolbar now appears in the following locations:
Rubrics Creation and Edit experiences in the Description field
Rubrics Creation and Edit experiences in the Feedback field
Evaluation mode in the Feedback field.
The Insert Stuff and Insert Quicklink buttons now appear in the different views with additional formatting options.
The Brightspace Editor in the Rubrics Description fieldThe Brightspace Editor in the Rubrics Feedback field
8) Rubrics - Copy and delete criteria groups
In response to client feedback about the New Assignment Evaluation Experience, it is now possible to copy or delete a criteria group on a rubric. The delete option is only available if there is more than one criteria group.
Note: When a rubric with attached assessment items has submissions evaluated against it, the rubric is locked and can no longer be edited or deleted.
After you click Copy Criteria Group, a new criteria group appears below the original criteria group.
If you are using keyboard-only navigation, these options are available in the tab order after the criteria group name. Once the criteria group is copied using keyboard navigation, the keyboard focus moves to the new group's name.
The Copy and Delete options are available in the action menu on the Criteria Group header
9) Discussions – Improvements to visibility and posting restrictions
There is a new workflow that makes it easier for instructors to set visibility and posting restrictions for discussion forums and topics. More specifically, this change simplifies date management for discussion activities, offering a more consistent, simplified, and consolidated experience for instructors.
The following changes are visible to instructors when creating or editing discussion forums and topics:
Note: These changes also affect the Classic Content and Manage Dates tools.
From the Restrictions tab, the previous Locking Options are now consolidated with the Availability Start Date and End Date options and display as the following new options:
Visible with access restricted before/after start/end. The topic/forum is visible to learners before/after the start/end date, but they cannot access it. Previously, Classic Content was the only tool to make discussions visible without access.
Visible with submission restricted before/after start/end. The topic/forum is visible to learners before/after the start/end date and they can access it, but they cannot post new threads or replies. This effectively makes a discussion read-only. Previously, this was accomplished with the lock option or unlock dates.
Hidden before/after start/end. The topic/forum is hidden from learners until the start/end date. This is a new feature. Calendar events for Availability Starts and Availability Ends are hidden until the start/end date. Notifications are also not sent until the start/end date. Previously, the hidden status of a discussion topic was decided by the tool displaying the topic.
From the Restrictions tab, the Display in Calendar option is now consolidated with the Availability Start Date and End Date options, which adds the start date and end dates to the calendar. Previously, the tool decided which calendar event should be added to the calendar. With this change, calendar events for availability dates may change and additional events for Availability Start Dates may be added.
Calendar events for unlocked dates are now hidden from learners.
Where Discussions and User Progress may have previously hidden a topic or forum when outside of availability dates, those tools now may show them as visible, but inaccessible.
From Discussion Settings, instructors can now set the default visibility and access behavior for new discussion forums and topics. The defaults can be set at an organization level.
The new consolidated options for visibility and posting restrictions in the Restrictions tabThe previous options for visibility and posting restrictions in the Restrictions tabThe new default options for visibility and posting restrictions in the Discussions Settings
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.
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 2021/20.21.8 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Activity Feed – Date picker change
This feature updates the date picker component in Activity Feed. The new date picker has a more streamlined design and requires slight workflow changes: to clear a date/time, use the Clear option and to set the calendar to the current day, use the Set to Today option.
The date picker component in Activity Feed prior to the updateUpdated date picker component in Activity Feed for due datesThe Post Later dialog box in Activity Feed
Note: The Date field in the Post Later dialog box is a mandatory field. There remains to be no option to clear this field. You must set this date to a future date or click Cancel to exit this dialog box.
2) Assignments - Icons in attachments toolbar
This release updates the attachments toolbar which appears in the evaluation panel on the right side of the new Assignment Evaluation Experience.
Users can now add attachments to their feedback from QuickLinks, web links, Google Drive, and OneDrive using the new icons in the toolbar. Previously, users could only add attachments by uploading a file from their computer, recording an audio note, or recording a video note.
This change aligns the attachments toolbar in the new Assignment Evaluation Experience with the attachments toolbar in the new Create and Edit Assignment Experience.
Previous attachments toolbar containing icons for Upload File, Record Audio, and Record VideoNew attachments toolbar containing icons for Upload File, QuickLink, Web Link, Google Drive, OneDrive, Record Audio, and Record Video
3) Brightspace Editor – Available as the default editor
This release sets the new Brightspace Editor as the default editor across Brightspace Learning Environment.
As mentioned in the Brightspace Editor – Replaces The HTML Editor | New release note in April 2021, the Brightspace Editor does not have a built in spell checker. Your web browser’s built-in spell check functionality is available in the new Brightspace Editor and D2L recommends using it. However, the d2l.Tools.Quizzing.ShowSpellCheckInAttempts org unit configuration variable is still respected and marks text in Quizzes to be ignored by the browser spell checker. It can be turned off for all quizzes at the org unit level.
The inline limited version of Brightspace Editor is now available in Activity Feed as the default editor.
The editor in Activity Feed before the updateThe updated inline limited version of Brightspace Editor in Activity Feed
Brightspace Editor HTML options in Activity Feed include: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strike-through, Superscript, Subscript, Font Color, Bulleted Lists, Numbered Lists, Increase/Decrease Indentation, Insert Stuff, Insert Quicklink, and Emoji. Insert Stuff now includes various capabilities, including Video Note functionality.
The Account Settings > HTML Editor Settings option is no longer available as it is not applicable with the new Brightspace Editor. This setting was previously used to make the HTML Editor more accessible to screen readers by removing the RichText presentation layer. Improved accessibility workflows in the new Brightspace Editor make this setting redundant.
Additionally, the Brightspace Editor now remembers the open or closed state of the More Actions button, per user, in order to reduce clicks for users that frequently use options in the expanded editor.
The Brightspace Editor now uses pixels (px) in the font size menu in order to match the Content Settings menu for an org unit’s default font size.
4) Brightspace Pulse – Comment on Activity Feed posts
To encourage class engagement, learners can now comment on Activity Feed posts in Brightspace Pulse. Previously, learners could only read Activity Feed posts and comments in Brightspace Pulse.
In Brightspace Pulse, tap the Courses tab, and then tap a course with Activity Feed enabled.
From the Activity Feed tab, tap the post you want to comment on, and then tap Add Comment. A browser opens, displaying the Activity Feed for the course in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Tap the post you want to comment on, add your comment, and then tap Post. Your comment displays.
To close the browser and return to Brightspace Pulse, tap Done.
In Brightspace Pulse, refresh the page to display your comment.
The new Add Comment button in Brightspace Pulse's Activity Feed
5) Brightspace Pulse – View all grades for a course
Learners can now view all grades for a course from a new Grades tab in the course. Previously, learners could only view course grades from notifications in Brightspace Pulse or by opening a browser and navigating to the Grades tool in Brightspace Learning Environment.
To view all grades for a course, tap the Courses tab. Next, tap a course, and then the Grades tab. All received grades for the course display, indicating if feedback is available. To open the Grades tool in a browser and view full grade breakdowns and calculations, tap View Grades in Browser.
To view feedback, tap a grade. The grade and text feedback display. To view details about the associated activity in Brightspace Learning Environment, tap View Activity.
This implements Product Idea Exchange item D6422.
The new Grades tab for a course in Brightspace PulseA graded activity with feedback in Brightspace Pulse
Learners can now view content module descriptions in Brightspace Pulse. Instructors use module descriptions to communicate vital information to learners about specific course content. Previously, module descriptions were only visible from Brightspace Learning Environment, which may have caused learners to miss important information when accessing courses from Brightspace Pulse.
This feature implements PIE items D4547 and D6460.
A content module description in Brightspace Pulse
7) Rubrics – Increased accessibility with labels on radio buttons
To provide a better experience to clients using screen readers, criterion levels now indicate the level name and point value of each radio button when it has the focus. Previously, screen readers only indicated “radio button X out of Y” or “radio button, not selected” depending on whether the focus is on a selected criterion.
In addition, the mobile view of Rubrics now has radio buttons implemented to describe the level name and point value of each criterion level, consistent with the view on a larger screen.
Note: Depending on the screen reader you use, the way of listing all the radio buttons on a page differs. For example, In NVDA, press INSERT+F7; in JAWS, press CTRL+INSERT+A. In general, D2L tests compatibility with the following screen readers: NVDA, JAWS, and Voiceover.
Criterion level rows behave as radio buttons for screen readers
8) Rubrics – Inline grading improvements
There have been improvements to the ease of use of the inline grading experience, including changes to ensure grading experience parity for screen reader users. Previously, screen reader users were unable to grade or review tasks due to missing information. In addition, the updates now include the following:
The interaction of the arrow buttons at either end of the evaluation slider now indicate a hover state compared to a focus state. If there is no level under the hover pointer, the level area is empty.
If the hover pointer is on a level, the name, description, and score appear in the level information area below the slider.
Keyboard navigation of the slider evaluation levels identify the focus and indicate the criterion you are viewing. When the keyboard focus is on a level, you can press the arrow keys at the beginning and end of the slider or use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to move the focus within a scale. In grading mode, moving the focus to a level directly selects the level. You can also press Enter to select or unselect a level. In preview mode, the selected level does not change when you review other levels’ information.
The focused level is highlighted inside the slider segment.
Keyboard navigation of the slider evaluation levels more clearly identify the focus and level you have selected in grading mode. You can use the right or left arrow key at the beginning and end of the slider to move the focus within a scale. Press Enter or use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to select and deselect the level.
When the level is selected, a larger box outlines the slider level, and a checkmark appears in the level.
The level name and description of an evaluation level appear below the evaluation slider in the selected state, and the selection indicator appears on the slider at the chosen level.
When a level is selected, the level name and description appear, along with the selection indicator.
When the rubric has been graded, the level information area displays the selected level’s information by default, unless other levels are in hover state in grading mode, or in hover or focus state in reviewing mode.
When a non-selected level is in hover state, the name, description, and score appear in the level information area below the slider.
When you move the selection block to a different level, there is now an animation to smoothly transition to the new level.
9) Rubrics - Overall Score now appears in Mobile View and the New Assignment and Discussion Evaluation Experiences
When an instructor using the New Assignment Evaluation Experience opens a rubric in a new window, the Overall Score displays for each rubric, and the instructor can override the level if necessary. Previously, if an instructor did not open a new window, rather, they viewed the rubrics inline in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience tool, the Overall Score did not appear, and the instructor could not override the level. As a result, text-only rubrics could not be assessed because the Overall Score was not available.
Now, instructors using Mobile view can evaluate text-only rubrics for assignments (using the New Assignment Evaluation Experience) and can evaluate text-only rubrics for discussions (using the New Discussions Assignments Evaluation Experience) as expected.
The Overall Score in Mobile and New Assignment Evaluation Experience views
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.
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 July 2021/20.21.7 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Assignments – Add categories in the New Assignment Creation Experience
This feature builds on the Assignments – Brightspace Editor in the new Assignment Creation Experience | New feature that was released in April 2021/20.21.4.
The new assignment creation experience supports the alignment of assignments to categories. Instructors can add new or existing assignment categories when creating or editing a new assignment.
The new assignment creation experience with the ability to align assignments to categories
2) Brightspace Editor – Available in ePortfolio External Comments and Quiz Builder
External users adding comments in Brightspace ePortfolio can now use the new inline limited version of Brightspace Editor.
The Quiz Builder now supports the new inline Editor
The inline Editor in the Quiz Builder
The right-click menu is no longer available when creating tables.
3) My Courses Widget - Updated Sort Logic configuration variable
The d2l.Tools.MyCoursesWidget.UpdatedSortLogic configuration variable has now reached end-of-life status and no longer appears in the Config Variable Browser. With this change, the My Courses Widget now uses only the Updated Sort Logic setting by default.
Previously, the My Courses Widget sorting logic was set by the d2l.Tools.MyCoursesWidget.UpdatedSortLogic configuration variable. By default, this configuration variable has been set to ON since 2018, with the option to revert to the old sorting logic. The option to revert to the previous sorting logic in the My Courses Widget is no longer available with the removal of this configuration variable.
The Pinned tab appears in the My Courses widget when users pin courses
To reduce redundancy in the Quizzes tool, the Introduction field is being phased out. In this release, when an instructor creates and/or edits a quiz, the Introduction field is no longer available.
If any quiz previously had text in the Introduction field, on clicking Edit, the text is automatically appended to the Description field. A message appears indicating that these two fields have been merged. Instructors can review the modified quiz description prior to saving the quiz.
Note: In some interfaces, for example Classic content, the Instructions field is displayed. This Instructions field already maps to the quiz Description field. Hence, there is no change to this workflow.
The Edit Quiz page with the message that appears when you edit a quiz containing an introduction
Note: Check the visibility of the Description field prior to saving the quiz.
When importing a course using Import/Export/Copy Components, text in the quiz Introduction field automatically appends to the quiz Description field. The export and copy workflows remain unchanged.
When viewing a quiz topic in the Classic Content tool, the text in the Introduction field now appears under the Instructions header.
A view of a quiz in the Classic Content tool - text in the Introduction field will appear under the Instructors header
5) Quizzes – Relocation of the Reports Setup functionality
The Report Setup tab on the Edit Quiz page is now available on the context menu of a quiz and reads as Setup Reports.
The Reports option available on the quiz context menu is also updated and reads as View Reports.
The New Quiz page with the Reports Setup tab before the updateThe Quiz context menu before the updateThe updated quiz context menu with the Setup Reports and View Reports options
6) Quizzes - Set grace period time to 0 minutes
When setting an enforced time limit for a quiz, instructors can now set the grace period for a quiz to 0 minutes, in place of the default grace period setting of 5 minutes. Entering a 0 minute grace period flags the quiz attempt as exceeded immediately when the quiz time limit is reached by the learner. Quiz attempt logs display when the learner attempt exceeds the regular time limit, grace period time limit or any extended time limit. Grace period of 0 minutes can be set for quizzes with special access restrictions as well.
Note that setting a grace period can support learner accessibility requirements and other situations, such as slow internet connections when completing quizzes.
Enter 0 in the Grace Period field that appears with the Enforced Time Limit option for a quiz
7) Quizzes - Status and workflow changes for quizzes with ungraded questions
To support instructors who need to manually score questions within quizzes, the following quiz status and quiz grading workflow updates are available:
For quizzes that contain questions that need to be manually scored (such as Written Response questions) AND that have the "Allow attempt to be set as graded immediately upon completion" option disabled, a new Pending Evaluation status appears beside the quiz attempt on the Grade Quiz page.
While evaluating a quiz attempt with unevaluated questions, the instructor can now select Pending evaluations in the Question View drop-down menu to filter for only the questions that require manual evaluation.
Instructors can now filter the Users tab by status. The available filters are: Published, Saved as draft, Pending evaluation and an empty status. The empty status denotes a quiz with auto-scored questions, where all questions are evaluated and there is no question evaluation pending.
The updated quiz status filters appear on the Attempts tabThe new Pending Evaluation filter appears in the Question View drop-down menu to easily locate questions requiring manual evaluation by the instructor
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.
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 June 2021/20.21.6 release that were added to our system this month:
Format painter – you can now copy and apply text formatting
2) Brightspace Platform – LaTex rendering in quiz questions
This feature releases the d2l.Tools.WYSIWYG.InlineLaTeX (OrgUnit) configuration variable that renders inline LaTex equations in the HTML Editor and in the new Brightspace Editor. As a result, scientific and mathematical equations are rendered seamlessly without the need to use the LaTeX equation option in the Equation Editor.
A Content topic with some inline LaTex equations and a learner’s view of the equations
3) Email – Auto save outgoing messages
When users send email messages, these sent messages are automatically saved in the Sent Mail folder. As a result, the User Account > Email Settings > Save a copy of each outgoing message to the Sent Mail folder check box is no longer available.
The Email Settings page before this email setup improvementThe Email Settings page after this email setup improvement
When an attached rubric is deleted from an evaluated assignment, if evaluations of that rubric have been performed, the user now receives a detach rubric confirmation message for the assignment. This change applies to the New Assignment Creation Experience.
The Rubric Detachment confirmation dialog
5) Rubrics – Reorder criterion groups
In order to increase the value of rubric criterion groups, it is now possible to reorder those criterion groups in the New Rubric Creation Experience. If more than one criterion group appears in your rubric, direction arrows appear to the left of the criterion group header to reorder the criterion groups in the rubric. If only one criterion group appears in your rubric, the direction buttons do not appear.
Direction arrows located beside the criterion group header
6) Google Workspace - Widget branding updates
The Google Workspace widget for Brightspace Learning Environment features an updated interface, including a name change from Google Apps to Google Workspace. All widget updates are part of the Google design rebrand only; there are no changes to the steps or workflows within the app.
The widget includes the following updates:
The widget name now appears as Google Workspace
New icons
“Google Mail” now appears as “Gmail” in the app text
New tool tips appear when hovering: Open Gmail, Open Google Calendar, Open Google Drive, Widget Settings
The updated Google Workspace appTooltips/alternative text appears when hovering over icons in the app
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.
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 May 2021/20.21.5 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Assignments – Annotations available for TXT file-based assignments
Previously, annotations enabled instructors to use highlighting, free-hand drawing, shapes, and associated commenting to provide feedback to learner assignments of the following file types: DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, PPT, PPTX, PPSX, ODP, XLS, XLSX, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, and GIF. Now, instructors can provide feedback for TXT, in addition to the existing types.
Note: The updates to annotations replaces the Edit a Copy workflow, which is no longer supported in the New Evaluation Experience.
2) Assignments – Download file when using annotations in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience
The New Assignment Evaluation Experience now includes the Download drop-down menu in the Annotations viewer. When using annotations in an assignment, instructors can use this menu to download the original file without navigating to the submission list. Instructors can also download the annotated PDF file.
The Annotations viewer with the Download drop-down menu
Copy/paste and/or drag and drop images - You can copy/paste and/or drag and drop images when providing feedback in assignments, discussions, and quizzes. Images are saved in the content folder.
External users adding comments in Brightspace ePortfolio now have the new inline limited version of Brightspace Editor.
Inline limited version of Brightspace Editor in Brightspace ePortfolio
Design improvements to enhance use of the Editor on mobile devices and improve general usability.
Accessibility improvements – Improved keyboard navigation for keyboard users and toolbar icons are spaced out more in accordance with WCAG standards.
4) Rubrics – Copy rubric criterion
To improve the value of Rubrics and facilitate reusing rubric criteria that have already been created, an action menu next to the criterion name provides Copy and Delete options. When an instructor copies a criterion, the new criterion is added under the original with the criterion name Copy of [name of original criterion].
The Delete function was previously available as a trashcan icon at the end of the criterion row outside the table. The new location in the action menu improves the discoverability of the Delete and Copy options.
The action menu beside the criterion provides copy and delete options
5) Rubrics – Print or export to PDF
To improve the user experience with Rubrics, instructors can now print or download a PDF of a preview or evaluated rubric. Learners can also print or download a PDF of a rubric from the desktop browser implementation of Brightspace Learning Environment. The Print button displays above the top-right corner of the rubric.
6) Widgets - Work To Do widget
The new Work To Do widget provides learners a summary of assigned learning activities from all their courses that are overdue or have an upcoming due date. The widget was added to the Brightspace My Homepage to aggregate data from all courses, and to the default course homepage to show only due and overdue learning activities from the course.
The Work To Do widget displays the following learning activities:
Assignments
Checklists
Content
Courses
Discussions
Surveys
Quizzes
The Work To Do widget organizes course activities by overdue and upcoming due dates so learners can easily prioritize their work and stay on top of their tasks.
Example of the Work To Do widget
Learning activities only appear in the Work To Do widget when the activity has a defined due date or end date. By default, the widget displays activities due in the upcoming 2 weeks, and overdue work from the previous 12 weeks.
The Work To Do widget can be seen by users with the role of student. Instructors will see the Work To Do widget when they view the course as a student.
NOTE: If you customized your course homepage and you want your students to be able to see the Work To Do widget on your customized course homepage, you will have to add the widget to your customized course homepage.
For additional information and frequently asked questions about the Work To Do widget, see the following article in the Brightspace Community: Introducing the Work To Do Widget.
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.
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 2021/20.21.4 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Accommodations - Improvements in Classlist, Quizzes, and User Progress
The following improvements have been made in the Classlist, Quizzes, and User Progress tools:
Improvements in Classlist for Instructors:
An icon now appears next to the learner’s name in the Classlist to indicate that the learner has an accommodation.
Instructors can filter the Classlist by Accommodations.
Instructors can also Print or Email a list of users with accommodations by adding the filter to those pages.
Improvements in Classlist for learners:
An icon appears next to learners’ own names to indicate they have an accommodation. To view accommodation details, learners can click My Accommodations from their learner context menu.
When commencing a quiz, the accommodation icon appears next to a learner’s quiz time to indicate that their accommodation has been applied. If a learner’s time accommodation has been overridden by a quiz-specific special access, this icon does not appear.
Improvements in Quizzes for instructors:
Instructors can now grant learners special access in terms of quiz time multipliers (for example, 1.5x quiz time) or +minutes (for example, an additional 30 minutes). Refer to the Quizzes – Improvements to Special Access functionality release note below for more information.
Quiz-specific special access can overwrite an accommodation for any user on a quiz-by-quiz basis. When you overwrite an accommodation and then click Save, a warning describing the impact of overwriting the accommodation appears. Previously, this warning appeared at the top of the Quiz special access screen. Now, it appears on clicking Save.
Improvements in User Progress:
The accommodations icon now appears in the User Progress tool alongside the Quiz domain if the learner has a quiz accommodation in that course
The User Progress screen (Classlist>User drop-down menu > User Progress)
2) Assignments - Action menu for group assignments in New Assignment Evaluation Experience
The New Assignment Evaluation Experience now includes a drop-down menu from the group name. This menu contains links to:
Email the group (opens in a new window)
See all group members
Instant message the group (opens in a new window)
The drop-down action menu appears from the Group Name on the File Submission page in Assignments
3) Assignments - Anonymous marking in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience
This feature makes anonymous marking fully supported in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience. When using Anonymous marking, the Anonymous User number appears in place of the username, just as it appeared in the legacy Assignments experience. In addition, the following features of anonymous marking remain the same:
No profile card appears for anonymous users
Usernames become visible once any learner’s evaluation is published
Group names are always visible even when using anonymous marking
Rubrics do not include the user’s name
Anonymous marking uses Publish All instead of the Publish button. If no feedback for anonymous users has yet been published, the Publish button is disabled and a message appears to direct users to the Publish All button. If any user feedback has been published, all Publish buttons become automatically enabled.
Anonymous marking in Assignments displays learners as Anonymous User [#] instead of by username.
4) Assignments - Brightspace Editor in the new Assignment Creation Experience
The new Brightspace Editor replaces the previous HTML Editor as the default HTML Editor in the new Assignment Creation Experience.
6) Assignments - Context menu on the Evaluation screen in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience
A new context menu appears in the side panel of the updated assignment evaluation screen. This menu links to the following:
Edit Activity (opens assignment page in new tab). This option appears for users who have the See and Manage Assignment Submission Folders permission.
Special Access Dates (opens the Edit Activity screen so users can update Special Access rules). This option requires the Set Special Access on Assignment Submission Folders permission.
The new context menu appears when grading a submission in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience
7) Assignments - Single file submissions open directly in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience
In the New Assignment Evaluation Experience, when a learner has submitted only one file, the evaluator no longer has to click into the evaluation and then into the file. The file opens directly for the evaluator, saving a click during the evaluation process. Late submission information continues to display above the file, as it currently does.
8) Quizzes – Improvements to Special Access functionality
This feature is in line with the improvements made to the Quizzes tool as listed in the Accommodations – Improvements in Classlist, Quizzes, and User Progress feature. However, it is not dependent on granting any accommodations permissions, and is visible to any user with permission to Add Special Access.
Instructors can now grant learners special access in terms of quiz time multipliers (for example, 1.5x quiz time) or +minutes (for example, an additional 30 minutes). For example, if an instructor has a 30-minute quiz and using the Special Access page, grants three learners 1.5x the quiz time, their updated quiz time of 45 minutes displays. Instructors no longer have to manually calculate the updated quiz time.
The Add Special Access screen before the updated quiz time functionalityThe Add Special Access screen with the updated Timing area
Note: After extending the learners quiz time by way of quiz time multipliers or +minutes on the Special Access page, if an instructor updates the duration of the quiz, the learner’s quiz time on the Special Access page does not dynamically update at this time.
9) Quizzes – Secure and consistent editing experience
For a more secure and consistent editing experience in Brightspace, creating any of the following question types now automatically filters out JavaScript and non-standard HTML: Likert, Ordering, Matching, Fill in the Blanks, Short Answer, Multi-Short Answer, Arithmetic, and Significant Figures. For existing questions containing JavaScript and non-standard HTML, the questions continue to display as intended until an instructor edits and saves the questions, which removes the JavaScript and non-standard HTML. Previously, instructors could add JavaScript or non-standard HTML to question types in order to create dynamic content for quizzes.
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.
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 2021/20.21.3 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Assignments - Copying an assignment
Previously, when you copied an assignment, the copied assignment was set to active and you had to open the newly copied assignment to edit it.
Now when you copy an assignment, the copied assignment is set to inactive and you are directed to the Edit Assignment screen to continue editing it as part of the copy assignments workflow.
2) Assignments – Learner profile card in New Assignment Evaluation Experience
Starting with the March 2021/20.21.3 release, the Consistent Evaluation experience in Assignments is now referred to as New Assignment Evaluation Experience.
This feature updates the Assignments - Consistent evaluation experience | New feature released in December 2020/20.20.12. When hovering over a learner’s name or profile picture in the new evaluation experience, the learner’s user profile card appears. The card displays the user’s online/offline status as well as links to:
Email
Instant Message
User progress
User profile
Clicking any of the links in the profile card opens a new window.
Hovering over the name of profile image of a learner opens a profile card with links to Email and Instant Message the learner, plus User Progress and the learner’s User Profile.
NOTE: More information about the New Assignment Evaluation Experience can be found in this What is Coming in Evaluation article.
3) Assignments – Turnitin support in New Assignment Evaluation Experience
Starting with the March 2021/20.21.3 release, the Consistent Evaluation experience in Assignments is now referred to as New Assignment Evaluation Experience.
This feature updates the Assignments - Consistent evaluation experience | New feature released in December 2020/20.20.12. The New Assignment Evaluation experience now supports Turnitin Similarity and Turnitin Grademark in Assignments. The existing Turnitin workflows and functionality appear on the User Submissions page in the new experience. The Turnitin workflows are also supported in the mobile experience.
Turnitin Similarity and Turnitin Grademark feedback appears on the User Submissions page
NOTE: More information about the New Assignment Evaluation Experience can be found in this What is Coming in Evaluation article.
4) Awards – Password-protected certificates
To prevent plagiarism and protect an organization's intellectual and branding copyrights, all earned certificates downloaded from the Awards tool are now password-protected from editing. Each certificate is generated with a random password that is not displayed to users, preventing anyone from editing the certificate in Adobe® Acrobat® or Adobe Reader®. Previously, if an administrator or instructor uploaded a password protected certificate, any learner that downloaded the earned certificate could edit it in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
A password-protected certificate downloaded from the Awards tool
5) Brightspace Pulse – Notifications for upcoming quizzes and assignments
In Brightspace Pulse, learners now receive push notifications that remind them about upcoming quizzes and assignments. By default, notifications display two days before each activity's due date or end date.
Learners receive a notification in Brightspace Learning Environment and Brightspace Pulse under the following conditions:
If the assignment or quiz has a due date, the learner is notified two days before the due date.
If the assignment or quiz has no due date, but has an end date, the learner is notified two days before the end date.
Learners do not receive a notification in Brightspace Learning Environment and Brightspace Pulse under the following conditions:
Learner completed the assignment by submitting to the assignment folder.
Learner completed the quiz according to the defined completion criteria (attempt submitted or score threshold achieved).
The assignment or quiz has no dates attached.
The assignment or quiz includes only a start date.
Brightspace Pulse notifications for an upcoming assignment and quiz
6) Calendar – Improvements to date and time selection web components
To improve the ease of use for clients using the date and time picker in Brightspace Learning Environment, there have been updates to the web components related to date and time selection. These changes are intended to provide better usability for keyboard users and better integration with assistive technology. Changes include:
Ability to use arrow keys rather than the Tab key to improve keyboard navigation and accessibility.
Aesthetic changes to hide unused elements until they are active.
New selectable values of 12:01 AM and 11:59PM in the time picker
New default values for Start, Due, and End dates.
The new Set to Today button inside the date picker replaces the Now button outside the date picker.
Note: There may be some instances of the older date picker remaining in Brightspace Learning Environment. These instances will be changed to the new date picker in a future release.
7) Quizzes - Copy quiz workflow
Previously, to copy and continue editing a quiz, you had to navigate to the Manage Quizzes page, click the More Actions > Copy functionality, and then select the quiz you wanted to copy, rename it, and click Edit quiz after copy completes.
This feature updates the copy quiz workflow to better align with Assignments. Now, the copy functionality is available on the individual quiz drop-down menu. When you copy a quiz, the copied quiz is set to inactive (as per the original copy quiz workflow) and you are directed to the Edit Quiz screen to continue editing it. Now, the copy quiz workflow also copies over Special Access settings and aligned Learning Objectives.
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.
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 2021/20.21.2 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Accommodations – Quiz accommodations
This new feature enables instructors to grant quiz accommodations to learners through the Classlist tool. Instructors can assign accommodations to specific students that apply across all quizzes instead of applying them on a quiz by quiz basis.
Accommodation options currently available include: more time to complete quizzes at the course level and the ability to bypass right-click restrictions in quizzes. The right-click restriction in quizzes is the ability for learners to right-click in the quiz while taking the quiz.
The new Edit Accommodations option in the ClasslistThe new Edit Accommodations dialog box
Once granted, these accommodations apply to all quiz activities in a course for that learner. The additional time can be applied in terms of quiz time multipliers (for example, 1.5x quiz time) or +minutes (for example, an additional 30 minutes) on every quiz in a course.
Quiz-specific Special Access can overwrite an accommodation for any user on a quiz-by-quiz basis. When you overwrite an accommodation and then click Save, a warning describing the impact of overwriting an accommodation appears.
Further accommodation options and enhancements are planned for this year.
2) Assignments - Save progress and visual enhancements
Now, the Save button in the new assignment creation experience enables an instructor to save their progress while creating or editing an assignment. Previously, Save and Close was the only option.
The Save button in the new assignment creation experience
The scrollbars on the main and right-hand panels now appear thinner and less noticeable, providing more vertical space when creating or editing an assignment.
The name of the assignment appears in the immersive navbar along the top of the page.
The name of the assignment on the immersive NavBar and the less obtrusive scrollbar in the new assignment creation experience
3) Quick Eval - Homepage widget
Quick Eval can now be added to organization and course homepages as a widget to allow instructors to view and access any submissions awaiting evaluation. The Quick Eval widget displays a list of up to six activities with submissions to evaluate. The activities are sorted by due date, with the earliest date first. The icon indicator in the widget shows the type of activity (assignment, discussion, or quiz), and the number of unevaluated submissions for each activity. The due date and course information are also visible below the title of each activity. Course information is only shown if the widget is accessed from the organization homepage.
Activities dismissed in the Quick Eval tool are not displayed by the Quick Eval widget.
The Quick Eval widget on course homepage displaying no submissions needing evaluationThe Quick Eval widget on the Organization homepage displaying unevaluated activities from multiple courses
4) Rubrics - Warning dialog for partial evaluations
Previously, if an instructor attempted to publish a partially completed rubric evaluation, the partial evaluation dialog appeared. If the instructor tapped Enter on their keyboard, the partial evaluation was published.
Now, the default button behavior has changed so that tapping Enter on the page returns the user to the rubric to complete the evaluation. This change adds a verification layer to reconsider their action and ensure that instructors are not mistakenly publishing incomplete evaluations.
The partial evaluation warning dialog appears the same, but has updated default behavior.
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.
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 2021/20.21.1 release that were added to our system this month:
1) Assignments - Multiple rubric support in the consistent evaluation experience
If an assignment includes multiple rubrics, they are all visible to instructors using the Consistent evaluation experience. Instructors are also able to choose the default scoring rubric. Previously, the consistent evaluation experience would only display one rubric on the assignment evaluation screen.
For additional information on the Consistent evaluation experience, visit Brightspace Community.
Brightspace Learning Environment's browser version check now displays warnings for browsers earlier than the following versions:
Google® Chrome™ 85 (released Aug 2020)
Apple® Safari® 13 (released in September 2019)
Mobile Apple Safari 12 (released in October 2018)
Mozilla® Firefox® 80 (released August 2020)
Chromium-based Microsoft® Edge 85 (released August 2020)
All versions of Microsoft Edge Legacy (in preparation for Microsoft’s end-of-support in March 2021)
You can access Brightspace with older versions of the supported browsers; however, D2L does not test Brightspace against these older versions. This means you may encounter unexpected user interface behavior and appearance or broken and unsupported functionality. In most cases, D2L does not fix software defects experienced in unsupported browser versions. For an optimal experience that offers better performance, accessibility, and security, D2L strongly recommends that all users access Brightspace with a supported browser.
3) Course Export - Export file upload attribute for written response questions
Written Response quiz questions that allow for file upload can now be imported and exported from Brightspace Learning Environment. With the ability to import and export these questions users can share them with users from other instances of Brightspace.
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.
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