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Category: Brightspace Small Plates

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #342: New Quiz Creation Experience

The new Quiz creation experience was one of the changes implemented with our June 2022 Continuous Delivery update. The new Quiz creation experience brings create and edit consistency changes from Assignments to Quizzes. D2L’s goal with the redesign is to simplify common tasks for first-time or infrequent users, while giving easy access to the advanced features that experienced power-users love.

Quizzes tool shown in the new quiz creation experience.
The new quiz creation experience.

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.

If you’ve tried the new quiz creation experience, but aren’t quite ready to commit to it, then switch back. Switching back is simple. You can switch between the new quiz creation experience and the old experience by clicking on the arrow in the upper right corner of the create/edit quiz page.

option to switch between the new quiz creation experience and the old experience
Switch between the new quiz creation experience and the old experience

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 redesign.

Want More Information?

Welcome to the New Quiz Creation Experience
Using the Brightspace Quizzes Tool

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You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #341: Due Dates

Use due dates in Brightspace to help students stay on track. Students will see due dates when they look at entries in the course calendar and in the Pulse App.

Due dates and availability dates are generally entered when the instructor creates assignments, assessments, discussion topics and forums, etc. The dates automatically populate into the course calendar.

calendar with due today circled on Thursday the 9th

Instructors can use the Manage Dates tool to view, edit in bulk, and bulk offset date availability from one central location. You can also set the calendar status of all content topics and modules, discussion topics and forums, assignment submissions folders, grades categories and items, announcement items, quizzes, checklists, and surveys in their course in the Manage Dates tool.

Follow these steps to do it.

To add availability and due dates in Content:

  1. Get into the course you want to add availability and due dates to course objects.
  2. On the NavBar (of the course you want to change dates in), click Content.
  3. On the Table of Contents page, click Bulk Edit.
  4. For any topic or module that you want to add availability or due dates to, click Add dates and restrictions.
  5. Do any of the following:
    • Click Add start date. Enter your start date details.
    • Click Add due date. Enter your due date details.
    • Click Add end date. Enter your end date details.
  6. Click Update.
  7. Click Done Editing.

Want More Information?

Add availability and due dates in Content
Setting Dates in Discussions, Quizzes, and Assignments
Manage Dates
Pulse App

View all the Brightspace training recaps
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Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: “due today” by jflorent is dedicated to public domain under CC0 and is a derivative of calendar by tigerlily713 from Pixabay 

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #340: Is Your Course Pulse Friendly?

Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app that can help learners stay connected and on track with their Brightspace courses. It provides one easy view of course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades, and announcement items. The app can help learners make better decisions about how to handle their workload, when to submit assignments, and when to prepare for tests. Real-time alerts can let learners know when classes are canceled, class is meeting in an alternate location, or new grades are available. The schedule view and weekly visualization enables learners to quickly at a glance view what is due today, this week, and upcoming across all their courses.

While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too.

Brightspace Pulse App on iPhone

While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too. When instructors enter due dates or end dates for assignments and activities the information is populated in the Pulse app enabling learners to stay connected and on track. Thus, instructors can spend less time reminding and more time teaching.

Instructors can make their courses Pulse friendly by including due dates or end dates for assignments and activities. When instructors do not enter due dates or end dates, no associated information is available in the Pulse app.

The Pulse app is great for helping students stay on track in face-to-face classes as well. Instructors can set up their face-to-face assignments and activities as events in the Brightspace course calendar. Students will get those date feeds in the Brightspace Pulse app.

Help keep students on track for success in all their courses by including a due date or end date for assignments and activities.

Want more information?

Brightspace Pulse App
Brightspace Tip #112: Due Dates
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for Content (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for an Assignment (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for a Discussion Topic (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Restrictions for a Quiz (video)
Pulse Dates - Set Date Availability for a Calendar Event (video)
Brightspace Tip #251: Manage Dates
Brightspace Tip #248: Drip-Feeding

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #339: Are You Ready?

image showing various disasters

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

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

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

Want More Information?

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

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

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #338: Course Design Suggestions

I usually get a lot of questions from faculty related to setting up their Brightspace courses. In the spirit of starting the academic year with less stress, I offer the following infographic with course design suggestions to reduce your course setup and management stress:

course design zen infographic

Accessible PDF version of Course Design Zen infographic.

Want more information?

Course Design Suggestions
Merging Courses
Setup your Fall Courses
Setup your Grade Book
Use Date Management
Using Quicklinks
Copy Course or Copy Components

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #337: Setup Your Fall Courses

As you prepare to teach this fall, now is a good time to get started setting up your Brightspace courses. Our Information Technology Center (ITC) has created the fall courses in Brightspace.

NOTE: You should see your fall courses in the My Courses widget. Our July 2021 Continuous Delivery Updates implemented the updated My Courses Widget sort logic. If you do not see your fall courses in your My Courses widget, you should click on the link to "View All Courses" (located at the bottom of the My Courses widget). Verify that you are listed as the instructor for the course in Banner.

To get started, you can post your syllabus, course documents, announcements, and setup your Grade Book in your Brightspace courses. You can also customize your course homepage and/or course image/banner.

to do list

If you teach a course that is cross listed you will have a Brightspace course for each cross listing. You can combine the cross listed courses into one Brightspace course so that you can post course materials and grades to one combined Brightspace course. Combining courses may also work for you if you are teaching different sections of the same course and would like to have the different sections combined into one Brightspace course so that you can post course documents and grades in the one combined course. The beginning of the semester is the best time to submit a request to merge your Brightspace courses before you add course materials or grades to the courses.

Additionally, if the fall course you are teaching is the same as one of your previous courses you can copy the entire course (or copy components) into your "empty" Brightspace fall course.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links with instructions to:

Want more information?

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Continuous Delivery release notes
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Photo Credit: image by inspirexpressmiami from Pixabay

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #336: My Courses Widget

One of the changes implemented in our system with our July 2021 Continuous Delivery Updates was the end-of-life status for the old My Courses Widget sort logic. The old My Courses sort logic was retired. The new My Courses Widget uses the Updated Sort Logic setting by default.

The Updated Sort Logic is intended to better organize the courses in the My Courses widget. The Updated Sort Logic presents both pinned and unpinned courses in the My Courses Widget, promoting the pinned courses to be displayed first in the widget.

The updated sorting logic in the My Courses Widget does not auto-pin courses, and allows the end-user to pin and rearrange courses in an order that makes sense to them. The updated sort logic tries to populate the widget with up-to 12 courses, starting with the user’s pinned courses, then pulling in unpinned courses by enrollment date until the widget contains 12 courses. The result is that most users get a sensible My Courses Widget with no intervention on their part, while pinning and customization is still available for the users who need it.

Screenshot of the Pinned tab in the My Courses widget
The Pinned tab appears in the My Courses widget when users pin courses

A new Pinned tab now appears in the My Courses widget. The “Pinned” tab displays only the courses that a user has pinned, similar to the old sort logic. The Pinned tab allows learners and instructors to create a curated view of their pinned courses. Clicking on the push pin to the right of the course name in the Course Selector will pin/unpin the course.

An example of pinning a course from course selector
Pin/unpin courses from the course selector

The Pinned tab appears in the widget only after a user pins a course in the Course Selector. The tab remains in view until all courses are unpinned. The My Courses widget remembers the last viewed tab and shows that same tab the next time the homepage is viewed. This makes it easy for instructors and learners who only wish to view pinned courses to see those courses upon login.

NOTE: The Pinned tab only appears when a user has one or more course pinned – tabs are not displayed to the user that contain 0 courses.

The View All Courses navigation drills down into the courses by showing manually pinned courses, followed by current enrollments, then future enrollments (if available and visible to the user), then past enrollments (if available or visible to the user) as the default sort. If the user changes the sort order, the filter does not separate pinned courses from other courses based on sort order, filters, and search terms.

Want more information?

Retirement of the Old My Courses Widget Sort Logic
About the My Courses Widget

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #335: Help Resources

F1 Help keyInstructors Quick Start Tutorial
  • Brightspace How-to Documents
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
  • Brightspace Training Recaps
  • Brightspace Tips
  • Brightspace Help (on D2L's website)
  • Brightspace Community

    • Live Chat icon

    Additionally, if you are having difficulties using any of the course tools, you can get help from D2L. This help is available 24/7 via Email and Live Chat. You will find links for Email Support and Live Chat Support in the Help menu on the NavBar (inside of Brightspace). You must be logged into Brightspace to access the Email and Live Chat Support links.

    Help Menu

    Want more information?

    View all the Brightspace training recaps
    Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
    Continuous Delivery release notes
    Brightspace Known Issues
    Request a sandbox course
    Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
    You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
    Join the Brightspace Community.
    Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
    Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
    or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
    call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

    Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

    Image credit: Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

    Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #334: New VoiceThread Features

    VoiceThread logo

    VoiceThread is a web 2.0 tool that allows you to humanize interactions in an online environment. Instructors and students can share a wide variety of media (images, PDFs, slides, video, and more) and share text, audio, and video comments on that media quickly and easily. VoiceThread transforms stale, text-based discussions by infusing your content and conversations with human presence, just as if students were all sitting in the classroom together, but without scheduling a specific time to meet.

    There are two new features available in VoiceThread assignments! Read on for more information about the new features that were recently introduced.

    Prerequisites

    If your course has a number of VoiceThread assignments, you might want to ensure that students complete those assignments in order. You can already set open and close dates, but this isn't always the best option, especially for self-paced courses. Now you can ensure that a previous assignment was completed before a student can even view the next one. It's a great way to keep students on the right track even if you have multiple assignments open at once.

    Just click the "Select a prior assignment" button on the last page of the setup process and choose the assignment(s) students must complete first.

    An example of the "Select a prior assignment" button in the Assignment Builder
    The "Select a prior assignment" button in the Assignment Builder

    Reconnecting Assignments

    Have you ever built an assignment in your course and then wished you could re-link it in a different place? You're in luck! There is a new feature that empowers you to re-link an assignment so you aren't stuck with that one-time setup.

    When you go into the Assignment Builder, you'll have a 4th option labeled "Reconnect Previous Assignment". When you select this option, you'll see a list of all assignments you've already built in this course, and you can choose the one you want to use. This will move the assignment from the old link in your course to the new location. The old link will no longer take students to this assignment.

    An example of the "Reconnect Previous Assignment" option in the Assignment Builder
    The "Reconnect Previous Assignment" option in the Assignment Builder

    Want more information?

    Other recently introduced VoiceThread features
    VoiceThread Instructor Support
    Add VoiceThread to your Course
    How to use new VoiceThread assignments
    Submitting new VoiceThread assignments – Students
    VoiceThread FAQ

    View all the Brightspace training recaps
    Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
    Brightspace Known Issues
    Continuous Delivery release notes
    Request a sandbox course
    Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
    You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
    Join the Brightspace Community.
    Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
    Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
    or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
    call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

    Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

    Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #333: July Continuous Delivery Updates

    update

    D2L (the company that owns Brightspace) uses Continuous Delivery to update our Brightspace system. The Continuous Delivery model gives us regular monthly updates allowing for incremental and easily integrated changes with no downtime required for our Brightspace system.

    Our Continuous Delivery update occurs on the 4th Thursday of each month. D2L provides release notes to help users stay up-to-date with the changes.

    Here are a few updates in the July 2022/20.22.7 release that were added to our system this month:

    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.

    Browser update prompt in Brightspace Learning Environment
    Browser update prompt in Brightspace Learning Environment

    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.

    Turnitin integration with updated options for Similarity Report and Online Grading
    Turnitin integration with updated options for Similarity Report and Online Grading

    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.

    File type options for Turnitin submissions
    File type options for Turnitin submissions

    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.

    Updated side panel showing which Turnitin services are enabled
    The updated side panel shows which Turnitin services are enabled

    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.

    The new Turnitin submission view in Brightspace Learning Environment
    The new Turnitin submission view in Brightspace Learning Environment

    If you are interested in getting more information about these and all the July Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform July 2022/20.22.7 Release Notes.

    Additionally, refer to the Brightspace Release Notes for Continuous Delivery Releases, for details about current, past, and to preview upcoming continuous delivery updates.

    Want more information?

    View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
    View all the Brightspace training recaps
    Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
    Brightspace Known Issues
    Request a sandbox course
    Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
    You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
    Join the Brightspace Community.
    Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
    Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
    or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
    call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

    Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

    Image credit: image by geralt from Pixabay