{"id":21756,"date":"2025-10-23T13:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=21756"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T18:38:17","slug":"brightspace-tip-545-october-continuous-delivery-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-545-october-continuous-delivery-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Brightspace Tip #545: October Continuous Delivery Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Our Continuous Delivery update occurs on the 4th Thursday of each month. D2L provides release notes<\/a> to help users stay up-to-date with the changes.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the updates in the October 2025\/20.25.10 release that were added to our system this month:<\/p>\n

\n

1) Assignments \u2014 Annotation availability awareness enhancements in assignment creation<\/h3>\n

Annotations are only supported for File<\/strong> and File or Text<\/strong> Assignment Types. They are not supported for Text<\/strong>, Observed in person<\/strong>, or On paper submission<\/strong> assignment types. In response to requests from instructors for clearer indicators of which types of assignments support Annotations, D2L enhanced the assignment creation experience with better tool tips, visual cues, and on-screen guidance.<\/p>\n

New informational tool tip<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make it easier for instructors to understand what the Annotations tool does and which types of assignments you can use it with, a new informational tool tip now appears beside the existing Annotations<\/strong> check box in the interface for creating assignments.<\/p>\n

When you hover over the new information ( ? ) button, a tool tip displays Annotation Tools help<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New Annotation Tools<\/strong> help tool tip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clicking the information ( ? ) button opens a pop-up window that explains what the Annotations tool does, and which types of assignments you can use it with. The text in the new window is as follows:<\/p>\n

Information: Annotation Tools<\/strong>
\nUse annotation tools to add feedback directly to the uploaded documents by highlighting, drawing, and commenting. This is available for file submissions only.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New Annotation Tools<\/strong> informational pop-up window<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clear visual indicators make it easy to identify which assignment types support Annotations<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make it easier to immediately understand whether you can use Annotations on an assignment, the Annotations<\/strong> check box now appears disabled (grayed out) for non-file type assignments, such as Text<\/strong>, Observed in person<\/strong>, or On paper submission<\/strong> assignments.<\/p>\n

\"Visual<\/a>
Visual cues indicate when Annotation Tools are not available for an assignment type<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Updated on-screen guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n

New on-screen guidance indicates when instructors can no longer enable Annotations for an assignment and why.<\/p>\n

Guidance for non-file Assignment types<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you cannot enable Annotations for an assignment because the type is Text<\/strong>, On paper submission<\/strong>, or Observed in person<\/strong>, hovering over the Annotations<\/strong> check box displays the following message:<\/p>\n

Annotation settings are locked for submissions that are not files.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New on-screen guidance shows when Annotation settings are locked because the assignment type is not File<\/strong> or File or Text<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guidance displayed for assignments after submissions are received<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you cannot enable Annotations for an assignment because learners already made submissions while the setting was disabled, hovering over the Annotations<\/strong> check box displays the following message:<\/p>\n

Annotation settings are locked after submissions are received.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New on-screen guidance shows when Annotation settings are locked because learners made submissions for the assignment while Annotations were disabled.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

2) Assignments \u2014 Improved assignment type selection interface<\/h3>\n

A usability improvement makes it easier to select the correct assignment type when you create an assignment.<\/p>\n

Previous behavior<\/strong><\/p>\n

Previously, instructors used radio buttons to specify whether an assignment was for a Group<\/strong> or an Individual<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

New drop-down menu for selecting Assignment type<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new drop-down menu for selecting the Assignment Type<\/strong> modernizes the interface and lays the groundwork for future enhancements to the Assignments tool.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New drop-down menu with Individual Assignment Type selected<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

3) Grades \u2013 Comments and Assessments column always visible to learners<\/h3>\n

Learners can now always see the Comments and Assessments<\/strong> column in Grades, ensuring that feedback and links to assessments are consistently visible. The column is no longer conditionally displayed, supporting additional links from tools such as Rubrics, Assignments, and Quizzes.<\/p>\n

This update supports future enhancements that add information to learner feedback in Grades.<\/p>\n

Previously, the column only appeared when a grade item included feedback.<\/p>\n

\"Grades<\/a>
Comments and Assessments column now appears consistently to learners in Grades<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

4) Media Library \u2013 Improved Media Library to help better organize and manage your course assets<\/h3>\n

This release introduces several new features to improve the capabilities of the Media Library and allow users to have a wider variety of assets that can be reused in their courses.<\/p>\n

These improvements include:<\/p>\n