When Uploading Images
- In some instances, when users upload .jpg files in any file upload area across D2L, an EXIF (exchangeable image file) data warning appears informing the user that the file may contain geolocation data.
Assignments
- Assignment folders may now be associated with "Select Box" type Grade Items in addition to "Numeric" type Grade Items
- When grading an assignment through Assignments, Quick Eval, or Grades, the evaluator (for a select box type) is shown a dropdown menu with the associated grade scheme levels.
- Grade Schemes used for Select Box type items have also been reordered so that the highest grade, rather than the lowest, defaults to the top of the list
- The Assignments page shows a count of new submissions and resubmissions in the New column
- File size information for submissions now displays next to the file name in the submission receipt email sent to learners upon making a submission to an assignment submission folder.
- A new column that displays Submission ID information is visible to learners on the View Feedback page in Assignments.
Intelligent Agents
- Instructors can now insert images directly into the body of intelligent agent emails using the Add Image button in the HTML editor. The images are attached to the email and shown in place when viewed in the recipient's external mail client.
Quizzes
- Instructors may now save quiz feedback "as draft".
- On the quiz evaluation page, the Graded (G) checkbox and Save button have been replaced by the Publish and Save Draft buttons.
Release Conditions
- Learners are now notified using a pop-up message when they trigger a release condition that releases new Content.
Assignments
- File size information now displays next to the file name in the submission receipt email sent to learners upon making a submission to an assignment submission folder.
- A new column that displays Submission ID information is visible to learners on the View Feedback page in Assignments.
Release Conditions
- Learners are now notified using a pop-up message when they trigger a release condition that releases new Content.
Assessing Assignments and Quizzes
- When evaluating an assignment submission or a quiz submission, the user interface has been updated slightly. The Next Student and Previous Student buttons above the submission and learner information have been replaced by forward and back chevrons that display in the immersive navigation bar. Previously, these buttons were displayed across the entire width of the page. The information on which user you are evaluating (e.g. 1 of 12) now displays between the back and forward chevrons.
Intelligent Agents
- You can now add attachments to automated email messages when creating and editing intelligent agents. File attachments are limited to 10 MB.
Entire Learning Environment
To provide a more consistent experience, there have been changes to update the language, interface controls, and workflows throughout Brightspace Learning Environment.
- The visibility control now uses a checkbox with the consistent terminology Hide from users in all instances. This change affects the Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Surveys, and Grades (grade item and grade category) tools.
- In Discussions, the Visibility, Availability Dates, and Locking options move from the Properties tab to the Restrictions tab.
- In Content, the Hide from users and Make Visible to users options are available in the context menus for topics and modules in the table of contents, and in the context menus of topics on the topics’ detail page. This option replaces the "Save as Draft" status. All Content topics should be "saved" and then set to "Hide from Users" from the context menu for that topic.
- All common activity icons appear before tool-specific icons.
- There is now only one Special Access icon in Quizzes (previously there were two, one for each type of Special Access). The Special Access icon also now appears in Assignments where it previously did not.
- All icons have been updated to the Daylight style (except the Bonus Grade item, which will be done in a future release).
- The Exemptions icon now appears on the list pages.
- In the Grade book, on the context menu for a grade item, the Grade All option is now Enter Grades.
Supported Browsers
- Starting January 2020, Brightspace Learning Environment will no longer support Internet Explorer.
Grades
- When an instructor enters a grade (for an assignment submission associated to that grade item) in the standard or spreadsheet view of Grade Book, the grade will also appear with the submission in Assignments. Previously, grades entered in the Assignment tool were passed on to Grade Book; however, grades for assignment submissions entered in Grade Book were not passed to the Assignments tool.
- When an instructor enters a grade for a discussion (associated to that grade item) in the standard or spreadsheet view of Grade Book, the grade will also appear with the discussion post in Discussions. Previously, grades entered in the Discussion were passed on to Grade Book; however, grades for discussions entered in Grade Book were not passed to the Discussions tool.
Quizzes
- Rounding logic for arithmetic and significant figures questions in quizzes will now round up from .5 by default. Previously these types of questions used to round to the nearest even integer (“banker’s rounding”). As a result, some calculations will round up where they previously rounded down from .5. Past quiz attempt scores are not affected by this change.
Assignments:
Learner View of Assignment page has been updated
- When learners view the Assignments page, Assignment, Completion Status, Score, Evaluation Status, and Due Date display for each assignment. These changes allow learners to easily identify assignments that require their attention, or contain feedback from their instructors.
Email:
- When composing email messages, users can select Insert Image to add pictures from their computer, a URL, or Manage Files. Images are inserted in place, attached to the email, and display in place for the recipient. The Insert Stuff button is no longer shown in Email, as it has several workflows that are incompatible with the external email experience.
Notifications:
To improve the delivery of course notifications in Brightspace Learning Environment (D2L), the Notifications option, available from the username on the minibar, includes the following changes:
- Added a Summary of Activity option for receiving email notifications about the summary of activity for each course. Options include: Never, Daily, or Weekly (default).
- Removed the following Customize Notifications options: Allow past courses to send me notifications and Allow inactive courses to send me notifications. Learners can now only receive daily email digests for current and future courses.
- Removed the following SMS notifications for Instant Notifications: Content - content item created, Content - content item updated, and Content - content overview updated.
If any of the removed notification options are currently selected, learners will no longer receive these notifications after the monthly update. To receive content-related instant notifications, D2L recommends using the Brightspace Pulse mobile app or select the Email option for the instant notification type on the Notifications page. Email content notifications remain unaffected.
Supported Browsers:
- Internet Explorer will no longer work for the Brightspace Learning Environment (D2L) as of January 2020.
- Currently when a user tries to access D2L using any version of Internet Explorer, a retro pop-up dialog box appears. The text in the retro pop-up dialog box has been updated to include the January 2020 end of life date information. Users who had previously dismissed the pop-up will see it again following the August update if D2L is accessed using any version of Internet Explorer. The pop-up can be dismissed again and will not reappear with subsequent updates.
Assignment
- An Edit Categories option is now available in Assignments to allow users to edit all categories from one page. You can add, modify, delete, and sort categories, as well as manage unused categories. If a category with assignments is deleted, those assignments are added to the No Category area.
Navbar
- If a user does not upload a user profile image in Brightspace Learning Environment, the navbar now displays the user's initials in the user-profile badge. This change occurs for all roles and displays in the Brightspace Learning Environment navbar and Activity Feed. Previously, if a profile image was not uploaded, a blank user image displayed.
Surveys
- The primary button when completing a Survey has been updated from Save Responses to read as Submit Survey. Learners will continue to be prompted to confirm their submission when they submit the survey
- Learners can still save survey answers manually. The Save button now reads as Save Responses
- A new Back to Questions button is displayed when attempting to submit a survey with unanswered questions
- While learners are taking an anonymous survey, an alert appears at the top of the survey indicating that the survey is anonymous and their user information will not be tied to their responses
Discussions
- Instructors now have the option to save feedback as a draft on discussions associated with rubrics before publishing it to learners. Now, when instructors add feedback for discussions with rubrics, the Save Draft and Publish buttons display. This feature extends existing Save Draft and Publish options available in other assessment tools to discussions that are only associated with a rubric.
Notifications
- students may now set option for notification when instructors publish or update published feedback at Assignments.
Rubrics
- Instructors may now create Quicklinks to individual Rubrics if the "Visible to Students" setting is enabled for that Rubric.
Assignments
- Instructors can now use the built-in annotation toolbar in Assignments to provide contextual feedback with highlighting, free hand drawing, shapes, and associated commenting. This allows instructors to complete all their evaluation and feedback work directly in Assignments, without the need to use any external tools or applications. Annotations remain editable until the feedback is published by the instructor. If instructors want to add additional feedback after publishing, they can update the annotations and re-publish them.
- Learners can now submit
.cs
file types as assignment submissions. - The Publish All Feedback on Anonymized Assignment Submission permission has been renamed to Publish All Feedback on Assignments. When the permission is turned on for the instructor role, instructors can publish draft assignment feedback in bulk by clicking Publish All Feedback.
- Instructors can now enable e-rater Grammar Checker directly from Assignment folder settings without opening additional options settings in Turnitin.
Once turned on by an instructor, learners are provided a link to e-rater Grammar feedback upon submission of an assignment. This enables learners to review Grammar feedback immediately on assignment submission, which is important for assignments that allow for multiple submissions. Learners can initially submit an assignment, receive Grammar feedback, and then submit another version of their assignment after incorporating the Grammar feedback.
Assignment Grader
- Assignment Grader no longer supports EduDentity log in. Instructors now log in to Assignment Grader using their Brightspace Learning Environment credentials. Assignment submissions are converted using the Document Conversion Service (DoCS) to allow instructors to annotate all document types. Instructors already logged in with their Brightspace Learning Environment credentials do not have to log in again.
Rubrics
- Instructors can now enter a score for a criterion on a points-based rubric before clicking on a level within the rubric. Previously, an instructor could only manually enter a score after selecting a level.
Assignments
Improvements have been made to the Assignments list view
- When accessing Assignments, the list view now displays updated information. Previously instructors would see information on the assignment name, Total Submissions, Unread Submissions, Flagged Submissions, and Due Date. Now instructors see information on the assignment name, the number of learners who have completed the assignment, the number of learners who have been evaluated, the number of learners who have had feedback published, and the Due Date. This allows instructors to quickly determine what assignments they need to evaluate, how far along they are with their evaluations, and if they have published the evaluations.
- Learners also have an updated view of the assignments list, and are now able to see the assignment name, the Completion Status (Not Submitted, Submitted, Completed), their Score, The Evaluation Status (Not yet evaluated, Feedback: unread, Feedback: read), and the Due Date. This change to the list view allows learners to easily locate unfinished assignments, as well as access their scores and view instructor feedback on their work.
Assignment Grader App
- iOS and Android versions of the Assignment Grader application now support On paper, and Observed in person submission types. Instructors can evaluate all of their assignments using the application; including those that do not require a file or text submission.
Groups
- The new On paper and Observed in person submission types available in Assignments can now be created from the Groups tool.
HTML Editor
- A specific error message now appears to users who click a quicklink to an activity that is outside the availability dates (not yet available or no longer available). The error message appears for the following unavailable activity types:
- Announcements items
- Calendar events
- Chat sessions (if the user is not part of a group chat)
- ePortfolio (for items that not shared to the user)
- External learning tools links
- Templates (that are not available in the current org unit)
- Groups (with expired self enrollment option)
Intelligent Agents
- Intelligent Agent run history, previously only visible in the Learning Environment, can now be exported to a CSV file. The export can include all agents or a specific agent. It can also include runs made during a specified date range. This feature allows instructors to better track learners that are triggering Intelligent Agents.
Rubrics
To offer instructors a more streamlined approach to authoring rubric levels and criteria, this release introduces a new, opt-in rubric creation experience. Instructors will have the ability to opt-in to the new interface experience throughout the Spring 2019 semester. Beginning Summer 2019, instructors will no longer have the option as the old interface will be retired and the new experience will become the default.
Specifically, the Rubrics tool includes the following enhancements:
- Rubric creation has been changed to a single page workflow
- Rubric options for Properties and Levels and Criteria are now condensed into a single Edit option
- Quickly create and edit rubric levels and criteria inline using an auto-save experience
- Easily change rubric type and scoring method during rubric creation
- Re-order criterion via drag and drop or keyboard
- Improved logic for point-based rubrics, where new levels automatically follow existing point scoring sequences
- Individual criterion cells in custom point rubrics dynamically scale when editing the criterion out-of value
- Overall Score is visually separated from the rubric, displaying in its own section
IMPORTANT NOTICE: D2L will be switching to a new data center in May 2019. This will effect all D2L Brightspace users. Millersville users should anticipate an 8 hour window during which D2L will be unavailable at this time. This window will be scheduled overnight to limit the disruption to users. Specific dates and times will be communicated in the "Ville Daily.
Assignments
- If no learner submissions have been made to an assignment, instructors can change the assignment type and submission type. This allows for existing assignments to be modified without the need to create a new assignment.
- On the submission's page, instructors can now click on a learner's name to access the Evaluate Submission page. Previously this action allowed instructors to email learners. Emails can still be sent from the Submissions page by selecting the check box beside a learner's name, and clicking Email.
- The Evaluate Submission page has been updated to improve the evaluation experience for instructors with the following features:
- To download a submission, instructors now click on the submission's file name.
- The Markup Document button has been replaced by a Launch Turnitin link for assignments that have Turnitin enabled.
- The Publish and Save Draft buttons now display at the bottom of the page and are not confined to the Evaluation and Feedback pane.
- An additional link to access the Next Student now displays next to the Publish and Save Draft buttons at the bottom of the page.
- On paper and Observed in person assignment submission types can now be created directly from Content. On paper assignments are completed by learners offline and submitted directly to instructors. Observed in person assignments, such as class presentations, do not require written work to be submitted but can be evaluated using the tools available in Assignments.
Quizzes
- Instructors can add initial text to Written Response questions in the new Question Experience. Previously instructors could not add initial text into the answers for Written Response questions.
Rubrics
Rubrics attached to Discussions now have the same functionality as Rubrics attached to Assignments. New Rubrics features include:
- All rubric assessments and feedback updates for discussions and grade items now automatically save in draft state while updates are in progress
- Rubrics in draft state are not visible to learners until the instructor selects Save & Publish, at which time learners can immediately view their feedback from Assignments, Content, Discussions, Grades and User Progress
- Instructors can choose to bulk publish feedback to all or select users at once, such as for an entire class or group
- New Retract Feedback option enables instructors to remove published feedback from view of learners for changes to the Total Score. The Overall Score and Overall Feedback portions of the rubric can be edited without retraction
- A grading pop-up window for easier grading that contains all rubrics for the discussion, a place to enter Overall Feedback, and a list of posts that the student has made
- When grading on mobile devices, vertical margins are reduced for easier viewing
Assignments
- The Evaluate Submissions page will now display in full screen.
- The navbar will no longer display while on the Evaluate Submissions screen.
- Instructors will need to click the "Back to Submissions" button to return to the user list to see and use the navbar.
Homepages
- Instructors can now change the title text within the banner image, or remove all text from the banner image, on a course homepage. This will not change the course title which displays in the nav bar.
- Some replacement strings may be used within the banner text.
Quizzes
- When a learner clicks "Start Quiz" the Quiz page now displays in full screen.
- The navbar will no longer display while to a learner while the quiz attempt is in progress.
- Students will need to submit the Quiz attempt and then click the "Done" button on the Submission View screen to return to the Quizzes list to see and use the navbar.
Video Note
- Users may now add files containing closed captions to their video notes.
- The captioned text displays when viewing the video note, if users selected the closed caption option.
My Course Widget
- The course tiles on the Home page, which appears upon login, now contain
- New status indicator for "Inactive" and "Closed" course status. Tile images will no longer be greyed out.
- New layout of course name, code, semester and dates.
- Course notifications sorted by tool are nested within each course tile.
Assignments
- When creating a new Assignment folder, instructors now have the options of "On paper submission" and "Observed in person".
- Learners cannot upload files or leave text comments for either of these types. Rather the types allow for students to see a folder that communicates activity will be done off line or presented in person.
- If either of these options is chosen, instructors then need to select an option for how the assignment will be marked as completed. "Completed" does not mean an assignment is evaluated, only that the offline activity or presentation has taken place. Instructors may chose to have on paper submission or observed in person folders marked as completed
- "Automatically on due date". A due date must be set for this option.
- "Manually by learners". Each learner must click into the assignment folder and set as "completed".
- "Automatically on evaluation". Completion status is updated when an instructor saves the evaluation/score for each student.
Content
- "Send to Binder" option will be removed from Content on November 1st ahead of Brightspace Binder app reaching end-of-life status.
Quizzes
- Learners' quiz responses are now automatically saved during the quiz taking process.
- For forced response questions (such as Multiple Choice and True or False), learner responses are saved automatically when they select the radio button or checkbox.
- Text input questions autosave every 10 to 15 seconds.
- html-enabled questions save when the mouse cursor is clicked outside the quiz response input area.
- Autosave sends save timestamps to the quizzing log, as the manual save function previously did.
- For quizzes with multiple pages, quiz responses automatically save upon navigating to a new quiz page.
- The Save all Responses and Go to Submit Quiz buttons have been removed, and are no longer visible on the quiz page. The only button now visible on the quiz page is Submit Quiz.
- If internet connectivity is lost during the quiz-taking process, learners can answer questions but are unable to autosave questions or submit the quiz until the connection is restored.
- For forced response questions (such as Multiple Choice and True or False), learner responses are saved automatically when they select the radio button or checkbox.
- Instructors can no longer attach a rubric to a quiz or grade rubrics already attached to a quiz.
Content
- Users can now download and print a document that has been uploaded to the Course Overview area of Content
HTML Editor
- Quicklinks can now be created directly to a Content Module, SubModule, or Course Overview. Previously links could only be created to a single Content Topic page.
- A chemistry equation writing function is now available in the HTML Editor. Users can select this feature directly within the equation editor.
Groups/ Discussions
- When creating new groups, and choosing the option to Set up discussion areas for those new groups, you will now have the option to attach those new groups to an existing topic; attaching the new groups in this manner will create a group restricted thread in that topic. Previously instructors would have had to create a new Group Type Topic before restricting threads to a group category.
Wiggio
- The ability to schedule Wiggio virtual meetings is no longer available.