Brightspace Learning Environment

Assignments – Additional functionality in the new assignment creation experience | Updated

Building on the functionality added to the new create and edit assignment experience in the July 2020/20.20.7 release, you can now do the following:

• Attach release conditions to an assignment
  
  
  Figure: The create and edit Assignments page with the Release Conditions functionality

• Align learning outcomes to an assignment from the Learning Outcomes tool
  
  
  Figure: The create and edit Assignments page with selected outcomes

• When multiple rubrics are attached to an assignment, select a default scoring rubric to be used when scoring an assignment / evaluating a learner
  
  
  Figure: List of available rubrics and the option to select the rubric to be used by default when scoring

Impact of Change

Technical Details

Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to select a default scoring rubric, align learning outcomes to an assignment, and attach release conditions in the new assignment creation experience.

Availability: These features are available to all clients. To enable: The new assignment creation experience is disabled by default. To enable the new experience, set the d2l.Tools.Dropbox.CreateExperienceOptIn (OrgUnit) configuration variable to On (Opt-In). Instructors may opt into or out of the new assignment creation experience within a specific course at any time. If the new assignment creation experience is set as Off or On, instructors cannot control their use of the feature: If Off, the feature will not be available. If On, the feature replaces the old screens in the workflow without the option to switch back. Ensure that the Learning Outcomes tool is turned on in Organization Tools.

Assignments - Copy assignment option | New

This feature adds the ability to copy existing assignments. Instructors with the existing permission Add/Edit Assignment Submission Folders can select the Copy Assignment option in the drop-down menu for an existing assignment to quickly create new assignments. This feature copies all settings of an existing assignment except the associated grade item and Turnitin settings.

This feature implements PIE items D6101 and D778.

Figure: The Copy Assignment option appears in the drop-down menu for existing assignments

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to instructors due to option to create new assignments by copying existing assignments.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Assignments users. The existing permission Add/Edit Assignment Submission Folders must also be selected for instructors and/or course administrators at the Course Offering level.

Brightspace Assignment Grader – End-of-life | Removed

Effective August 15, 2020, the Assignment Grader mobile app is no longer available to new users. Existing users may continue to use the app if they have it installed, but no further updates or support will be made available by D2L and the app will be removed from app stores. As an alternative mobile grading option, D2L recommends using the Quick Eval tool in Brightspace Learning Environment.

Refer to Intent to End Of Life Notice For: Assignment Grader Mobile App for additional information.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Moderate impact to instructors due to the end-of-life status of the Assignment Grader mobile app.	Availability: N/A To enable: N/A

Checklists – Copy a checklist | New

Instructors can now perform copy actions for checklists. You can copy a whole checklist, a checklist category (including all items within it), or individual items in a checklist. This functionality is controlled by the Manage Checklists permission.

This feature implements PIE item D286.

Figure: The copy option appears in the drop-down menu for a checklist

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to instructors due to the improved workflow for copying checklists.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Checklists users. Ensure the existing Manage Checklists permission is turned on for instructors at the course offering level.

Classlist – User experience changes | New

When adding participants to a classlist using the Enrolling Existing Users interface, search results now include users who are currently enrolled in the course. Previously, enrolled users were not displayed in these search results. On the search results page an icon displays beside an enrolled user's name to indicate their enrollment status. Instructors can also use the drop-down menu beside each username to update a user's enrollment status, remove them from the class or change the role they were enrolled with.

The Inactive icon has also been updated on the Classlist page. Previously a gray dot was displayed, which was identical to the offline indicator.

This feature implements PIE item D374.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to view currently enrolled users when adding participants to a classlist, and an update to the classlist inactive user icon.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Classlist users. No further action is required.

Data Hub – Changes to Brightspace Data Sets | Update

To increase the value of the Data Hub offering, this release adds new Brightspace Data Sets (BDS).

• LTI Launch provides information on LTI tool use by all users.
• SCORM Objects describes all the SCORM objects that exist, which course, and which topic they are located in. Data exists from July 2020 to date and remaining baseline data will be filled in upon a future release.
• SCORM Activities describes the activities that exist in the SCORM package. Each activity will only be known after the first user attempts it.
• SCORM Interactions describes the runtime interactions that exist in each activity in the SCORM package. Each interaction will only be known after the first user attempts it.
• SCORM Objectives describes the global, activity, and runtime interactions that exist for each SCORM package. The objectives will only be known after the first user registration.
• SCORM Interaction Objectives defines the relationship between interactions and their objectives.
• SCORM Visits lists each user visit on each SCORM object, the overall completion status, and time spent on the visit.
• SCORM Activity Attempts lists each user attempt on each activity within a SCORM package, the completion status, success status, and time spent for each attempt.
• SCORM Interaction Attempts lists the runtime interactions for each user on the activities they have attempted, including their response and time spent.
• SCORM Objective Attempts outputs the score and completion information on every objective associated to the SCORM object where an attempt has been made.

This release also adds new columns to existing data sets.

• ResultId added to Grade Objects BDS.
• LevelAchievedId added to Rubric Assessment BDS.
• LevelAchievedId added to Rubric Assessment Criteria BDS.

This feature implements PIE item D1446.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Moderate impact to administrators due to addition of new columns and data sets.	Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in the following regions: North America, EMEA, and APAC. To enable: Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is granted to administrators at the org level.

Data Hub – End of Adoption Period for Brightspace Data Sets Version 5 | Updated

As of the August 2020 release, the 6-month adoption period for Brightspace Data Sets Version 5 has ended, and this is now the default version. This release will migrate all Data Hub clients from version 4 to version 5 if they haven't previously opted in. Version 5 includes major changes that add, remove, and rename columns in existing Brightspace Data Sets.

• Removed the ToolName column from the Activity Exemptions Log data set.
• Removed the GradeItemId, UserId, and GroupId columns from the Assignment Submissions data set.
• Added the SubmitterId and SubmitterType columns to the Assignment Submissions data set.
• Removed the Name column from the Awards Issued data set.
• Removed the ChatName and ChatDescription columns from the Chat Session Log data set.
• Removed the ObjectToolName column from the Content Objects data set.
• Renamed the DateCreated column to LastModified in the Content Objects data set.
• Removed the GradeItemId, IncludeNonScoredValues, ScoreCalculationMethod, and ScoreOutOf columns from the Discussion Topic User Scores data set.
• Removed the SchemeName column from the Grade Book Settings data set.
• Removed the QuizName, PossibleScore, and GradeItemId columns from the Quiz Attempts data set.

The adoption period for Brightspace Data Sets Version 5 was first announced in the March 2020/20.20.03 release notes.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
High impact to administrators who have not already opted in to Brightspace Data Sets version 5.	Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in the following regions: North America, EMEA, and APAC. To enable: Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is granted to administrators at the org level.

Data Hub – Rubric Assessment Advanced Data Set | New

To increase the value of the Data Hub offering, this release adds a new Advanced Data Set.

• Rubric Assessments provides insight into how rubrics are used, the assessments they are used against, and the scoring for all individual learner assessments.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Low impact to administrators due to the addition of a new Advanced Data Set to Data Hub.	Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in the following regions: North America, EMEA, and APAC. To enable: Ensure the new Can Execute Rubric Assessments permission is selected at the org level.

Discover – Promote courses | New

To promote courses in Discover, administrators can now add courses to a new Featured section on the Discover homepage. This is useful for promoting popular courses in your organization.

To add courses to the Featured section, administrators must have the new Manage Discover permission.

From the main Discover page, administrators click the new Settings button, and then Feature Content. From the Discover library, administrators browse for courses to promote, up to a maximum of 4 courses.

When a learner navigates to the Featured section in Discover and enrolls in one of the promoted courses, the course is removed from Discover homepage. The course then appears under the Browse All section, sorted by Already Enrolled.

This feature implements PIE item D5621.

Figure: Promoted courses on the Featured Section in Discover

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Moderate impact to administrators due to a new page in Discover for promoted courses, and a new permission for controlling promoted courses.	Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Core clients in all regions. To enable: Ensure that Discover is turned on in Organization Tools. Note: Although Discover appears for all clients, only Brightspace Core clients can turn it on. To display form elements for self-enrollment, navigate to Admin Tools > Form Elements. Under CourseOfferingInfo, enable isDisplayed for Registration and Description. Edit the d2l.System.Enrollment.LearnerRole configuration variable at the organization level. Click Add Value, and then specify an Org Unit ID and select the learner role as the Role value. To allow course administrators or instructors to configure courses for self-enrollment, ensure the course administrator or instructor role has the Discover > Change Visibility in Discover permission set at the organization level. To allow administrators to add courses to the Featured Section, ensure the administrator role has the new Discover > Manage Discover permission set at the organizational level. To allow learners to access Discover, ensure the learner role has the Discover > Access Discover permission set at the organization level. Add Discover to the navbar.
Slight impact to learners due to a new section in Discover for promoted courses.	N/A

Email - Interface improvements and enhanced filtering option | New

Email now features the following enhancements for improved usability:

• The Compose Email screen now includes a second Send button for enhanced usability.
• The Email Inbox is redesigned to display the Search Options area to the left of the screen. As well, the Advanced Search Options feature of the Inbox now enables filtering by Read and Unread messages.

This feature implements PIE items D336, D3936, D2620, D3522 and partially implements PIE item D5293.

Figure: The new Read drop-down selector appears on the Inbox page

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to administrators due to enhanced filtering options in the Email inbox.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Email users. No further action is required.

Grades - Unrelease all final grades | New

Grades features a new workflow to quickly undo the release of final grades for a course. Instructors can easily select Unrelease All from the Final Grades drop-down menu.

This feature implements PIE item D986.

Figure: The Unrelease All option appears in the drop-down menu for Final Grades

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to instructors due to the improved workflow to retract grades for all learners at one time.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Grades users. No further action is required.

Learning Paths – Navigation improvements | New

Learning Paths has a new drag and drop interface to allow users to easily reorder the courses within a learning path. Previously the only way to reorganize a learning path required deleting and re-adding courses in the preferred order.

Additionally, navigation back to Learning Paths is now more direct. Learners can now access the learning path from the course content they are viewing via direct link. Previously, learners had to return to the Org homepage and re-enter Learning Paths using the My Learning widget.

Figure: The drag and drop interface on the Edit Learning Path page

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to Learning Paths administrators due to the user interface change.	Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Core clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Learning Paths users. No further action is required.

Notifications - Deleted content links to message | New

Notifications for content that is subsequently hidden/deleted/conditionally released are now removed from the Brightspace notifications area on the minibar. Notifications that arrive via email or text notifications, or in Brightspace Pulse push notifications, now provide a link to the Course Table of Contents with a message that states 'Item not available'. Previously, clicking the link created a 404 Not Authorized error.

This feature implements PIE item D3462.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to learners due to the improved interface for content that is no longer available and the automatic removal of notifications from the feed.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Notifications users. No further action is required.

Outcomes Management – Competency tool is hidden when Learning Outcomes is enabled | New

In Brightspace Learning Environment, it is only possible to use the Competency tool or the Learning Outcomes tool in a course. If you are using one, all instances of the other are now hidden from view. For a new, empty shell course, both the Competency tool and Learning Outcomes tool appear in the Course Administration page. However, as soon as you decide to use the Learning Outcomes tool or the Competency tool, then the link to the other tool is hidden.

The Competency tool is considered to be in use when at least one learning objective is aligned to activities in the course. When this is the case, the Learning Outcomes tool is hidden on the Course Administration page.

The Learning Outcomes tool is considered to be in use when an intent list is created by importing or creating at least one learning outcome in the course. When this is the case, the Competencies tool is hidden on the Course Administation page, and the Objectives Progress column in Class Progress is no longer visible.

Note: It is possible to have both the Competency tool and the Learning Outcomes tool turned on in one organization; however, it is not possible to use both tools in a single course.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to instructors or administrators who will only see the tool they are using for their outcomes management.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Competencies and/or Learning Outcomes users. No further action is required.

Question Library – Attach files in written response questions | New

When creating a written response question, instructors can now allow learners to upload files in their answers and include embedded images. Learners can also record audio or video responses when answering written response question types. Written response questions are available in surveys.

When grading a quiz, similar to the behavior in the Discussions tool, instructors can download and open these attachments in another tab.

When learners are reviewing their quiz submissions, if they are allowed to view their quiz responses, they can view their uploaded attachments.

The maximum file size for a single file or embedded image attached to a quiz response is set to 102400 KB (100MB). The maximum file size for all files attached or embedded in a single quiz question response is set to 102400 KB (100MB).

The Question.QuestionInfo.Long Answer API has also been updated as part of this feature.

This feature implements PIE items D2443, D1247, D3639, and D4834.

Figure: The updated Written Response question creation screen

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to allow learners to upload audio or video attachments in a written response question.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: Ensure the existing Can Capture Audio and Can Capture Video permissions are turned on at the course offering level.
Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to set up written response questions that accommodate the upload of attachments and record audio / video responses. Instructors can also download and open these attachments when grading a quiz.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: When creating written response questions, ensure the Enable inserted images and attachments check box is selected.
Slight impact to learners who can now attach images or files when answering written response questions.	N/A

Quizzes – Quiz Builder becomes sole quiz creation method | Updated

The Quiz Builder configuration variable was reset to On in the July 2020/20.20.7 release. With the August 2020/20.20.8 release, the d2l.Tools.Quizzes.NewQuizBuilderExperience configuration variable is removed from Brightspace Learning Environment.

The Quiz Builder experience is an updated workflow within Quizzes for creating, importing, editing, deleting, and reordering questions, question pools, and sections within quizzes. All client sites now have the Quiz Builder experience enabled. The ability to opt-in or out of the new Quiz Builder is no longer available to instructors.

For additional information on the new Quiz Builder, visit the Community Blog post or watch the Create a New Quiz video from Brightspace Tutorials that details the features and functionality of the updated quizzing experience.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Moderate impact to instructors who have continued to use the previous quiz creation experience due to workflow and user interface changes in the new Quiz Builder.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Quizzes users. No further action is required.

Quizzes - User experience updates for editing quizzes with attempts | New

To improve the user experience for instructors who edit quizzes with previous attempts by learners, the following updates have been made:

• Points for past quiz attempts are no longer modified when edits are made that affect the overall points and/or the grading calculations for a quiz. A learner's grade on previous quiz attempts must now be changed directly by the instructor using the Update All Attempts workflow. Previously, the points for all past quiz attempts were modified automatically, which could alter a learner's grade unexpectedly.

• Warning messages now appear when editing a quiz question with previous attempts to clearly communicate to instructors that editing quiz questions does not affect the content or automatically change the score of learners' past attempts.

Important notes:

• The changes in this feature only affect quiz attempts started after the June 2020/20.20.6 release. Quiz attempts started prior to 20.20.6 will retain previous functionality until September 2020/20.20.9.
• Starting September 2020/20.20.9, this feature will extend to all quiz attempts started before June 2020/20.20.6.
• Until November 2020/20.20.11, Data Sets will not accurately report the new quizzes attempts behavior introduced in this feature. Users may note a discrepancy between quiz attempts scores in the Quizzes interface (for quiz attempts started after June 2020/20.20.6) and quiz attempts scores in the Data Sets, which reflect previous functionality only for all previous quiz attempts.

Figure: A warning message appears when accessing the Add/Edit Questions workflow

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Large impact to instructors who must manually change points for quiz questions that have previous attempts made by learners. Instructors will also note the addition of warning messages in the interface when editing quizzes with previous attempts against them.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Quizzes users. No further action is required.

Integrations

LTI – Migration API 1.1 - 1.3 includes widgets | Updated

This feature extends the LTI - Migration of API 1.1 to 1.3 functionality from the July 2020/20.20.7 release to support widget migrations. It allows clients to migrate individual LTI widgets from 1.1 to 1.3. Migrations are one way, from 1.1 to 1.3, and cannot be reverted.

Impact of Change	Technical Details
Moderate impact to administrators due to the ability to migrate LTI 1.1 links to LTI 1.3 links.	Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Brightspace Learning Environment users. No further action is required. Note: Migrations are one way, from 1.1 to 1.3, and cannot be reverted.