Great Falls College MSU

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Brightspace Learning Environment

Assignments – The new assignment creation experience | Updated

The following features build on the announcement related to the new assignment creation experience released in the December 2020/20.20.12 Release Notes, the Assignments – Date picker change | Updated feature that was released in the November 2020/20.20.11 Release Notes, and the Learning Outcomes - Display of Outcome Hierarchy in Alignment picker and Outcomes Progress | New and the Learning Outcomes - Search Outcomes in the Alignment picker and Outcomes Progress | New features released in the April 2020/20.20.4 release:

  • The new assignment creation experience defaults to On (Opt-in). Administrators can still override this value in the d2l.Tools.Dropbox.CreateExperienceOptIn (OrgUnit) configuration variable.
  • Previously, in the new assignment creation experience, the time for an assignment Start Date defaulted to 11:59pm. Now, the default time for an assignment Start Date is set to 12:00am. Due Date and End Date remain unchanged with default times set to 11:59pm.
  • The learning outcomes hierarchy tree now appears in Assignments. You can collapse it to facilitate finding and using specific outcomes in any assessment activity or rubric where outcomes can be aligned. In addition, users can now search the outcomes list to find the best outcome to align with assignment activities in their courses and programs.

Impact of Change Technical Details
Moderate impact to administrators as the new assignment creation experience is set to On (Opt-in) by default. Availability: This feature is available to all clients.

To enable: The new assignment creation experience is set to On (Opt-in) by default. Administrators can override this value in the d2l.Tools.Dropbox.CreateExperienceOptIn (OrgUnit) configuration variable.

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.
Moderate impact to instructors as the default time for an assignment Start Date is set to 12:00am. N/A

Assignments - Multiple rubric support in consistent evaluation experience | Updated

This feature is a continuation of the Assignments - Consistent evaluation experience | New feature that was introduced in the December 2020/20.20.12 release.

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.

Impact of Change Technical Details
Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to allow users to opt-in to the new evaluation experience in Assignments, or permanently enable the new experience. Availability: This feature is available to all clients

To enable: Set the d2l.Tools.Activities.ConsistentEvaluationOptIn configuration variable to On(Opt-In) or On.
Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to use the consistent evaluation experience for assignments with multiple rubrics. To enable: Opt-in to the consistent evaluation experience on the Assess assignment page .

Brightspace Portfolio – Improved learner navigation | New

As part of the ongoing initiative to provide a centralized navigation experience in Brightspace Portfolio, instructors can now more easily navigate between learners. When viewing a learner's portfolio, a new learner selector displays, allowing instructors to choose another learner from the class list. Instructors can also switch between the previous or next learner in the class list using new Previous and Next arrow buttons.

When viewing by Students in tile or list format on the main Portfolio page, instructors click a learner to view. This displays all evidence in the learner's portfolio.

To find specific evidence in the portfolio to review and evaluate, instructors can use existing evidence filters. In addition, instructors can now add additional evidence to the learner's portfolio on their behalf by clicking the new Add to Portfolio button.
After reviewing the learner's portfolio, instructors can choose another learner from the new learner selector, or switch between learners by clicking the new Previous and Next arrow buttons.


Figure: The new learner selector and Previous and Next arrow buttons in a learner's portfolio


Figure: The new Add to Portfolio button in a learner's portfolio

Impact of Change Technical Details

No impact to administrators.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients.

To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Brightspace Portfolio users. No further action is required.

Slight impact to instructors due to a new workflow for navigating between learners in Brightspace Portfolio. It also adds a new Add to Portfolio button in a learner's portfolio. The new learner selector, navigation buttons, and Add to Portfolio button are only available when viewing by Students in tile or list format, and then viewing an individual learner portfolio. These new features do not display when viewing by Evidence, and then viewing pieces of evidence.
The class list in the learner selector displays in alphabetical order and does not filter based on any active category filters.

Brightspace Portfolio – Improved navigation to archived portfolios | New

As part of the ongoing initiative to provide a centralized navigation experience in Brightspace Portfolio, instructors can now access archived portfolios using a new portfolio selector when viewing a learner's portfolio. Instructors can use archived portfolios to demonstrate a learner's growth, reflect on past learning, and showcase their best work. Previously, archived portfolios were accessed through several clicks to a separate page.
When viewing by Students in tile or list format on the main Portfolio page, instructors click a learner to view.
From the learner's portfolio, click the new portfolio selector, and then select Archived Portfolios. Other portfolio options include: Active Evidence and Delete Evidence.
From the archived portfolio page, select a year, and then an archived course. Evidence for the archived course displays.


Figure: The Archived Portfolios option from the new portfolio selector in a learner's portfolio


Figure: Evidence from a learner's archived portfolio

Impact of Change Technical Details

No impact to administrators.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients.

To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Brightspace Portfolio users. No further action is required.

Slight impact to instructors and learners due to a new workflow for accessing archived portfolios. When viewing an archived portfolio, breadcrumb links display at the top of the page, allowing you to navigate back to previous pages.
When viewing archived portfolios by years or courses, filtering is disabled.
Using the Previous and Next arrow buttons in an archived portfolio navigate to active evidence.

Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers | Updated

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 Learning Environment with older versions of our supported browsers; however, D2L does not test Brightspace Learning Environment 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 Learning Environment with a supported browser.

Impact of Change Technical Details

Moderate impact to users depending on the browser they choose to use with Brightspace Learning Environment.

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.

Content - File and widget sandboxing to enhance content security | New

To enhance the security of Content files and Widgets that execute scripts to create extra-rich HTML experiences (such as objects that can execute JavaScript), there is now a sandboxing feature that creates a secure iFrame around the HTML file. This will allow an HTML file to execute scripts (such as JavaScript) within the iFrame only but will prevent them from executing outside the iframe (against the domain). This enables some flexibility in creating rich content, but reassurance for the security- conscious that end user information remains secure in all situations, such as when learners in specific courses have a special role with permission to create content topics.
To implement the ability to create sandboxing in Content Files and Widgets, there are new configuration variables, permissions, and workflows.
There are 3 new configuration variables:

  • The Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable applies the sandbox attribute to any widget where Widget Is Sandboxed is selected in the Edit Widget Properties area. For existing clients, this configuration variable is OFF by default. When the configuration variable is OFF, the permission and workflow to apply sandboxing is visible, but the actual sandbox attribute is not applied; scripts execute as they did previously. All new widgets have the Widget Is Sandboxed attribute set to OFF in the Edit Widget Properties dialog box. When the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is enabled, the sandbox attribute is applied as appropriate, and all new widgets have the Widget Is Sandboxed setting automatically turned on in the Edit Widget Properties area.

Note: When the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is on, users without the Manage Widget Security permission can no longer edit a widget that is not sandboxed.


Figure: The Widget Security area of the Widget Properties dialog box.

  • The Security.ContentApplySandbox configuration variable applies the sandboxing attribute to HTML content files if you have selected the Enable Content Sandboxing option in the Course Offering Information area of an Organization Unit.


Figure: The Enable Content Sandboxing checkbox on Course Offering Information settings.

  • The Security.ContentSandboxDefault configuration variable sets the default status of the Enable Content Sandboxing check box for all org units in Course Offering Information area that do not have specific overrides. This configuration variable enables administrators to specify that all courses should have sandboxed content, and specifically opt out certain org units, if applicable.

Widget and Course Content permissions for sandboxing appear in the Security permission category:

  • The new Manage Widget Security (organization level) permission enables the associated roles to apply and remove sandboxing to widgets. By default, this permission is OFF for all roles. Without this permission, users with create/edit widget permissions can see whether or not a widget is sandboxed, but cannot edit the setting. If a widget is not sandboxed, and the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is ON, a user without this permission cannot edit the widget, as it is not secure.
  • The new Manage Content Security (organization level) permission enables the associated roles to apply and remove sandboxing in any org unit. By default, this permission is OFF for all roles. Without this permission, users who can see the Course Offering Information area for an org unit can see whether the course is sandboxed, but cannot edit the setting.
  • The existing Has Access to the Manage Courses Tool permission is also required at the org unit type (such as course or department) for the roles to see the Enable Content Sandboxing setting in the Course Offering information.

Note: If two or more courses share the same exact file path, sandboxing the path for one course automatically sandboxes the other courses as well. This might take several minutes to apply, depending on the number of courses in the path.

In Manage Homepages > Widgets, un-sandboxed widgets have a warning icon.


Figure: The float-over text on the icon indicates that the widget is not sandboxed.

For additional information about the security vulnerability caused by un-sandboxed content, see Cross Site Scripting (XSS) on the OWASP community.

For additional information about the sandboxing attribute, see HTML