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 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.

Config Variable Browser - Obsolete configuration variable | Removed

The configuration variable d2l.Integrations.IPSIS.SemesterBlacklist has never been in use and will be deleted from the Configuration Variable Browser. This configuration variable was identified as part of a review of language and function for D2L's Inclusive Language initiative.

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 Config Variable Browser users.

Config Variable Browser - Updated name for configuration variable | New

As part of D2L's commitment to using inclusive language throughout our products and services, the configuration variable formerly titled d2l.Integrations.BIC.SemesterBlacklist is now renamed to d2l.Integrations.BIC.SemesterBlocklist. The name change does not change the functionality of the configuration variable.

Impact of Change Technical Details
Slight impact to administrators who will observe the configuration variable appears with a new name in the Config Variable Browser. Availability: This feature is available to all clients

To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Config Variable Browser users.

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, but they can still use it on their homepages.


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.
  • 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.
    • When the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is ON, and a user has create/edit widget permissions but does not have the Manage Widget Security permission, they will see a "not sandboxed" warning icon next to un-sandboxed widgets in the Custom Widgets list. They will be unable to edit those widgets, as they are not secure. If the widget is sandboxed, they can edit the widget and will see the sandboxed setting in the Properties tab of the custom widget, but will be unable to edit the setting.
    • When the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is OFF, users without permission will have the exact same experience in Custom Widgets as they did prior to this release, including the iFrame Rendering option being in the Edit Widget Content tab.
  • 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 Course Management Console > See Course Info 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. This is displayed to any user with access to this list when the Security.WidgetsApplySandbox configuration variable is ON. When it is OFF, only users with permission to Manage Widget Security will see the symbol.


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