May 2019

Assignments – Annotate in full screen | Updated

When annotating submissions in Assignments, instructors can now toggle to a full screen view. This allows for more screen space to display learner submissions and insert annotations, while removing unnecessary navigation menus.
 

Assignments – Rotate page using annotation tools | Updated

Instructors can use the Page Rotation function when assessing assignments using the built-in annotation tools. Depending on the format of a learner submission, documents may appear rotated when initially rendered in the document viewer. Use Page Rotation to quickly reorient the document so it displays as expected.

Figure: Page rotation options available

Binder - End-of-life | Removed

As of May 31, 2019, Binder is no longer supported by D2L. Binder will no longer work with Brightspace, and it will be removed from the Apple AppStore and Google Play app store.
Users who have Binder can continue to use it after May 31, however, no further maintenance or update of the app will be available. Be advised that over time, the app will stop working as the operating systems that Binder depends on incur updates.
For users who want to access course materials offline, D2L recommends the Brightspace Pulse app for iOS and Android which is free to download from the Apple AppStore and Google Play store.
 

Brightspace Daylight Experience - Legacy configuration variable | Removed

The d2l.Preferences.FontFace configuration variable is redundant due to the implementation of Brightspace Daylight Experience, which uses one standard font. This configuration variable is removed from the Config Variable Browser and font style can no longer be changed by administrators.
 

Data Hub – Checklist Data Sets | New

To increase the value of the Data Hub offering, this release includes three new Checklist data sets:

• Checklist Category Details data set, which provides information on categories within checklists
• Checklist Objects data set, which provides information on checklists attributes
• Checklist Item Details data set, which provides information on each checklist item within a checklist
   

Discussions - Save feedback in draft state | Updated

This feature provides instructors the option to save feedback on assessments in draft state prior to publishing it to learners. Now when instructors add feedback to assessments, the Save Draft and Publish buttons display.

Note: The Save Draft button does not appear when a discussion topic is only associated with a rubric.


Figure: General Feedback page with the Publish and Save Draft buttons
 

Grades - Transfer rubric score to grade item score | Updated

This feature sets the default value of the d2l.Tools.System.Features.GradingExperience configuration variable to Automatic transfer of rubric score to Grade Item. As a result, rubric scores are transferred to the grade item score by default. All organization overrides are removed and this configuration variable is inaccessible to organization administrators. 

The Rubric evaluation page is visible to instructors if a rubric is associated to a grade item, and the grade item is not associated with an activity such as an Assignment, Discussion, etc. When an instructor saves changes made on the Rubric evaluation page, the rubric score is transferred to the learner's grade item score automatically and instructors no longer have to manually transfer the rubric score to a learner's grade item score.
 

Org Unit Editor - Functionality Improvements | Updated

The following improvements have been added to Org Unit Editor tool:

• The search tool in the Org Unit Editor, Recycling Bin, View Orphans, and View No Children areas of the Org Unit Editor are now paginated to improve load times (default to 200).
• After a search, users now see a count of total items and items returned during a search, and can sort displayed results alphabetically, and then by course name or code.
• A new Date Deleted column is available in Recycling Bin for users to find and restore recently deleted courses, if needed. This column cannot be sorted or searched on.
• A Date Created column now appears in View Orphans and View No Children. This column cannot be sorted or searched on.
• A Date Created column now appears in the search results for Org Units, Childless, or Orphan. This date/time is captured at the moment the org unit is recycled, and displays the time zone of the server at that time. This column cannot be sorted or searched on.
• In Recycling Bin, users see a column displaying Date Recycled. The date/time captured is in UTC.

Quick Eval – Find and prioritize unevaluated learner submissions in one location | New

Quick Eval is a new tool that allows evaluators (instructors, teaching assistants, and so on) to see a list of unevaluated learner submissions from all their courses. Submissions from Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions are displayed in one location to improve efficiency when locating work that requires evaluation and providing feedback to learners. 

Educators can sort, filter, and search submissions to prioritize their evaluation work. Sorting can be done using the first or last name of the learner, Activity Name, Course Name, and Submission date. Filtering can be done using one or more of the following categories: Activity Name, Course Name, and Submission Date. Clicking on a user’s name opens an evaluation screen directly from the Quick Eval list where the evaluator can complete their assessment. The search function in Quick Eval allows evaluators to locate submissions for evaluation by searching for a specific user, assignment, quiz, discussion topic, or course. 

When learner submissions are evaluated and published, they no longer show up in the Quick Eval list. An empty Quick Eval list gives educators confidence that no learner submissions are pending evaluation. 


Figure: Evaluator view of the Quick Eval list

Quizzes - Early preview of Quiz Builder | Updated

This feature includes a preview of work flows related to adding and importing quiz questions in the Quiz Builder, which you can enable in test environments or production environments in sandbox or non-live courses. 

Once this read-only preview feature is turned on at the course level, instructors can then opt in / opt out of the new experience. D2L does not recommend using this feature in live production courses in its preview form.

Once turned on, you can preview the new Quiz Builder experience by clicking Add/Edit Questions on the quiz Properties tab. The updated Add/Edit Questions screen provides a preview of the options to add and import quiz questions in the new experience. In future releases, you will be able to edit, delete, and reorder questions in the Add/Edit Questions screen using the new experience.

When you opt out of the Quiz builder experience, you are prompted to leave feedback on the new design.


Figure: Add/Edit Questions screen with the Add and Import questions functionality
 

Quizzes - Full-screen quiz evaluation | Updated

Now instructors can evaluate quiz attempts in full-screen mode. This update enhances an instructor's quiz evaluation experience.

Figure: Quiz evaluation in full-screen mode
 

Rubrics - Assess learning outcomes in rubric criteria | Updated

Instructors can now assess learners on learning outcomes aligned to rubric criteria in an activity (discussion or assignment). If an administrator mapped achievement levels to percentage ranges when creating the learning outcomes scale, suggested levels of achievement display below the rubric when instructors perform their assessment. This provides instructors with an idea of suitable assessments for learning outcomes based on the rubric (which must be point-based). If the rubric is not point-based or the mapping does not exist, instructors can assess the learning outcomes directly, but suggested levels of achievement do not display. After instructors publish assessments, learners can view their assessment wherever they can see assessed rubrics. This allows learners to understand their progress against learning outcomes and rubric criteria and locate areas for improvement.

For more information on mapping achievement levels to percentage ranges, see Learning Outcomes - Map achievement levels to percentage ranges | New.
 

Rubrics - Rubrics Grading Experience available for group Assignments and Discussions | New

The Rubrics Grading Experience available for assignments and discussions is now available for group Assignments and group Discussions. When a rubric assessment is in draft state, the assessment is not viewable by members of a given group. Once the assessment is published, all group members can view the rubric assessment. Previously, the new Rubrics Grading Experience was only available for regular Assignments and Discussions.

In addition, when a non-file submission assignment is connected to a grade item in the gradebook, the assessment symbol on the Grade All screen launches the assignment assessment experience.



Figure: The assessment symbol on the Grade All screen now launches the assignment assessment experience