Assignments – Annotations available for TXT file-based assignments | Updated

Previously, annotations enabled instructors to use highlighting, free-hand drawing, shapes, and associated commenting to provide feedback to learner assignments of the following file types: DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, PPT, PPTX, PPSX, ODP, XLS, XLSX, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, and GIF. Now, instructors can provide feedback for TXT, in addition to the existing types. 
Note: The updates to annotations replaces the Edit a Copy workflow, which is no longer supported in the New Evaluation Experience. 

This feature implements PIE item D6778.

Assignments - Configuration variable change for the New Assignment Evaluation Experience | Updated

This feature updates the Assignments - Consistent evaluation experience | New feature released in December 2020/20.20.12. 

To clarify the names of existing configuration variables for the New Assignment Evaluation Experience, the following configuration variable will be renamed:

• d2l.Tools.Activities.ConsistentEvaluationOptIn becomes d2l.Tools.Activities.CEAssignmentsOptIn. This configuration variable will be set to On (Opt-In) for all Orgs. 

With this setting, the New Assignment Evaluation Experience appears by default for all users, and they will have the option to opt-out until the 20.21.7 release, at which time the New Assignment Evaluation Experience will become the only option available.   

Assignments – Download file when using annotations in the New Assignment Evaluation Experience | New

The New Assignment Evaluation Experience now includes the Download drop-down menu in the Annotations viewer. When using annotations in an assignment, instructors can use this menu to download the original file without navigating to the submission list. Instructors can also download the annotated PDF file.

     
Figure: The Annotations viewer with the Download drop-down menu

This feature implements PIE idea D7559.
 

Attendance – Manage registers | Updated

This feature adds the ability for instructors to set the visibility of attendance registers in bulk. It also includes updated logic to prevent instructors from changing a scheme in an attendance register once session information has been added to it. This update prevents unintentional deletion of session data.  


Figure: The Edit Register page with the Attendance Scheme greyed out

The new More Actions button on the Course Admin > Attendance Registers page enables instructors to modify the visibility of attendance registers in bulk. Previously, you had to modify each register individually.


Figure: The Attendance Registers page before the update


Figure: The Attendance Registers page with the new More Actions button
 

Brightspace Editor – Improvements | Updated

This feature complements the Brightspace Editor – Replaces the HTML Editor | New and the Assignments – Brightspace Editor in the new Assignment Evaluation Experience | New features released in the April 2021 / 20.21.4 release and includes the following improvements:

• Copy/paste and/or drag and drop images - You can copy/paste and/or drag and drop images when providing feedback in assignments, discussions, and quizzes. Images are saved in the content folder.
• External users adding comments in Brightspace ePortfolio now have the new inline limited version of Brightspace Editor.
  
  
  Figure: Inline limited version of Brightspace Editor in Brightspace ePortfolio
   
• Design improvements to enhance use of the Editor on mobile devices and improve general usability.
• Accessibility improvements – Improved keyboard navigation for keyboard users and toolbar icons are spaced out more in accordance with WCAG standards.

Brightspace Learning Environment – Local Account Security and Two Factor Authentication | New

This feature releases the new Local Authentication Security page in the Admin Tools menu that allows administrators to add additional layers of security for local accounts.
Administrators can select the Enable Local Authentication Allow List check box on this page, identify allowed usernames that can log in locally to Brightspace Learning Environment, and optionally, enable Two Factor Authentication for these accounts. Enabling this feature prevents all users external to the allow list from logging in locally; they must login through their identity provider. 

Accounts with Two Factor Authentication enabled through this workflow can set up a Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) authentication for their account.
 

Config Variable Browser - Configuration variable to set a document conversion message in Assignments | New

The configuration variable d2l.Tools.Dropbox.DisplayConversionWarning (Org Unit) is now available. If enabled, a message appears to users when viewing a file that has been converted to .pdf from a different file type in Assignments. The message states "This file has been converted and may have inaccuracies." The message is configurable via Language Management by searching the term: txtConversionInfoMessage. 

The d2l.Tools.Dropbox.DisplayConversionWarning (Org Unit) configuration variable is OFF by default. 

Data Hub – Additional columns for Brightspace Data Sets | Updated

To increase the value of the Data Hub offering, this release adds and updates the following:

• New LastModified column added to Content User Completion BDS.
• New Version column added to Discussion Posts Read Status BDS.
• New LastModified column added to Gradebook Settings BDS.

Rubrics – Copy rubric criterion | New

To improve the value of Rubrics and facilitate reusing rubric criteria that have already been created, an action menu next to the criterion name provides Copy and Delete options. When an instructor copies a criterion, the new criterion is added under the original with the criterion name Copy of [name of original criterion]. 
The Delete function was previously available as a trashcan icon at the end of the criterion row outside the table. The new location in the action menu improves the discoverability of the Delete and Copy options. 


Figure: The action menu beside the criterion provides copy and delete options.

Rubrics – Print or export to PDF | New

To improve the user experience with Rubrics, instructors can now print or download a PDF of a preview or evaluated rubric. Learners can also print or download a PDF of a rubric from the desktop browser implementation of Brightspace Learning Environment. The Print button displays above the top-right corner of the rubric. 

This feature implements PIE items D5989, D1360, D2677.

Widgets - Work To Do widget | New

The new Work To Do widget provides learners a summary of assigned learning activities from all their courses that are overdue or have an upcoming due date. The widget can be added to Brightspace homepages to aggregate data from all courses, and to course homepages to show only due and overdue learning activities from the course.

The Work To Do widget displays the following learning activities:

• Assignments
• Checklists
• Content
• Courses
• Discussions
• Surveys
• Quizzes

Learning activities only appear in the Work To Do widget when the activity has a defined due date or end date. By default, the widget displays activities due in the upcoming 2 weeks, and overdue work from the previous 12 weeks.

Learners require the new View Work To Do Widget permission set at the Organization level and at the Course Offering level to access the widget from their organization homepage or from the homepages of each course.

For additional information and frequently asked questions about the Work To Do widget, see the following post: Introducing the Work To Do Widget. 
 

Figure: The Work To Do widget organizes course activities by overdue and upcoming due dates so learners can easily prioritize their work and stay on top of their tasks.

This feature implements PIE item D7001.

Integrations

Integrity Advocate – Custom integration improvements | Updated

To improve the deployment, performance, and usability of the Integrity Advocate integration, D2L improved instructor workflows for enabling proctoring on quizzes in Brightspace Learning Environment, and improved administrator workflows to set up the integration. 
To reduce the time and effort required to set up proctored quizzes the proctoring setup process is now automated, instructors are no longer required to tag each quiz individually. 
For instructors to take advantage of these updated features, administrators must update the Integrity Advocate system configuration and setup workflows by enabling the custom Integrity Advocate tool, configuring an API application, and following the LTI registration process.

IPSIS - OneRoster® 1.1 REST supports Blackbaud® | New

OneRoster now supports the Blackbaud Student Information System (SIS) integration, and includes OneRoster grade return. This feature adds a new SIS specific option to choose Blackbaud from the available options during the implementation process.
Instructors can enter grades in Brightspace Learning Environment, which immediately transfers them to Blackbaud, removing the need to enter the same information in multiple locations. Instructors can use the Send to SIS option to immediately transfer information, otherwise it could be sent to Skyward during the nightly sync. Only grades with a last modified date after the last successful sync are sent.

IPSIS - OneRoster® REST Assignment dates in Export Grades logs | Updated

Building on the changes made in the IPSIS - OneRoster® 1.1 REST Grade Return For Assignment Dates | New feature from the March 2021/20.21.3 release, this feature adds additional columns to the Export to SIS - History user interface to show which dates are sent to the Student Information System. This increases transparency around what information is sent to the SIS.

IPSIS - Send End of Course line items to Synergy® | New

New logic is now available to support sending End of Course line items to Synergy SIS. This feature adds a checkbox to the grade book in Brightspace Learning Environment to set specific line items as End of Course. Selecting this checkbox sends additional metadata to Synergy allowing it to show the line item and result as an End of Course assignment in their gradebook. The new checkbox is visible in the Manage Grades area as well as in the Grade Export History logs. This allows Synergy users to send select line items as End of Course to post to the Additional Course Mark Data section in the Synergy grade book.