August 2022
July 2022
Details
Brightspace Platform July 2022/20.22.7 Release Notes
The functionality, screens, and configuration of the following features are subject to change before release.
Features included in this information are available and hosted in all geographic regions D2L supports unless otherwise noted in the feature’s Technical Details section. If the feature is not available and hosted in all geographic regions, D2L will provide the location(s) of the supported regions and any applicable restrictions.
Brightspace apps are available for download from any Google Play™ store or Apple App Store®. The apps are generally released at the beginning of the month, and then sometimes mid-month, if issues are found. Depending on how your device is configured, the apps may update automatically or you may have to manually check for new versions.
D2L recommends reviewing the final release notes to determine if there are any changes that impact your organization. To receive notifications about updates, click Follow.
Downloadable release notes are no longer available as an attachment. To create a printable version of these release notes, please follow the steps below:
-
Highlight the release notes.
-
Right-click and select Copy.
-
Paste the content into a text editing document. This process copies over all text, images, tables, and links.
For more information, refer to Changes to Release Note Deliverables.
Links to Additional Information
Links to external sites and non-release notes articles on Brightspace Community:
Announcements and Feature Information
Note the following important updates:
- Upcoming deprecation of TLS 1.1 encryption protocols and migration to TLS 1.2
- Added 7-July-2022 Removed the Groups/Section Management – View Section Descriptions | New release note. The user interface changes will be released at a future date. In this release, the Sections API has been updated to include a new
mysections API route. This route displays the calling user's sections within a specific orgunitid and also displays the data for that section including its name, code, and description.
- Added 7-July-2022 Updated the Learning Groups – Target personalized learning with the ability to add restrictions during locked learning group setup | Updated feature with additional information about availability and how to enable for existing customers.
- Added 7-July-2022 Removed the Google File Picker - Upload files from both personal and Workspace Google accounts with a single file picker | Updated feature. This feature will be released at a later date.
- Added 7-July-2022 Updated the Microsoft OneDrive – Use Microsoft's OneDrive LTI application to link and embed files from OneDrive | Updated feature to include information about the future availability of the config variable that enables the file picker.
- Added 7-July-2022 Updated the Data Hub – Access meaningful content file information with the Content Files Properties Log data set | New feature to include a link to a related product blog post.
- Added 7-July-2022 Removed the Audio/Video – Obsolete configuration variables related to the Download button have been removed | Removed feature. This feature will appear soon in a future release.
- Added 7-July-2022 Brightspace Capture Legacy (9.5 or earlier) reaches the End-of-Life stage of it's product cycle in Fall/Winter 2023, and is being replaced with Capture X as part of the Creator + product offering .For more information, see Intent to End-of-Life Legacy Capture technology and Capture X upgrade path for Legacy Capture clients.
- Added 7-July-2022 The Brightspace Release Notes now contain links to Novidades (Português do Brasil) and Novedades (Español de Latinoamérica), in addition to the existing French, Dutch, and Arabic links.
- Added 7-July-2022 The Brightspace Pulse – Discovery better supports text-to-speech assistive technology | Updated feature is updated with an improved screenshot of the new visual prompt.
Brightspace Insights – Harness powerful data with a new version of the Adoption Dashboard | Updated
This release introduces a new version of the Adoption Dashboard with an updated look and feel that aligns with the other Insights Portal dashboards. The Adoption Dashboard provides data visualizations to help administrators gain a deeper understanding of how users in their organization adopt Brightspace. It was originally released in Brightspace Platform version 10.8.5.
The new Adoption Dashboard adds the following features:
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Ability to filter the data shown on the dashboard by Org Unit, Role, Tool, Start Date, and End Date.
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Switching from Login data to System Access data to more accurately capture app usage.
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Accessibility features: visual cues like filter tags and toast messages, support for screen readers, and keyboard navigation.
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Exporting data to CSV.
To enable the new Adoption Dashboard, administrators must set the new d2l.Tools.Insights.Adoption.EnableNewExperience configuration variable to ON at the organization level. Currently, the new experience is turned off by default.
This feature has accessibility impacts, including:
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order
Figure: Top half of the old Adoption Dashboard, with no filters or ability to export to CSV.
Figure: Top half of the new Adoption Dashboard, with “Export to CSV” button, filters for Org Unit, Role, Tool, Start Date, and End Date, and a line graph for System Access instead of Login Trend.
Figure: Bottom half of the old Adoption Dashboard, showing the old color palette and graphs.
Figure: Bottom half of the new Adoption Dashboard showing the updated color palette and new graphs.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to enable a new version of the Adoption Dashboard.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who have the Performance Plus package or who have purchased Brightspace Insights in the previous packaging model.
To enable:
- Administrators must set the new d2l.Tools.Insights.Adoption.EnableNewExperience configuration variable to ON. Users must also have the existing Can See Adoption Dashboard and Query Data Platform permissions enabled for their role.
Brightspace Learning Environment – Easily filter items across the platform with improved multi-contextual filter dialog | Updated
Building upon the improvements introduced by the Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved and consistent multi-contextual filter dialog | Updated feature released in June 2022/20.22.6, this feature extends the changes to the following locations:
Previously, the changes to the multi-contextual filter in Brightspace Learning Environment were only found in My Courses Widget: Department/Semester Filters and in Insights: Filters on various dashboards.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who use Consistent Eval or Quick Eval.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Brightspace Platform Requirements - Receive browser update alerts | Updated
The supported browser list is updated to reflect browsers that need to be updated. Users will receive the message “Your browser is looking a little retro” that prompts users to update their browser. Legacy Browsers are also updated. All users of Legacy Browsers receive the message “Unsupported Browser” either before or after logging in. There are no changes to the ability to access Brightspace.
Figure: Browser update prompt in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Brightspace Pulse – Discovery better supports text-to-speech assistive technology | Updated
This release contains several accessibility improvements to Brightspace Pulse's Discovery feature, allowing it to better support users who employ text-to-speech assistive technology. These improvements consist of:
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The Who provides your learning autocomplete field is renamed to Find your school or institution. This is to make the label more intuitive and gives a non-visual learner a better idea that the field is autocomplete. The Find your school or institution autocomplete field is additionally marked up as an edit field, indicating to the user where to tap to activate it and what to enter in the field. If no results are returned, the following prompt is shown: "We're sorry! We were not able to find a match. Please try a different institution. Or, if you know the school or institution's web address, you can enter it down below." Previously this prompt read "This may not be a compatible learning management system".
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When a user types a letter, the displayed results are announced via an ARIA audio alert. When a user enters a search without any results, they are notified of such without requiring them to press the Enter key. Upon pressing the Enter key, the ARIA audio alert indicates that "<N> results found. This indicates to non-visual users if there are results. Previously, this change of results was not announced by an ARIA audio alert despite changing visually.
This feature has accessibility impacts, including:
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 4.1.3 Status Messages
Figure: The improved message displayed when a search in the Find your school or institution autocomplete field returns no results.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Moderate impact to learners using assistive technology due to the improved experience using Discovery.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all Brightspace Pulse clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Data Hub – Access meaningful content file information with the Content Files Properties Log data set | New
This release adds the new Content Files Properties Log Brightspace Data Set (BDS) to help administrators understand what files are associated to content objects within courses. Each row in the data set represents a change (created, edited, or deleted) to a file that is linked to a content object within an org unit, and provides information about the file such as its name, extension, and size in bytes. The Content Files Properties Log BDS only captures changes to content files from July 2022 onwards.
For more information, refer to New Brightspace Data Set: Content Files Properties Log on Brightspace Community.
This feature implements the following PIE items:
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D7051 (Copyright Reporting from Brightspace)
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D6126 (Data Hub >> Please add manage file information to Data Hub)
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D5820 (Report of Course Offering with their disc storage size)
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D5968 (Add column 'file size' to Content Objects data set)
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D3927 (partial) (Make available a list of all documents stored on one instance)
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D7379 (Data Set which gives me a list of all the courses that have an asset)
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the addition of a new data set.
Availability:
- This feature is available to Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in all regions.
To enable:
Grades – Copy grade items only copies unique or in-use grade schemes | Updated
This feature updates the Copy Course Components functionality in regard to copying grade schemes to prevent unnecessary duplicates.
When a grade item is copied, any grade scheme associated with the item is also copied. If a grade scheme is not associated to a grade item within the course offering, the scheme is only copied if the grade scheme is unique (i.e., there are no duplicates which match on name, and ranges).
Previously, unassociated grade schemes were always copied over with the grade items, causing numerous unnecessary duplicates.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators and instructors due to the ability to copy grade items without accidentally creating duplicate grade schemes.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Import/Export - Importing and Exporting Quiz Questions now includes alignment to outcomes for ASN standards | Updated
D2L course ZIP packages can now be exported and imported with ASN outcome alignment for questions.
Previously, the quiz import process retained the alignments of ASN standards only for Content topics and those directly aligned to Assignments. However, importing and exporting Rubric and Quiz question alignments is not supported.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
- Available to all clients.
To enable:
Learning Groups – Target personalized learning with the ability to add restrictions during locked learning group setup | Updated
The new Locked Learning Groups setup introduces the ability for new clients to add restrictions to their Learning Groups. Restrictions allow you to section off Learning Group activities to users who have a predefined set of User Attributes while denying access to others. For example, different sub-companies within a larger organization could add restrictions to their users and content so that Learning Group administrators are only able to assign users and courses from their respective sub-company. These restrictions are set up by D2L Implementations at client request when implementing the Learning Groups tool.
Previously, there was no ability to restrict access of Learning Group material to users in the same organization. This feature does not impact the setup of existing clients. For additional details on this feature, refer to the Locked Learning Groups product blog post in Brightspace Community.
Technical Details
Impact:
- No impact to existing users.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all new clients.
- Existing customers are encouraged to refer to the Locked Learning Groups product blog post in Brightspace Community for additional information on availability.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all new users.
- Existing customers are encouraged to refer to the Locked Learning Groups product blog post in Brightspace Community for additional information on availability.
LTI – Additional supported claim values for LTI 1.3 | Updated
To help with migrating from LTI 1.1 to LTI 1.3, this release adds support for the following fields in the LTI 1.3 spec:
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role_scope_mentor: LTI resource link launch request messages now include the role-scope mentor claim when the user clicking on the LTI link has the Mentor role. Previously, we supported the role-scope mentor claim in LTI 1.1 but not in LTI 1.3.
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course_section_sourcedid: LTI resource link launch request messages now provide the user's section code value for course_section_sourcedid under the LIS claim. The user must be enrolled in a section and the "Org Unit Info" security setting must be enabled; if either of these conditions are not met, the course offering code is provided instead of the section code. Previously, this logic was supported in LTI 1.1 but not in LTI 1.3.
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content_topic_id: Every LTI launch from content now includes content_topic_id in the Brightspace vendor claim when there is a content topic value to send. Previously, the launch only supported sending org_unit_id and user_id in the vendor claim.
This feature implements PIE item D9093 (Name & Role Provisioning Services API: Share Section enrollment from classlist user information).
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the new information available in LTI 1.3 launches.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
LTI – Changes to the LTI Advantage administrative interfaces | Updated
This release introduces several improvements to the LTI Advantage administrative interfaces intended to make the workflows more intuitive and safeguard against errors. These changes include:
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We now allow the same domain to be registered multiple times, provided only one of those registrations is enabled. On the Register a Tool page (Manage Extensibility > LTI Advantage > Register Tool), if you attempt to register a tool with a domain that is already in use, you will see this error message when you click Register: "Domain is already in use for another enabled registration".
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You can no longer change the registered tool for a deployment after the deployment has been created. On the Deploy Tool page (External Learning Tools > LTI Advantage > New Deployment), after you fill out all the required fields and click Create Deployment, the Tool dropdown becomes a static field and can't be changed.
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This release also prevents users from changing the registered tool for a created deployment using the API. The Valence API now throws a 400 error if a user attempts to change the ClientID for a deployment.
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Previously, you could edit the registered tool after creating a deployment, which would break the deployment and cause negative downstream effects.
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The deployment sharing options have been expanded. On the Deploy Tool page (External Learning Tools > LTI Advantage > New Deployment), when you click Add Org Units, under Options there is a new radio button called This org unit and all descendants.
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Previously, to share a deployment with an org unit and all its descendants, you had to go through the share process twice. Also, if you had a template with no courses, you had no option to share with its descendants.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to new error messages and slight changes to workflow when creating and deploying LTI tools.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Microsoft OneDrive – Use Microsoft's OneDrive LTI application to link and embed files from OneDrive | Updated
The new Microsoft OneDrive LTI is similar to the existing application and will replace the existing OneDrive App in the future. The new OneDrive application supports file browsing, navigating and sorting directories, selecting files, and switching between Microsoft accounts. Depending on institutional Microsoft OneDrive settings, users are able to access both their personal and institutional accounts. The update introduces an LTI file picker for OneDrive users that acts as an alternative to the current OneDrive file picker used by instructors. The changes to support the new OneDrive LTI include:
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Supporting the OneDrive LTI app Cancel button.
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Adding a config variable to display the OneDrive LTI App in the Quicklink option, which is found in Edit Assignments.
Note: This integration is available on or around July 29, 2022 when Brightspace configuration information is added to this page: An overview of Microsoft LTI apps | Microsoft Docs.
Figure: OneDrive deep link LTI 1.3 File Picker.
The current OneDrive Link/Embed tool will end-of-life in the near future. However, this update does not change any existing learner OneDrive file pickers.
The updated file picker supports PIE items related to providing a Document Viewer (D4975).
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
- This feature can be added by an Administrator with an Office 365 account as a regular LTI 1.3 tool.
To enable:
- Administrators must first disable the former OneDrive app. Administrators can add the new OneDrive LTI applications to the Quicklink bar. The config variable is available on or around July 29, 2022 when Brightspace configuration information is added to this page: An overview of Microsoft LTI apps | Microsoft Docs.
Outcomes Management – Eliminate duplication of effort with improved import rules around aligned ASN standards in the Standards (Learning Outcomes) tool | Updated
When you import a Brightspace course export package that contains aligned ASN standards, the outcomes are automatically added to the course intent list of the destination course.
Previously, the aligned standards were imported from a Brightspace course export package; however, you were required to manually re-add them from the ASN browser to the course intent list in the Learning Outcomes tool for the alignments to be displayed and available in the Content tool or the assessment tools.
Note: Non-Aligned outcomes are not imported; import rules only apply to aligned activities. This feature only applies to ASN outcomes; it does not support the import and export of course outcomes.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors as they are no longer required to complete redundant steps in the workflow to import course packages.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all clients using the Learning Outcomes tool. Ensure that you have turned on the Learning Outcomes tool at the main organization and course levels.
Turnitin – Rearrangement of options for the Turnitin integration | Updated
The Turnitin integration options layout and feature names are changed with this release. The option changes can be viewed on the Turnitin Integrations options page.
GradeMark is now Online Grading and Originality Check is now Similarity Report. Instructors can enable features for Online Grading and Similarity Report separately within the Turnitin Integration options page.
Figure: Turnitin integration with updated options for Similarity Report and Online Grading.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
Turnitin - Restrict files to file types supported by Turnitin with the updated panel | Updated
Previously, Turnitin similarity check only supported specific file types while Turnitin grading check accepted any file type.
Instructors can now restrict file types to those supported by Turnitin. If an invalid type is submitted, an error is reported with no other side effect.
Figure: File type options for Turnitin submissions.
The updated side panel now indicates which Turnitin services are enabled. The text on these indications reflects the new Turnitin feature names for Similarity Report and Online Grading.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
Turnitin - Turnitin feature names are now reflected in Brightspace Learning Environment’s user interface | Updated
In Brightspace Learning Environment, the submission view now reflects the new Turnitin feature names that match Brightspace’s user interface styling and text. The column titled Turnitin Similarity is now Turnitin® Similarity Report. The column titled Turnitin® GradeMark® is changed to Turnitin Online Grading.
There is no change in the functionality of submission views.
Figure: The original Turnitin submission view in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Figure: The new Turnitin submission view in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Title
Brightspace Platform July 2022/20.22.7 Release Notes
URL Name
Brightspace-Platform-July-2022-20-22-7-Release-Notes-77212948
June 2022
Brightspace Platform June 2022/20.22.6 Release Notes
The following release notes are for clients installing Brightspace Learning Environment 20.22.6 (June 2022). The functionality, screens, and configuration of features are subject to change before release.
Features included in this information are available and hosted in all geographic regions D2L supports unless otherwise noted in the feature’s Technical Details section. If the feature is not available and hosted in all geographic regions, D2L will provide the location(s) of the supported regions and any applicable restrictions.
Brightspace apps are available for download from any global Google Play™ store or Apple App Store®. The apps are generally released at the beginning of the month, and then sometimes mid-month, if issues are found. Depending on how your device is configured, the apps may update automatically or you may have to manually check for new versions.
D2L recommends reviewing the final release notes to determine if there are any changes that impact your organization. To receive notifications about updates, click Follow.
Downloadable release notes are no longer available as an attachment. To create a printable version of these release notes, please follow the steps below:
- Highlight the release notes.
- Right-click and select Copy.
- Paste the content into a text editing document. This process copies over all text, images, tables, and links.
For more information, refer to Changes to Release Note Deliverables.
Links To Additional Information
Links to external sites and non-release notes articles on Brightspace Community:
Announcements and Feature Information
Note the following important updates:
- *Added on 2-June-2022 Updated the Assignments – Save time by copying assignments to other courses you teach | New feature to indicate that Copy to Other Courses permission only needs to be granted at the course level.
- *Added on 2-Jun-2022 The name of the Outcomes Program Details Brightspace Data Set has been corrected in the Data Hub interface and API. Previously, it was incorrectly named "Outcomes Program Details Definition". There has been no change in the documentation.
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- *Added on 2-June-2022 A further investigation of the Rubrics in Brightspace Portfolio now use Brightspace Editor | Updated feature released in May 2022/20.22.5 has revealed several technical constraints which are currently preventing this feature from functioning properly. As a result, the Brightspace Editor functionality is not currently available in Brightspace Portfolio. For more information, see Portfolio – Brightspace Editor User Interface Is Not Available In Rubrics
Brightspace Learning Environment
Assignments – Save time by copying assignments to other courses you teach | New
Instructors who teach several courses and have the new Assignments > Copy to Other Courses permissions are now able to copy assignments between their courses. The copied assignment includes the following key assignment properties:
- Assignment folder and properties, including instructions, assignment category, and visibility
- Assignment properties including description, attachments (direct file attachments, uploaded from Google Workspace or OneDrive, and audio and video files), and category
- Grade item and grade category
- Availability dates
- Submission and completion information, including the Optional Grade item and the course scheme if used.
- Rubric(s) associated with the assignment. When copying an assignment that uses a shared rubric, instead of linking a copied assignment to a shared rubric, the rubric is also copied. The copied assignment links to the copied rubric. If an assignment uses a rubric that is archived, the rubric is copied and retains the archived state in the destination courses.
The following attributes are not copied:
- Instruction quicklinks and attachment resources created with the Attach link to existing activity action.
- Instruction images added using Insert Image that were saved to course files.
- Availability Release conditions and special access settings
- submission and completion information including group assignment designation.
- Evaluation and Feedback information including Turnitin associations, competency, and outcome associations.
- Content topic associations (for example, if the assignment is linked from content)
NOTE: In some cases, references to links and images that are not copied may result in broken links.
The Copy to Other Courses option appears in the context menu of assignments.
Figure: The Copy Assignments dialog enables you to select the associated rubrics and grade items and choose destinations.
In the Copy Assignment dialog, you can select any rubrics and grade items associated with the selected assignment to include them in the copy package. The Choose Destinations area enables you to search by keyword or semester to find the destination courses for the assignment. Only course offerings for which a user has the Copy to Other Courses permission appear in the Choose Destinations list. By default, the maximum number of courses you can select is 10.
Figure: The Copy Assignments dialog enables you to select the associated rubrics and grade items and choose destinations.
After you have completed the Copy Assignment dialog, the progress page indicates the status of each destination course and any issues. If you navigate away from the progress page, a minibar notification in Brightspace Learning Environment indicates when the assignment has been copied to all the destination courses. You can click the notification to open the progress page to review the status and logged issues.
This feature partially implements PIE item D6762 - Post the same assignment to multiple courses, and D5754 - Export assessments to multiple courses
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for Assignments users.
- All roles that should be able to copy assignments to other courses must have the new Assignments > Copy to Other Courses permission enabled at the course offering level. Instructors must have the permission in both the originating and destination courses.
- Language terms for this new workflow are found in the WebComponents tool package under the d2l-copy-assignment-to-other-courses\copy-assignment-to-other-courses collection.
Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved and consistent multi-contextual filter dialog | Updated
With this release, Brightspace Learning Environment is refreshing the multi-contextual filter dialog user inferface component to ensure consistent filtering functionality across the platform. Changes to the filter dialog include:
- Multi-dimensional filters now represent dimensions in a nested list instead of tabs
- Ensuring that most filter dimensions have a search field
- Changes in padding and styling for applying filters across each dimension
- Improved mobile responsive behavior
Previously, only certain filter dimensions had a search field.
The areas of Brightspace Learning Environment being updated by this feature are:
- My Courses Widget: Department/Semester Filters
- Insights: Filters on various dashboards
Figure: A comparison of the new and previous My Courses Widget filters.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to all users due to the updated user interface of the multi-contextual filter.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
Brightspace Pulse – Pulse App now only supported on Android 6 / iOS13 and above | Updated
With this release, the Brightspace Pulse App is now only supported on the following mobile operating systems:
- Android 6 and above
- iOS13 and above
This ensures that mobile level support is consistent across all D2L Apps, rather than being on a per-app basis; and consistent with Android and Apple policies concerning operating system support.
Previously, Brightspace Pulse was supported on Android 6 and iOS12 and above.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
Manage Files – New/Edit File workflow change | Updated
Currently, when choosing the New File or Edit File option from Manage Files, users see a dialog open that must be moved or expanded to become properly visible. If users attempt to use the advanced code editor (source code editor), they open a second dialog that is not sized correctly and cannot be resized due to constraints from the first dialog.
Now, the New File and Edit File options in Manage Files open in a new tab in the user's browser in order to support more efficient editing. By allowing the editor to open in a new tab, the advanced code editor dialog now opens fully.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
Quizzes – Create engaging assessments quickly with the new quiz creation experience | Updated
The new quiz creation experience brings create and edit consistency changes from Assignments to Quizzes.
Figure: Quizzes tool in Brightspace Learning Environment.
The primary panel on the left contains common, frequently used fields that are always displayed. These fields are most relevant to learners and are core to quiz creation. The add/edit question workflow has been brought into the primary panel, giving users the ability to easily modify quiz questions without the need to navigate to a separate interface.
The right-hand panel organizes additional, more advanced options such as start and end dates, release conditions, and special access. These options follow the same logical groupings as found in Assignments. Other quiz-specific settings can be found in the right-hand panel including creating a password protected quiz, applying IP restrictions, adjusting quiz timing, setting display options, managing attempts, and altering evaluation and feedback settings.
See the Welcome to the New Quiz Creation Experience knowledge article for an in-depth look at all the feature and capability changes with this update.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
Note: The configuration variable default is OFF.
Rubrics - Quickly determine a Rubrics state with archived tags and selection list descriptions | Updated
To provide consistency with other Rubrics experiences and build on the value of the Rubrics tool, there are several improvements in this release.
Archived Rubrics now appear with an archived tag
The Archived tag enables users to update rubric versions while keeping the existing evaluation records available for instructors and learners to review. Previously, when you changed a rubric, previous evaluations were removed. Now, if you change the status of a rubric to Archived, there are no effects on the alignment of rubrics to any assessment activities or previous evaluations that were completed using the rubric. Rubrics that are changed to an Archived status after the initial alignment to the activity continue to display and can be used for evaluation. There is a new Archived tag that appears on rubric tiles in activity creation and activity evaluation workflows to provide information to instructors and course developers that a rubric previously aligned to an activity is now archived. The Archived tag appears in both full-screen and pop-out views of the rubric in Grades, Competencies, and in the Consistent Eval experience. In addition, it appears in rubrics results pages and during evaluation for instructors in collapsed, expanded, and full-screen view. You cannot add archived rubrics to assessment activities ad new rubric alignments - this behavior has not changed.
Note: The archived state tag is not visible to learners. If you have been evaluated using an archived status rubric, the learner can see those evaluations and feedback.
Rubric descriptions now appear in the Rubric picker list
The Rubric selection dialog window now includes the first two rows of the rubric description to enable instructors and course designers to better identify the version of a rubric when its name is being reused for a current rubric.
The help description for Status in the Rubrics tool now more clearly explains the interaction of archived status rubrics
The help text icon now appears next to the Status column heading, and the Archived Status text now more accurately reflects the available interactions with archived status rubrics. Specifically, it expands the description to indicate that archived rubrics do not appear in default search results and cannot be added to activities; however they can be evaluated. Further, archiving a rubric does not remove it from activities or published feedback.
Figure: The Archived tag appears under the Rubric title.
Figure: The Archived tag in the Rubrics list of Consistent Evaluation.
Figure: The Archived tag in the Rubrics detail view of Consistent Evaluation
Figure: The new location of the help icon in the Rubric Status column.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to the additional Rubric information provided by the Archived tag and rubric description.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who use Rubrics with any assessment tool across the Brightspace Learning Environment.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for Rubrics users.
Note: Administrators may see a new Edit Assessed Rubrics permission in the Roles and Permissions tool. This new permission has no bearing on this feature and will be included as part of a future release.
Surveys – Use signed comments feature no longer supported | Removed
The d2l.Tools.Surveys.UseSignedComments configuration variable will be set to zero for all clients and the ability for clients to set the configuration variable will be removed.
This configuration variable controlled the availability of the Signed Comments feature for instructors. This feature allowed instructors to control the visibility of Signed Comments and enabled instructors to add an option to written response questions in anonymous surveys.
This option was not available to instructors since the New Question Creation workflows were set to On for all users in December 2018. However, previously created surveys and questions with this option continued to present the option to learners.
Technical Details
Impact:
Availability:
To enable:
May 2022
Brightspace Learning Environment – Updated default font and color stylings for improved accessibility | New
This feature introduces a color change to fonts and icons in Brightspace Learning Environment to meet WCAG guidelines.
Previously the dark grey font #494c4e did not meet the 3:1 contrast ratio with the color of our links. The new font #202122 (still grey!) is darker and meets the WCAG link contrast criteria for accessibility. This change is visible in most locations in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Figure: Before and after showing the updated font color visible in the My Courses widget.
Figure: Before and after showing the updated font color visible in text and inline links.
This feature has accessibility impacts, including:
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.1 Use of Color
- WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to all users due to updated font and color stylings across Brightspace Learning Environment to meet accessibility guidelines.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Brightspace Pulse – Added @mention push notifications | New
Brightspace Instructors (depending on their role definition within their institution) can now use @mention push notifications to direct a message to Learners using Pulse. Originally, @mentions came through Brightspace Learning Environment but were only visible if the user opened Pulse and viewed their Subscriptions tab under Notifications. Now, the new functionality sends a push notification to the user when they are @mentioned.
Note: These notifications are available in the Pulse Notifications > Subscriptions area and are still available in Discussions. @Mentions are currently not supported in Activity Feed.
Technical Details
Impact:
-
Slight impact to instructors who can now receive push notifications when they are tagged in a Discussion topic.
-
Slight impact to learners who can now receive push notifications when they are tagged in a Discussion topic.
Availability
To Enable:
Brightspace Pulse – Updates and subscriptions now align with all update subscription Alerts in Brightspace | Updated
In Brightspace Pulse, the Updates and Subscriptions tab is now aligned to show the same items as the Alert Bell and Discussions in Brightspace Learning Environment.
All Brightspace alerts now display within the Pulse Updates and Subscriptions tab. Improved logic in how alerts are sent to Pulse ensures that alerts are no longer sent from courses that are inaccessible (courses that are inactive or past their end date).
Technical Details
Impact:
-
Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to consistently view alerts across the Learning Environment.
-
Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to consistently view alerts across the Learning Environment.
-
Slight impact to learners due to the ability to consistently view alerts across the Learning Environment.
Availability
To Enable:
HTML Editor – Improved context link menu supports previewing of quicklinks in Brightspace Editor | Updated
This feature implements a new and improved context link menu in Brightspace Editor. The new menu has the same functionality as before – enabling users to highlight text and create a link, edit the link, remove the link, and preview the link – but now also enables support for the previewing of quicklinks that contain replace strings while editing their HTML. The new formatting context menu continues to allow users to highlight text within the editor and apply formatting or create links.
Previously, when a user created a new quicklink within the editor that contains a replace string, this proved not replaceable by the context menu. Clicking to preview the link resulted in a 404 Error.
Figure: The layout of the new Content link menu.
Figure: The layout of the old Content link menu.
Figure: The layout of the new formatting context menu.
Figure: The layout of the old formatting context menu.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to user interface updates and the ability to preview quicklinks in HTML Editor.
- Slight impact to instructors due to user interface updates and the ability to preview quicklinks in HTML Editor.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
Manage Files – Improved error message when invalid files are uploaded | Updated
Building on the Manage Files – Users receive warning message when uploading a file blocked due to security | New feature added in the November 2021/20.21.11 release, this feature adds an improved error message to the File Upload dialogue. When a user attempts to upload a file containing one or more illegal characters in the file name, this message explains to the user the reason why the upload failed.
Previously, users received a generic "Oops! Your file could not be uploaded" message, which did not explain the reason the file upload failed.
Figure: The File Upload dialogue with the new error message displayed.
This feature implements PIE Items D4412 (Improve error message for assignment submissions with bad file names); D4401 (DCS invalid file notification prior to upload); and D8757 (Clearer error message when file uploads are rejected due to illegal characters in file name).
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors due to the improved clarity provided by the new error message.
- Slight impact to learners due to the improved clarity provided by the new error message.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
Manage Files – Shared Files renamed to Public Files | Updated
To better secure files by making users aware of the availability of files in the Shared Files area, this feature renames Shared Files to Public Files. In addition, when files are uploaded to the Public Files area, a warning message is displayed indicating that the files are publicly available.
To avoid breaking any links referencing already-existing files with this change, the file path within Shared Files has not been renamed with this feature update. Permission language terms are updated but the internal permission name is not. The effect of this will be that Roles and Permissions exports will remain functional if they were exported prior to the name change.
Figure: The renamed Public Files area with the warning message indicating the public status of uploaded files displayed.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the renaming of the tool area and the addition of a warning message.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
New Content Experience – New Edit pages for Lessons are now default | Updated
In this release, the new edit pages with date management are now default for New Content Experience (Lessons). The new create and edit experience was first released for Lessons in August 2021/20.21.8, and makes the experience of creating and editing activities more consistent across all of Brightspace.
The new experience is controlled by two configuration variables:
- d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn default value is now On (Opt-In). Previously, the default value was Off.
- This setting displays the new edit pages to instructors, but allows them to choose to revert to the old experience.
- d2l.Tools.Content.NewExperienceDisplayDates default value is now On. Previously, the default value was Off.
For clients who previously overrode the default value for these configuration variables, there is no change to their selected values.
For more details about what has changed with this new experience, refer to Updates to the New Content Experience in Brightspace Community.
This feature implements PIE items D5773 (Lessons: add release condition), D6000 (Update Release Conditions in New Content Experience), D7323 (Release dates & times in Content), and D5896 (New Content Experience pacing dates don't push to the calendar).
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to a new default value for two configuration variables.
- Slight impact to instructors due to new options available on the content editing pages.
- Slight impact to learners due to visibility of availability and due dates.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who have Lessons enabled.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
April 2022
Brightspace Learning Environment
Brightspace Editor – Advanced code editor visual update and accessibility improvements | Updated
Minor visual updates made to the advanced code editor in Brightspace increase the readability of tags and text in the advanced code editor and place the Save and Cancel buttons in consistent locations. Improved compatibility with screen reader technology is also included in this feature.
Previously, certain screen readers in specific form settings were unable to access or read from the advanced code editor.
This feature makes no changes to the functionality or workflows associated with the advanced code editor.
Figure: The updated location of the Save and Cancel buttons for the advanced code editor.
This feature has accessibility impacts, including:
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to users due to minor changes in the location of the Save and Cancel buttons in the advanced code editor and additional support for screen reader users.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled for Brightspace Editor users.
Brightspace Insights – Quiz filter and contextual help added to Assessment Quality Dashboard | Updated
This feature builds on the Assessment Quality Dashboard updates released in Brightspace Platform 20.22.3/March 2022 with two more usability improvements:
- A new search input in the Quiz Details area where users can enter the name of a quiz to filter the dashboard results. Filtering the dashboard to quizzes with the same name allows users to compare multiple occurrences of the same quiz to see how the statistics vary.
- Hover text added to the "!" icons to provide context to users about when to act on flagged quizzes and questions.
Administrators can still return to the legacy Assessment Quality Dashboard experience by disabling the d2l.Tools.Insights.AssessmentQuality.EnableNewExperience configuration variable.
Figure: The updated Assessment Quality Dashboard with the Search by Quiz Name box highlighted.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Moderate impact to administrators due to additional features on the Assessment Quality Dashboard.
- Moderate impact to instructors due to additional features on the Assessment Quality Dashboard.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who have the Performance Plus package or who have purchased Brightspace Insights in the previous packaging model.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
Data Hub – Course Access Log Brightspace Data Set | New
This release adds the new Course Access Log Brightspace Data Set (BDS), which returns information on users accessing their course offerings using the Pulse app. The data set creates a row with a timestamp when a user initially accesses a course, and creates additional rows for every 30 minutes that the user spends in the course.
The new Course Access Log BDS complements the existing Course Access BDS, which only reports on course access from the LMS via a browser.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the addition of a new data set.
Availability:
- This feature is available to Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in all regions.
To enable:
- Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is granted to administrators at the org level and the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 7. New and changed data sets appear the first time the data set runs after the version update.
- Ensure that Brightspace Pulse is enabled in your organization. For more information, see Deploying Brightspace Pulse.
Data Hub – End of Adoption Period for Brightspace Data Sets Version 7 | New
Brightspace Data Sets Version 7 was first announced in the October 2021/20.21.10 release notes. With this release, the adoption period for Version 7 has ended and it is the only supported version.
Version 7 includes major changes that remove columns in existing Brightspace Data Sets:
- Removed VisibleStartDate, VisibleEndDate, PostingStartDate, and PostingEndDate columns from Discussion Forums BDS.
- Removed VisibleStartDate, VisibleEndDate, PostingStartDate, and PostingEndDate columns from Discussion Topics BDS.
- Removed ChecklistItemCount column from Checklist Objects BDS.
- Removed NumberOfItems column from Checklist Category Details BDS.
For more information about this version update, refer to Motivations behind the changes in Data Hub Brightspace Data Set Major Version 7.0 October 2021 Release in Brightspace Community.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Large impact to administrators who have not already opted in to Brightspace Data Sets Version 7.
Availability:
- This feature is available Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in all regions.
To enable:
- Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is enabled for administrators at the org level and the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 7. New and changed data sets appear the first time the data set runs after the version update.
Group/Section Management – Asynchronous Group Creation | New
This feature moves group creation and enrollment to background task, minimizing risk of timeouts when creating large numbers of groups requiring enrollments.
When instructors create and save a new group category, the Groups tool displays the category and prompts instructors that their group or groups are being created in the background; further, it indicates that the instructor will be notified once the groups are created. The instructor who created the group receives a subscription alert in the minibar that indicates that the groups for their courses have been created.
While this is in process, the Brightspace UI indicates that "Group creation is in progress". While processing, users are unable to make changes to groups or enrollments.
To facilitate these changes, and the potential for allowing clients to make much larger numbers of groups in a category, this feature introduces pagination to the Groups tool, that limits each page to a maximum of 200 groups. In addition, the header row for the category has been moved to above the grid and the Delete and Email options are added to the Category dropdown menu.
Figure: The updated Groups page with the 'Group Creation in Progress' message highlighted.
Figure: The updated Groups page with the Category dropdown menu and the Delete and Email options highlighted.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors due to ability to create groups as a background task, and due to changes to the Groups tool layout.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
Intelligent Agents – Create Agent page facilitates more flexible scheduling and frequency options | Updated
Building on the Intelligent Agents – Agent List page changes | Updated feature released in February 2022/20.22.2, this feature changes the Intelligent Agents Create Agent page to facilitate additional scheduling options and frequency options to allow for improved flexibility.
The changes to the Create Agent page include:
- A modernized user interface. This is a visual upgrade and does not impact functionality.
- Scheduling options have been moved to the top of the page.
- The ability to expand/collapse each section on the agent creation page (Scheduling, Criteria, Actions) to improve usability.
- Two new agent frequency options:
- One-Time Run allows instructors to choose a single date and time to run.
- Hourly allows instructors to choose a date and time to run between. If no dates are chosen, the Hourly agent runs every hour with the first time being "now" (that is once the agent is saved and enabled).
- The existing Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annually options all now have a Scheduled Time option that users complete to determine what time that the agent will run on the dates scheduled for the agent to run.
- The Subject line of the agents' emails now supports up to 128 characters. This brings it inline with the Email tool. Previously, the character limit was 100 characters.
Figure: The Intelligent Agent scheduling page with the Hourly option selected.
This feature implements PIE items D7457 (increase Intelligent Agent email character limit to 128); D5830 (Allow easier 'once off' intelligent agent scheduling); D5208 (Add "Time' Option to Restriction to Schedule of Intelligent Agent); and D7726 (Ability to Run Intelligent Agents Multiple Times Per Day).
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors due to the new options when scheduling an Intelligent Agent.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
My Courses Widget – Language now managed in language pack | New
This feature adds language pack support for the My Courses Widget, allowing customers to customize language terms within the widget. Administrators can make these changes with the Language Management tool. Language terms are found under the Tool Package WebComponents in Collections d2l-my-courses\d2l-my-courses, d2l-enrollments\Enrollment, and d2l-image-selector\ImageSelector.
This feature implements PIE items D6255 (Language Management variables allowing custom terms) and D4457 (Ability to update the message in the language management tool).
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to customize language tools in the My Courses Widget.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is automatically enabled.
New Content Experience – Add and edit dates for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics | Updated
When the new create and edit experience is enabled, instructors can use a new edit page for Google Drive and OneDrive links where dates can be added and edited or associated files can be replaced. This more closely aligns to how links to other web items can be edited and increases the consistency of create and edit workflows across Brightspace Learning Environment.
Previously, only the topic title could be edited for Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive link topics in the new content experience.
Administrators must ensure that the d2l.3rdParty.GoogleDrive.EnableGooglePicker configuration variable is enabled for the Replace button to appear for Google Drive topics and the d2l.3rdParty.OneDrive.EnableOneDrivePicker configuration variable is enabled for the Replace button to appear for OneDrive topics.
Note: Microsoft OneDrive files cannot be embedded in Brightspace, as a result the Display Options portion of the page does not display for OneDrive files. The Replace button only displays if the File Picker configuration variables are enabled.
Figure: The updated editing page for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Moderate impact to administrators due to the need to enable the necessary configuration variables.
- Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to edit dates and replace associated files for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics if they are opted in to the new create and edit experience.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients who have enabled the New Content Experience and the new create/edit workflow experience.
To enable:
- Ensure that the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable is enabled, along with the d2l.3rdParty.GoogleDrive.EnableGooglePicker, and d2l.3rdParty.OneDrive.EnableOneDrivePicker variables, depending on which integrations are in use.
Rubrics – Customize language terms in Rubrics | Updated
It is now possible to update the language package for the Rubrics tool with client-specific terminology. Using Language Management, administrators can apply the d2l-rubric lang term collection to apply language translations and create custom overrides to rubric web components. This enables instructors, learners, and other users to see language in Rubrics that more closely resembles the institutional policies for assessment language.
Figure: The tool package and language term collection for the Rubrics update.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators who now have the ability to apply translations and custom overrides to Rubric web components using the Language Management tool.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for Rubrics users through the Language Management tool.
Rubrics – Rubric Overall Score is available in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian | Updated
With this update, the Overall Score now appears below the rubric criterion evaluations in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian, providing a consistent Rubrics experience with all Brightspace Learning Environment tools. Previously, Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian tools did not recognize rubric functionality improvements available in other tools. Now, instructors and other evaluators can add or remove a manual override of the Overall Score level in all assessment tools.
In the Overall Score, screen readers are informed that the overall score levels are selectable items. When the user navigates between levels, the screen reader reads the level order, level name, point level, level content, and selection status.
Figure: The Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent and Guardian, consistent with other Rubrics tool experiences.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors and other evaluators due to the availability of the Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian.
- Slight impact to administrators, learners, parents, and other users who now see the rubric Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients using Rubrics with Brightspace Portfolio or Brightspace Parent & Guardian.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for Rubrics users.
SCORM – Edit dates and associated grade items for LOR based SCORM packages | New
SCORM packages added from the LOR using the New Content Experience now have an improved editing experience. When the new create and edit experience is enabled, instructors see a new edit page for LOR sourced SCORM packages. The editing page allows instructors to edit dates and associated grade items (like Imported SCORM topics) and edit LOR details and version information (like other LOR topics). This brings greater consistency to the create and edit workflows for all activities in Brightspace.
Previously, in the New Content Experience, only topic titles were editable for LOR based SCORM.
Figure: The new edit page for LOR based SCORM packages in the New Content Experience
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to Administrators due to the need to set the value of the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable.
- Slight impact to Instructors as there are new editing options for LOR based SCORM packages in the New Content Experience
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- Ensure that the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable is enabled so instructors can opt-in to the new create/edit experience.
Ouriginal – Language updates for improved clarity and removal of opt out option | Updated
The Ouriginal interface has updated its language terms to display similarity in all places that previously referenced plagiarism. For example, Assignments Analyzed for Similarity now displays in place of Assignments Analyzed for Plagiarism.
The opt out option has also been removed from the submission menu as its function has changed. This change is due to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), as the submitter and receiver are never shown when there is a match outside of a user's organization. Opting out in this scenario would prevent instructors from viewing information on matches from within their own organization.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to instructors due to language changes in the Ouriginal interface.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all Ouriginal clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for Ouriginal users.
Title
Brightspace Platform April 2022/20.22.4 Release Notes
URL Name
Brightspace-Platform-April-2022-20-22-4-Release-Notes
March 2022
Announcements and Feature Information
Note the following important updates:
- After removing the Downloadable Release Note document from our Release Note deliverable, we determined that there are unpredictable results when copying and pasting table text. To mitigate the impact of tables reformatting to a size larger than the text editor page, starting with the March 2022 Preview Release Notes, we are now presenting Technical Details without a table.
- A new User Attributes API is available, and it enables users to Read (GET) and Write (PUT) user attribute value data. This feature implements PIE item D5941 - Import User Attributes via API.
- As of the March 2022/20.22.3 Release, all instances of URKUND in the Brightspace Learning Environment will appear as Ouriginal.
- *Added on 3-March-2022 Updated the title of Brightspace Insights – Additional features added to the new Assessment Quality Dashboard (previously called Brightspace Insights – Metrics for Flagged Questions added to the new Assessment Quality Dashboard), added Link Out to Quiz Edit Page component, and removed Quiz Reliability Metric component.
- *Added on 3-March-2022 Added the Content - Workflow improvements to creating media topics feature.
- *Added on 3-March-2022 Renamed the Profiles Widget — Displays a list of users and their roles in a course to learners feature to Multi-Profile Widget — Displays a list of users and their roles in a course to learners.
- *Added on 3-March-2022 Updated the Brightspace Parent & Guardian - Improved experience viewing grades on a mobile device feature to reflect the final design.
- *Added on 3-March-2022 Removed the SCORM — Edit dates and associated grade items for LOR based SCORM packages feature. This feature will be added in a future release.
Brightspace Learning Environment — Improved layout of show/hide interface
To improve consistency across the platform, this release features a stylistic upgrade to the layout of the show/hide interface. This does not affect usability or change interactions; in addition, all accessibility interactions remain unchanged.
Figure: The updated show/hide interface.
Figure: The show/hide interface before this release.
Technical Details
Impact:
No impact to users.
Availability:
This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
This feature is automatically enabled for all users.
Content — Media Library added to Classic Content Experience
This feature adds the Media Library to the Classic Content Experience, which is accessible by navigating to Existing Activities > Media Library.
Figure: The Media Library option in the Existing Activities dropdown menu of the Classic Content Experience.
For more information about the Media Library functionality, refer to Evolving The Audio-Video Experience in Brightspace Community.
Technical Details
Impact:
Slight impact to Instructors due to the ability to access Media Library.
Availability:
This feature is available to all clients using Classic Content Experience.
To enable:
Ensure the Content Service > Can Manage Objects permission is enabled at the Org level.
February 2022
Content – Print and Download in fullscreen | Updated
The Print and Download buttons are now available when viewing a topic in fullscreen, using the classic Content experience.
Previously, the options to print and download a topic only appeared on the main Content view, and when users opened a topic in fullscreen by clicking View content in new window, those options were not available.
Figure: Top of a fullscreen topic page, with the new Print and Download buttons in the top right.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to learners due to the availability of print and download options in a new location. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: Ensure the Compile and Print Content and Download Content Topics permissions are enabled for learners at the org level. |
Brightspace Editor – Additional Page Attributes (Language and Title) | Updated
This feature adds a new tab to the existing Attributes menu of Brightspace Editor, allowing users to enter page attributes for language and/or title when viewed. This new menu only appears in legacy Content, Lessons, and Custom Widgets.
Figure: The new Page Attributes tab in the Attributes menu.
This feature also adds two new configuration variables, that provide users the option to have the language attribute and/or title element on HTML pages applied on render, without having to manually enter in the attributes for each page. These attributes are:
- d2l.Tools.Content.ApplyPageTitleElement (Default is OFF); and
- d2l.Tools.Content.ApplyPageLangAttribute (Default is OFF)
If enabled, the title is set to the content topic title, and/or the language is set to the locale for the orgunit the content originates from. With this change, users of assistive technology are provided descriptive information about the document they are viewing.
Note: The new configuration variables apply only to legacy Content.
Previously, users had to manually add code into the source editor to add language and/or title page attributes.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to enable Language and/or Title attributes appear on HTML pages. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: Ensure that the d2l.Tools.Content.ApplyPageTitleElement configuration attribute is set to ON for Titles to display. Ensure that the d2l.Tools.Content.ApplyPageLangAttribute configuration attribute is set to ON for Language to display. |
| Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to add Language and/or Title attributes to pages. |
N/A |
Intelligent Agents – Agent List page changes | Updated
This feature adds the following new functionality to the Agent List page, where users manage the Intelligent Agents they have created:
- The ability to create, assign, and manage categories; and
- A new Bulk Edit for some agent details: title, category, and active/inactive state.
This feature also updates the icons denoting the active/inactive state of each agent.
Figure: The new Intelligent Agent List page, with the bulk edit and category management functionality.
This feature implements PIE Item D7196.
This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria:
- WCAG 2.1 Success criterion 1.3.6 Identify Purpose
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to assign and managed agent categories and Bulk Edit agent details. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Intelligent Agent users. |
January 2022
Brightspace Platform January 2022/20.22.1 Release Notes
The following release notes are for clients installing Brightspace Learning Environment 20.22.1 (January 2022). The functionality, screens, and configuration of features are subject to change before release.
Features included in this information are available and hosted in all geographic regions D2L supports unless otherwise noted in the feature’s Technical Details section. If the feature is not available and hosted in all geographic regions, D2L will provide the location(s) of the supported regions and any applicable restrictions.
Brightspace apps are available for download from any global Google Play™ store or Apple App Store®. The apps are generally released at the beginning of the month, and then sometimes mid-month, if issues are found. Depending on how your device is configured, the apps may update automatically or you may have to manually check for new versions.
D2L recommends reviewing the final release notes to determine if there are any changes that impact your organization. To receive notifications about updates, click Follow.
Links To Additional Information
Links to external sites and non-release notes articles on Brightspace Community:
Downloadable Release Notes
To download the Platform Release Notes for January 2022/20.22.1, click the attached document.
Announcements and Feature Information
Note the following important updates:
- Clients may notice an update to their Ouriginal integration in the form of a new Ouriginal Similarity score on submission folders. This was released in November in a hotfix. For more information see the fixed issue article: LE - Urkund - Ouriginal Significance May Not Be Shown.
- At this time, Video Tutorials and Video Course Packages are no longer updated. As such, video tutorials no longer appear in Brightspace Help and Downloadable Help Packages. Instead, refer to Brightspace Guided Training for instructional videos.
- Updated the Brightspace Pulse – Subscription notifications for Discussions | Updated feature to include PIE item D8654.
- Updated the Content - Date management and display for LOR Links in Lessons | New feature to remove the component where a preview of the LOR object is embedded in the edit page. This component will be added in a future release.
- Updated the Discussions - Scoring Rubric drop-down for evaluations | New feature to correct the rubric type that does not populate the overall grade.
Brightspace Learning Environment
Brightspace LeaP – Available in the Singapore region | New
As of this release, Brightspace LeaP is now available to clients who require Singapore hosting for regional or data residency requirements.
The regional LeaP LTI Launch Point URL for Singapore is https://leaplti-ap.brightspace.com/D2LLink.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the ability to access Brightspace LeaP LTI in Singapore AWS region. |
Availability: This feature is available to all Brightspace Performance Plus clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for all Brightspace LeaP users. |
Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved editing features in Audio-Video Editor | New
This feature introduces new capabilities to the Audio-Video editor for files uploaded to the Content Service. Users can now edit video timelines, create chapters, and add captions to their videos. D2L recommends using the desktop experience when editing audio-video files.
Editing timelines allows users to skip unwanted sections of a video recording.
Chapter titles can be used to create a Table of Contents for videos to allow quick navigation to specific sections.
Captions can be uploaded from a .vtt or .srt file or automatically generated to make videos accessible to all users.
Videos can be edited from course content or by using the Edit > Advanced Editing option in the Admin Tools menu.
No permission changes are required for this feature.
In Content/Lessons, the editor features are only available for newly uploaded audio-video files and do not apply to files that were uploaded prior to this feature being introduced.
This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria:
• WCAG 2.1 Success criterion WCAG 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to new abilities in the Audio-Video editor. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled.
Administrators with the Media Platform > Can Insert All Video Notes and Can Administer Video Notes and the Content Service > Can Manage All Objects permissions can see the Edit options for all Video Notes.
Users with the Media Platform > Can Upload Video Notes and Can Administer Video Notes permissions, along with the Content Service > Can Manage Objects permissions can see the Edit options for Video Notes they uploaded.
For additional information, including screenshots, of the updated Audio-video player and editor visit the Evolving the Audio-Video Experience blog post. |
Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved viewing features in Audio-Video player | New
To improve the functionality of the Audio-Video player in Brightspace Learning Environment, multi-bitrate streaming, and search functionality are now available.
Multi-bitrate streaming allows high-definition videos to be played at standard definition to reduce the bandwidth necessary for users to watch videos.
The new search functionality allows users to locate key words in video captions and quickly navigate to those sections.
This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria:
• WCAG 2.1 Success criterion WCAG 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to new abilities in the Audio-Video player. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled.
For additional information, including screenshots, of the updated Audio-video player and editor visit the Evolving the Audio-Video Experience blog post.. |
Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers | Updated
With this release, Brightspace Learning Environment's browser version check now displays warnings for browsers earlier than the following versions:
- Chrome 93 (released in August 2021)
- Safari 13 (released in September 2019)
- Firefox 91 (released in August 2021)
- Edge 93 (released in August 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 the latest version of 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.
For more information, see Browser support.
|
Brightspace Pulse – Subscription notifications for Discussions | Updated
With this release, subscription notifications in Brightspace Pulse are now consistent with subscription notifications in Brightspace Learning Environment. From the Notifications > Subscriptions tab in Brightspace Pulse, learners now receive all replies to discussions they are subscribed to and @-mentions in discussion threads. Previously, the subscription notifications that learners received in Brightspace Pulse were inconsistent with the subscription notifications that they received in Brightspace Learning Environment.
This feature implements PIE item D8654.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
|
No impact to administrators.
|
Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Pulse clients in all regions.
To enable: Download the latest version of Brightspace Pulse, available from any global Google Play™ store or Apple App Store®. The app is generally released at the beginning of the month, and then sometimes mid-month, if issues are found. Depending on how your device is configured, the app may update automatically, or you may have to manually check for new versions.
|
| Slight impact to learners due to receiving all subscription notifications in Brightspace Pulse. |
For more information, see View notifications in Brightspace Pulse. |
Calendar – Improvements to Date and Time Selection Web Components | Updated
Building upon the Calendar – Improvements To Date And Time Selection Web Components | Updated feature released in Brightspace Platform March 2021/20.21.3 Release Notes, this release updates the date and time picker in Brightspace Learning Environment to include the following usability changes:
- The Set to Today button is renamed to Today. The Today button continues to set the date and the time based on the context. For example, choosing Today for an End Date sets the current date and sets the time to 11:59 PM.
- Added a Now button that sets the current date and time. The Today and Now buttons only appear when a date and time are required. When only a date is required, only the Today button appears and functions the same as the Now button.
- The Today, Now, and Clear buttons are center-aligned in the date and time picker.
This feature implements PIE item D7627.
This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria:
- WCAG 2.1 Success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard
Figure: The new date and time picker in Brightspace Learning Environment
Figure: The previous date and time picker in Brightspace Learning Environment
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to usability updates of the date and time selector web components. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for all tools that use the date and time selector. |
Content - Completion tracking for New Learner Experience | Updated
With this release, the activity completion tracking in New Learner Experience (LX) no longer includes optional activities. This removes redundant information and provides clarity for learners to distinguish between optional and required course content. Updates include the following:
- Removed completion count 0/0 from Table of Contents, navigation menu, and End of Unit page for modules with no required activities.
- Note: This applies when there are no topics in a module, or all the topics in a module are either optional or the learner is exempt.
- Removed empty progress meter from navigation menu and End of Unit page for modules with no required activities.
- Removed completion checkmark from navigation tile for optional or exempt activities that the learner has completed.
- Total Activities component added to End of Unit page, only for modules with one or more optional activities. This component provides a count of all required activities in the module, a count of all optional activities in the module, and the note "Optional activities are not required for the completion of this Unit".
- Note: the count of optional activities includes both optional and exempt activities.
- Header on End of Unit page is now "Optional Activities Unit" for modules with no required activities. Previously, the header was "Nice work so far!" if any activities in the module were incomplete, or "Congratulations!" if all the activities in the module were complete.
- Button on End of Unit page is now I'm Done! for modules with no required activities. Previously, the button was Back to Content if any activities in the module were incomplete.
- These are the pieces left to complete this unit list on End of Unit page only includes incomplete required activities. Previously, the list included all incomplete activities, both required and optional.
Figure: Old navigation and End of Unit page for a module with no required activities, showing 0/0 progress meters.
Figure: New navigation and End of Unit page for a module with no required activities, showing where the progress meter has been removed and the Total Activities component has been added.
Figure: New End of Unit page for a partially complete module, with a combination of required and optional activities.
This feature implements PIE items D7824 and D8581.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to learners because optional and exempt activities display differently and are no longer included in completion tracking. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for New Learner Experience users. |
Content - Date management and display for LOR Links in Lessons | New
This release introduces a new layout and date management experience for editing linked LOR objects in the new Content experience (Lessons). The experience is consistent with the Content - Date management and display in Lessons | New feature released in August 2021/20.21.8.
Previously, the edit page for LOR link content topics in Lessons only allowed users to edit the title and provided no additional information about the object.
Figure: Old LOR edit page, where Edit Title is the only property that can be changed.
With this release, the edit page for LOR link content topics in Lessons includes:
- Ability to change topic name.
- Ability to add or change Due Date, Start Date, and End Date.
- Ability to change display option.
- Information about the LOR object, including:
- Document name
- Version number
- Last edit date
- File type
- Repository name
- Settings button, which opens the Learning Object Properties dialog.
- Previously, users accessed this dialog by navigating to the Options menu and clicking Use a different version. This release removes that option from the menu.
Figure: New LOR edit page, including date management, display options, document information, and settings button.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to allow users to opt-in to the new LOR object edit experience.
|
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: Ensure the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable is set to On(Opt-In). |
| Moderate impact to instructors due to the new edit experience for LOR link content topics. |
N/A |
Content - Link to Content Report in Lessons | New
This release adds a link to the Content Reports page for courses using the new Content experience (Lessons). To access, open the settings menu by clicking the gear symbol next to +New Unit, and click View Reports.
Previously, the only way to access content reports from Lessons was creating a custom link on the navbar.
Figure: View Reports link as it appears in the settings menu in Lessons.
This feature implements PIE item D7643.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators and instructors due to the ability to access content reports without a custom quicklink. |
Availability: This feature is available to all roles with See Content Statistics permission.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Lessons users. |
Content Service – Uploaded media files use Content Service | New
To improve the functionality of audio-video files in Brightspace this feature ensures most audio-video files are handled by the Content Service. The new capabilities are documented in the Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved viewing features in Audio-Video player | New, and the Brightspace Learning Environment – Improved editing features in Audio-Video Editor | New features from this release. Newly uploaded audio-video files can now take advantage of all the features of the Content Service, and similar behavior is experienced in all locations where media files can be uploaded or edited. Audio-video files that were uploaded prior to this release do not have access to the features available to files hosted by the Content Service. All audio-video files uploaded to Content service are now automatically converted to mp4 files (or mp3 for audio) to ensure they are playable on all supported devices.
Note: Videos uploaded as Assignment submissions or uploaded to a course’s Manage Files area continue to use the legacy method for handling files.
To manage media files used by the Content Service, this feature introduces the following new permissions:
• Content Service > Can Manage Objects
• Content Service > Can Manage All Video Notes
The Content Service > Can Manage Objects permission allows users to upload video and audio files to Course Content using the Content Service, and edit their own content using the Advanced Editing options. This permission requires the Content > Manage Content (at the Course offering level) permission. Roles that currently have the Content > Manage Content permission are automatically assigned the new Content Service > Can Manage Objects permission.
The Content Service > Can Manage All Video Notes permission allows users to manage and edit video notes uploaded by any user at their Organization in the Audio/Video Notes Editor. This permission requires the Media Platform > Can Insert Any Video Notes, and the Media Platform > Can Administer Video Notes permissions. This permission is intended for administrators as it grants access to all Video Notes uploaded by your organization.
The existing Content Service > Can Manage All Objects permission (reserved for administrators) is updated to allow users to edit all Video/Audio notes in the Audio/Video Notes Editor. Users with this permission can also modify Video or Audio Notes with the built-in editing tools. This permission requires the Content > Manage Content, Media Platform > Can Insert Any Video Notes, Media Platform > Can Upload Video Notes, and the Media Platform > Can Administer Video Notes permissions. The Can Manage All Objects permission grants full access to Content Service objects, including the ability to permanently delete files, and should only be granted to roles that require unlimited access to files uploaded by your organization.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators due to new permissions and permission requirements introduced by this feature. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: Ensure that the new and existing permissions that control media file uploads are set appropriately for all necessary roles at your Organization.
For additional information, including screenshots, of the updated Audio-video player and editor visit the Evolving the Audio-Video Experience blog post.
For additional information on the Content Service, visit Brightspace Help. |
| Slight impact to instructors and learners due to new options available to edit uploaded audio-video files hosted by the Content Service. |
N/A |
Course Import/Export – Logging improvements | New
To simplify user access to import/export logs, the Course Import/Export tool now includes import/export logs as part of the Course Import/Export History, which include navigation breadcrumbs. In addition, the logs display the results in the order of import/export operations. Previously, import/export logs opened in a new tab and displayed the results out of order, without navigation breadcrumbs.
Figure: The new import log in the Course Import/Export tool
Figure: The previous import log in the Course Import/Export tool
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators and instructors due to workflow changes for viewing import/export logs. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for all users. |
Discussions – Scoring Rubric drop-down for evaluations | New
To make the Discussion evaluation consistent with the Assignments evaluation, this feature adds the Grading Rubric drop-down to the sidebar menu. This allows the instructor to choose a grading rubric when evaluating a discussion.
If a normal topic assessment with Points/Custom Points-based rubric is selected, this rubric is the one whose score transfers to the Overall Grade field. The score transfer does not occur if Allow assessment of individual posts or a Text rubric is selected.
Figure: The new Discussions evaluation with the Grading Rubric drop-down.
Figure: The previous Discussions evaluation without the Grading Rubric drop-down.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to choose a grading rubric when evaluating a discussion. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Discussions users. |
November 2021
Brightspace Learning Environment
Brightspace Editor – Additional support for drag/drop and copy/paste images | Updated
Expanding further on the Brightspace Editor – Drag/drop and copy/paste images | Updated feature released in October 2021 / 20.21.10 and Brightspace Editor – Improvements | Updated feature released in May 2021 / 20.21.5, additional tools and editors now support the drag/drop and copy/paste functionality, including:
- Quizzes > Feedback
- Grades > Feedback
- Grades > Comments
- Discussions > Feedback
This functionality is now available in user-specific areas that may contain images with learner-sensitive information. As a result, these images are stored in the database rather than the Manage Files area of a course offering. In addition, the Course Copy function does not include these images.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the copy/paste and drag/drop functionality being available across more areas in Brightspace Learning Environment. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for all users. |
Email – Increased Limits for To and CC Fields | Updated
This feature increases the number of email addresses that can be added to the To and CC fields in a single email to 200. This is a result of increased limits on the size of headers in Brightspace SMTP servers.
Previously, the limit was 50 email addresses.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the ability to send and/or CC emails to additional email addresses. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: Ensure that the user has the Access Email permission enabled at the Org Unit level for their role. |
Manage Files – Users receive warning message when uploading a file blocked due to security | New
This feature provides the user with a warning message if they attempt to upload a file with an extension that is either not allowed by the Assignment or is on the security restricted list. This message appears as "This file extension is not allowed." for Assignments; and as "This file extension is not allowed for security reasons. Please see our Restricted File Extensions article in the D2L Community for more detailed information." for security restricted file extensions.
Users can restrict Assignment extension types by enabling the d2l.Tools.Dropbox.RestrictFileExtensions configuration variable, as described here.
The security restricted file extensions list is found here.
Figure: The warning message displayed when attempting to upload a security-restricted file extension.
Figure: The warning message displayed when attempting to upload an assignment with a restricted file extension.
This feature implements PIE item D3945.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the ability to see warning messages. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: The functionality for security restricted file extensions is automatically enabled for Brightspace Learning Environment users. To enable this functionality for assignment file extensions, set the d2l.Tools.Dropbox.RestrictFileExtensions configuration variable to ON. |
Work To Do Widget – Date range configuration variables | Updated
To increase the value of the Widgets - Work To Do widget | New feature released in May 2021/20.21.5, there are now two configuration variables available to customize date ranges used by the widget.
- The d2l.Tools.WorkToDo.OverdueWeekLimit (Org) configuration variable sets the date range that determines how far into the past overdue items appear in the Work To Do widget. By default, the widget displays items with due dates for the previous 12 weeks, which administrators can increase up to 52 weeks.
- The d2l.Tools.WorkToDo.UpcomingWeekLimit (Org) configuration variable sets the date range that determines how far into the future upcoming items appear in the Work To Do widget. By default, the widget displays items with due or end dates within the upcoming 2 weeks, which administrators can increase up to 52 weeks.
To set these two configuration variables, administrators require the Can See/Edit Config Variable Values permission.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators due to the new ability to set the date range for when overdue and upcoming items appear on the widget. |
Availability: This feature is available to all Brightspace Core clients using the Work To Do widget
To enable: To set these configuration variables, administrators require the Can See/Edit Config Variable Values permission. |
| Slight impact to learners who will see the overdue and upcoming items according to the configured date ranges. |
N/A |
October 2021
Assignments - Preview Activity in Evaluation mode | Updated
Previously, users who did not have edit permissions for assignments could not preview assignments. As a result, not all evaluator types could see assignment information such as assignment instructions, start date, or due dates.
Now, in Evaluation mode, there is a Preview Activity option in the Assignment context menu to see a preview of the assignment. Evaluators with the See and Manage Assignment Submission Folders permission can use the Preview Activity option to view the assignment information, but cannot edit the assignment properties or dates.
Figure: The Preview Activity option appears on the context menu for the assignment.
Figure: The Assignment Preview enables users to view the assignment information, but they cannot edit it.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to evaluators that do not have edit permissions for assignments due to the new ability to preview assignments. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: Ensure that evaluator roles without edit permissions have the See and Manage Assignment Submission Folders permission in order to use the preview. |
Brightspace Editor – Drag/drop and copy/paste images | Updated
This feature complements the Brightspace Editor functionality as released in the Brightspace Editor – Improvements | Updated feature released in May 2021 / 20.21.5.
The drag/drop and copy/paste functionality of images is now available in the following areas that contain no user-specific data.
- Content Module/Topic Descriptions
- Quiz/Survey/Self-Assessment - Description, Header. Footer
- Grades - Description
- Content Course Overview descriptions
- Discussion Forum/Topic descriptions
Note: Similar to current functionality, image files added to these areas are saved in the root of the Manage Files area of the organization unit the user is currently in.
This feature partially implements PIE items D7884, D2190, and D7968.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the copy/paste and drag/drop functionality being available across more areas in Brightspace Learning Environment. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for all users. |
Brightspace Editor – Email notifications for users tagged in discussion posts and threads | Updated
This feature updates the Brightspace Editor – Additional functionality | Updated feature released in June 2021 / 20.21.6 and now adds the ability for users tagged in discussion posts and threads to receive email notifications.
The new Discussions - mentioned in a discussion post or thread option appears in the Notification Administration page (Admin Tools menu > User Related > Notifications > Notification Defaults) when the following configuration variables are turned on:
- d2l.Tools.WYSIWYG.Mentions
- d2l.Tools.Discuss.Notifications
The d2l.Tools.WYSIWYG.Mentions configuration variable is turned off by default.
When the above configuration variables are turned on by your administrator, the Discussions - mentioned in a discussion post or thread option is displayed to all users under the Instant Notifications area (on the minibar, click on your username > Notifications > Instant Notifications).
If your administrator has enabled the Discussions - mentioned in a discussion post or thread option under Notification Defaults (Admin Tools menu > User Related > Notifications > Notification Defaults) the new Discussions - mentioned in a discussion post or thread option under the Instant Notifications area (your username > Notifications > Instant Notifications) is enabled by default for all newly created users. Users can disable this option if required.
The ability to tag users is controlled by multiple permissions. A role must have the following permissions to use the @mention functionality when it is enabled for their organization unit:
- User Information Privacy > See First Names*
- User Information Privacy > See Last Names*
- Users > Search for {role}
When a user is tagged, their profile is linked to their tagged name. To view the profile of another user, the following permission is required:
- User Profile > View Other Users’ Profiles
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to enable the email notification defaults for new users. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: Ensure that the d2l.Tools.WYSIWYG.Mentions configuration variable is turned ON for the organization units that want to use @mentions. It is set to OFF by default.
The d2l.Tools.Discuss.Notifications configuration variable is turned ON by default.
To set email notification as a default option for newly created users, in the Admin Tools menu > User Related > Notifications > Notification Defaults area, select the Discussions - mentioned in a discussion post or thread option.
Ensure that the following permissions are turned on for the required roles:
- User Information Privacy > See First Names*
- User Information Privacy > See Last Names*
- Users > Search for {role}
- User Profile > View Other Users’ Profiles
|
Brightspace Pulse – Operating system support | Updated
The latest version of Brightspace Pulse is supported on devices with iOS® 12+ or AndroidTM 6.0+ (2015 release). Older versions of Brightspace Pulse will continue to work on devices with iOS 11 or Android 5.0, but will not receive any app updates. For an optimal experience, D2L recommends installing the latest version of Brightspace Pulse on devices with iOS 12+ or Android 6.0+.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
|
No impact to administrators.
|
Availability: This feature is available to Brightspace Pulse clients in all regions.
To enable: Download the latest version of Brightspace Pulse, available from any global Google Play™ store or Apple App Store®. The app is generally released at the beginning of the month, and then sometimes mid-month, if issues are found. Depending on how your device is configured, the app may update automatically, or you may have to manually check for new versions.
|
| Slight impact to learners due to updated operating system support. |
N/A |
Content - Add Print Button to PDF file types | Updated
This feature adds the option to print PDF file types to Classic Content.
The Print button is visible when viewing a PDF topic or the Course Overview as a PDF. This button will also only appear for users with Compile and Print Content permission.
No option to print PDFs was previously available.
Figure: PDF view in Brightspace Classic Learning Environment - Content prior to this release, highlighting the absence of a print functionality.
Figure: PDF view in Brightspace Classic Learning Environment - Content highlighting the location of the Print button.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to users due to the ability to print PDF files. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients.
To enable: This functionality is automatically enabled for Content users, regardless of whether the d2l.Tools.DocumentViewers.CustomPdfRendererEnabled is on or off. |
Course Import - View Course Import history | New
Users can now view the history of course import attempts for courses in a specific org unit. From the Import/Export/Copy tool on Course Admin, users can view the Course Import History page, which includes the following information for each course import attempt:
- the original package name
- status of the import
- user who created the import job
- the timestamp for the import attempt
The content is sorted by Start Time (Descending) by default. After users have viewed the page, they can return to the Import/Export/Copy Components landing page in the Course Administration or click View Import Log to see a more detailed log. The log opens at the last line for the conversion you are viewing.
Figure: The View Import History link is available from the Import/Export/Copy Components tool in the Course Administration area of their course.
Figure: On the Course Import History page, you can view the import log for more information about the import attempt.
This feature implements PIE items D2336 and D5473.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to course designers and instructors who can check the import history for a course. |
Availability: This feature is available to all clients
To enable: Ensure that the user has the Import/Export/Copy Components > Import Content Packages permission for their role. |
Integrations
LTI® 1.3 - Additional substitution parameters available | New
Previously in LTI Advantage, substitution parameters that were duplicated in the Security Settings were not available in the LTI Select Substitution Parameter dropdown in Brightspace Learning Environment. Now, administrators and instructors can use additional substitution parameters when setting up new links.
The ability to send time zone parameter substitutions in LTI Advantage is also added in this update.
| Impact of Change |
Technical Details |
| Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to use substitution when setting up a new |