What's New?
April 7, 2020 - Zoom update 4.6.10
Download Type: Manual
Download here: Download Center
Changes to existing features
- Remove the meeting ID from the title bar
The meeting ID will no longer be displayed in the title bar of the Zoom meeting window. The meeting ID can be found by clicking on by clicking on the info icon at the top left of the client window or by clicking Participants, then Invite. - Invite button under Participants
The button to invite others to join your Zoom meeting is now available at the bottom of the Participants panel.
New and enhanced features
- Security icon in host’s meeting controls
The meeting host will now have a Security icon in their meeting controls, which combines all of Zoom’s existing in-meeting security controls into one place. This includes locking the meeting, enabling Waiting Room, and more. Users can also now enable Waiting Room in a meeting, even if the feature was turned off before the start of the meeting. More information can be found on our resource page.
March 2020, D2L version 20.20.3
Announcements – Display author information | New
To provide more information to users, Announcements now supports displaying author information (name and timestamp) on new and edited announcements.
Users reading the announcement may see some or all of the following author information:
- the original author
- the original date and time of the announcement
- the author who edited the announcement
- the date and time of the edit
Figure: The new Show Author Information option on the New/Edit Announcement page
Figure: Author information in an announcement
Assignments – Download Assignment Grader banner | Removed
This feature removes the following configuration variables and the Download Assignment Grader banner on the Submissions page. The Assignment Grade application will reach its End of Life in August 2020. More information can be found at: https://community.brightspace.com/s/article/Intent-to-End-of-Life-Notice-For-Assignment-Grader-Mobile-App
Rubrics – Confirmation message for partially unevaluated rubrics | New
To prevent publishing partially unevaluated rubrics, the publishing workflow in the new Rubrics grading experience now includes a confirmation message that warns users when the rubric is not fully evaluated. Instructors have the option to continue publishing, or cancel. Warning messages appear when publishing a rubric for an individual student and when bulk publishing rubrics. Users attempting to publish an incomplete rubric evaluation must now click Publish to complete the workflow.
This feature implements PIE item D3819.
Figure: The confirmation message asks users if they want to publish anyway, when attempting to publish an incomplete evaluation for an individual learner.
Figure: When attempting to bulk publish incomplete rubrics, the confirmation message lists the names of learners whose rubric evaluations are not complete.
February 2020, D2L version 20.20.2
Assignments - Streamlined access to inline feedback | New
To streamline access to assignment feedback, learners can now immediately access inline feedback from User Progress, Grades, and Assignments. From these tools, the View Inline Feedback link takes the learner directly to the annotations view (or Turnitin viewer, if that is the tool used to provide feedback). The inline feedback also includes a link to the file for the assignment, so learners know which document contains the feedback. Previously, the View Inline Feedback link took the learner to the Assignment feedback summary page, where they had to click a second link to view the feedback.
This feature implements PIE item D5351.
Figure: Class Progress view for instructors and learners displaying the View Inline Feedback link, which now opens directly in the annotation view
Figure: Grades view for learners displaying the View Inline Feedback link, which now opens directly in the annotation view
Figure: Assignments view for learners displaying the View Inline Feedback link, which now opens directly in the annotation view
Brightspace Wiggio - End of life | Removed
Effective February 2020, Brightspace Wiggio is no longer available to users. Refer to Intent to End of Life Notice For: Wiggio for additional information, as well as steps to export content from Wiggio and disable the LTI integration in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Grades – Tab delimited import into Gradebook | New
Users can now import tab separated value (.tsv) files into Gradebook. Previously, users could only import comma delimited files into Gradebook, which created a usability issue in some international regions.
This feature implements PIE item D5385.
January 2020, D2L version 20.20.1
Assignments – New Assignments page on by default | Updated
When accessing Assignments, the list view now displays updated information. Previously instructors would see information on the assignment name, Total Submissions, Unread Submissions, Flagged Submissions, and Due Date. Now instructors see information on the assignment name, the number of learners who have completed the assignment, the number of learners who have been evaluated, the number of learners who have had feedback published, and the Due Date. This allows instructors to quickly determine what assignments they need to evaluate, how far along they are with their evaluations, and if they have published the evaluations.
Learners also have an updated view of the assignments list, and are now able to see the assignment name, the Completion Status (Not Submitted, Submitted, Completed), their Score, The Evaluation Status (Not yet evaluated, Feedback: unread, Feedback: read), and the Due Date. This change to the list view allows learners to easily locate unfinished assignments, as well as access their scores and view instructor feedback on their work.
Figure: Existing Assignments list view for instructors
Figure: New Assignments list view for instructors
Figure: Existing Assignments list view for learners
Figure: New Assignments list view for learners
Brightspace Learning Environment – Support for Internet Explorer | Removed
As of January 1st, Brightspace has ended support for Internet Explorer. All versions of Internet Explorer will no longer be able to access Brightspace. We recommend using the most up-to-date version of Firefox or Chrome.
Classlist – Total number of users field and floating buttons | New
To improve ease of use, the total number of users for their selection (whole class, section, group) now appears in a field at the bottom of the Classlist page for at-a-glance viewing to help instructors keep track of the total number of learners, which may extend beyond the users visible on the page. On the Print Classlist and Email Classlist pages, the clickable Print and Email buttons now float consistently on screen, to ensure easy access to these actions without excessive scrolling.
This feature implements PIE items D508 and D4186.
Copy Course Components - Add validation logic to the copy process | New
Copy Course Components now contains a validation logic step to the course copy process, which can inform users if they performed a copy from the source previously, avoiding unnecessary duplication of copied course components.
This feature implements PIE item D1812.
Discussions – Assessment consistency changes | New
When assessing discussions, instructors have new multi-select options to Publish Feedback and Retract Feedback. In the Status column, the Draft / Published checkbox has been replaced by information on the date when feedback was saved as draft or published. These changes are visible on both the Users and Assessments tabs. The Save, Save and Close, and Cancel buttons have also been removed as their functionality has been replaced by the Publish Feedback and Retract Feedback options.
Figure: Previous view when assessing a discussion topic
Figure: Updated view when assessing a discussion topic
Grades – Export sorting options | New
This feature introduces the ability to sort exported gradebooks based on the following options: OrgDefinedID, Username, Last Name, and First name. The sort options available are based on the User Information Privacy permissions for the role.
This feature implements PIE items D1058 and D1804.
Groups – Self-enrollment group capacity, start dates and descriptions | New
This feature includes three improvements to Groups:
-
Group members can now see the description of their group. For self-enrolled groups, group members will now see the group description at all times, including before and after enrollment. For other group types, instructors can now choose to display the description to members of the group. This visible group description setting is off by default for non-self-enrollment groups. Previously, all group descriptions were hidden from group members.
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An instructor can now increase or decrease the capacity for self-enrollment groups after they have been created, and prior to the group sign-up expiry date. Decreasing a group size to an amount smaller than has already signed up for a group will not re-allocate users to other groups. Previously, self-enrollment groups were not editable after they were created.
- Instructors can set Start dates for self-enrollment groups. This feature allows them to schedule self-enrollment groups availability, ensuring learners are prepared and have equal opportunity to self-enroll.
This feature implements PIE items D1027, D373, and D3002.
Quizzes – Synchronization with Grades | New
Quiz scores and feedback entered in Grades now synchronize automatically with Quizzes. To further streamline the workflow, the Overall Feedback fields in Grades and Quizzes are now consolidated, and the Grade Item Public Comments field has been removed from Grades. All comments entered in the Overall Feedback field in Grades synchronizes automatically with the Overall Feedback field in Quizzes. This update creates a more direct workflow and aligns Quizzes with the consistent feedback experience implemented in Assignments and Discussions. Refer to the blog post Improving Consistency Of Synchronization Between Grades And Quizzes Tool (20.20.01 – January Release) for more information.
Note: Synchronization only occurs for new grade entries. Existing grade data for quizzes will not be migrated due to the high impact to all past data and reports.
This feature implements PIE item D391.
Rubrics – Share rubrics with other org units during creation | New
When creating new rubrics, users can now share the rubric created at the organization level with other org units. The rubric creation process provides the capability to either share or, conversely, block rubrics from being shared with other org units. Previously, this was only possible by using the legacy rubric editor.
Figure: The Add Org Units button enables users to make the rubric available to other org units.
December 2019, D2L version 20.19.12
Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers | Updated
As previously announced in the August 2019/20.19.8 release, Microsoft Internet Explorer is approaching End of Life (EOL) status as a supported browser. Starting January 1, 2020, Brightspace Learning Environment will no longer support Internet Explorer. As of the December 2019/20.19.12 release, if users attempt to access Brightspace Learning Environment using Internet Explorer in a test environment, an unsupported page appears. The unsupported page contains links to download supported browsers and a link to the End of Life (EOL) communication on the Brightspace Community. This allows clients to preview the unsupported page in their test environments and test any language term changes they want to make.
For more information on previous Internet Explorer EOL communications:
- Intent To End Of Life Notice For: Internet Explorer Support
- Internet Explorer Browser Support Transition Planning
Content - Sort HTML templates in alphanumeric filename order | New
To make it easier to find HTML templates when using Content, instructors can select the new Sort HTML Templates by name option from the Content Settings page in Content. Selecting this new option sorts templates in alphanumeric order based on filename. Previously, HTML templates were sorted alphanumerically based on directory structure.
Figure: The new Sort HTML Template by name option in the Content Settings page
Content – Sort order changes in Upload / Create menu | Updated
When using the Upload / Create menu to add activities to Content, the placement of the New Assignment option has moved. Previously, it appeared between New Discussion and New Quiz. Now, New Assignment appears above New Checklist.
Figure: Updated sort order of the Upload / Create menu
Grades - Synchronization with Assignments and Discussions via API and import options | Updated
Grades are now fully synchronized in the Assignments and Discussions tools when grades are added to Brightspace via the existing Import as CSV, Import as Excel, and API entry options. This change builds upon recent grades synchronization updates for Assignments and Discussions.
Note: Synchronization only occurs for new grade entries. Existing grade data for assignment submissions and discussions will not automatically be migrated because of the high impact to all past data and reports.
This feature implements PIE items D3610, and D391.
Quizzes – January (20.20.01) New Quiz Builder experience defaults to On (opt-in) | New
In January, as part of the 20.20.01 release, the default value for the d2l.Tools.Quizzes.NewQuizBuilderExperience configuration variable is changing from Off to On (opt-in). This gives instructors the choice to opt in or out of the New Quiz Builder experience in their courses. Administrators still have the option to set this configuration variable to Off if desired. Organizations who already have the configuration variable set to On or On (opt-in) do not see any change.
Release Conditions – Learners are notified when a release condition triggers new content | Updated
In a course that uses release conditions to unlock additional content, learners previously were not informed when new content became available as a result of a release condition that was satisfied. Because there was no automatic notification or refresh of the table of contents, there was the potential for frustration when learners think they are done a module, and are later informed that there are steps left to be completed.
Now, when release conditions are satisfied, the learner is notified using a pop-up ("toast") message that there are new items available in the course.
Release Conditions – Updated ordering of Tools | Updated
When adding Release Conditions to activities or content, the View Conditions for, and Condition Type menus now display tools in an updated order.
Figure: When browsing for release conditions, Assignments is now at the top of the list of tools
Figure: When creating new release conditions, Assignments is now at the top of the list of tools
Rubrics – Pre-announcement for configuration variable default setting change | Updated
In January 2020/20.20.01, the default setting for the d2l.Tools.Rubrics.CreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable changes from Off to On. This change comes a year after the configuration variable became available for the updated creation experience in January 2019; the default setting at that point was Off.
Currently, and until January 2020, the default is Off. In January the default setting will change to On. The target date for turning this on and removing the ability to opt-out is November 2020.
In addition, the changes in January 2020 will include the ability to share rubrics from the organization level using the updated Rubric creation experience.
November 2019, D2L version 20.19.11
Assignments - Improvements to Assignments | Updated
The Assignments page shows a count of new submissions and resubmissions in the New column, which you can opt-in /opt-out of displaying.
This feature implements PIE item D5396.
Figure: Assignments page with the New column
Assignments – Letter grading available | New
Selectbox Grade Items can bow be associated with Assignments. When grading an assignment through Assignments or Grades, the evaluator is shown a dropdown menu with the associated grade scheme levels. This feature functions identically for rubrics and numeric values as the previously existing Selectbox grade item type in the gradebook.
Figure: Select a letter grade when assessing an assignment submission
Intelligent Agents - Email images and enrollment permission checks | New
Users can now insert images directly into the body of intelligent agent emails using the Add Image button in the HTML editor. The images are attached to the email and shown in place when viewed in the recipient's external mail client.
Quizzes - Restore quiz attempts in the Quiz Attempt log | Update
When an instructor restores a learner's deleted quiz attempt, note the following workflow changes:
- A deleted quiz attempt can only be restored if the learner does not have another quiz attempt in progress.
- The Restore button only appears for the latest deleted quiz attempt.
Quizzes – Save feedback as draft | New
Instructors can now clearly see when feedback is saved as a draft, or published, while evaluating quiz submissions. On the quiz evaluation page, the Graded (G) checkbox and Save button have been replaced by the Publish and Save Draft buttons.
Figure: The Publish and Save Draft buttons allow instructors to quickly save drafts of feedback left on quiz submissions
Quizzes - Set quiz options in Quiz Builder | New
The new Quiz Builder experience now allows instructors to set additional quiz options when creating quizzes. A More Actions button is visible when users select the checkbox for one or more questions; allowing instructors to set questions as mandatory or bonus directly from Quiz Builder, and change the number points assigned to a question or set of questions. There is no change in how the bonus, mandatory, or points features work.
October 2019, version 20.19.10
Accessibility - Compliance with WCAG 2.1 level AA | Updated
As part of D2L's ongoing commitment to design and develop against WC3 accessibility best practices, the Brightspace Learning Environment 20.19.10/October 2019 release now aligns to the updated WCAG 2.1 level AA standards in both compliance reporting and all new development work. It is D2L’s intention to be an industry leader in inclusive design, and these changes improve support for individuals with alternative fine motor, cognition, and low vision needs. There are no major changes to workflows with these improvements; however, we have updated our shared components, such as fonts, buttons, menus, and input fields to better support WCAG 2.1 level AA requirements and recommendations. These changes include:
- Adding input type and auto-complete to appropriate fields to facilitate a user’s ability to complete forms.
- Adding escape key commands where appropriate to components that appear on hover or focus.
- Updating components that activate on down event to ensure that a user can cancel actions.
- Improving color contrast on additional components in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Assignments – Change to immersive navigation bar | Updated
When evaluating an assignment submission, the user interface has been updated slightly. The Next Student and Previous Student buttons above the submission and learner information have been replaced by forward and back chevrons that display in the immersive navigation bar. Previously, these buttons were displayed across the entire width of the page. The information on which user you are evaluating (e.g. 1 of 12) displays between the back and forward chevrons.
Figure: Evaluating an assignment with the new immersive navigation bar.
Brightspace Learning Environment – Improvements to consistency | Updated
To provide a more consistent experience, there have been changes to update the language, interface controls, and workflows throughout Brightspace Learning Environment.
The language and methods by which instructors make activities hidden or visible to learners across different tools is now consistent. Changes include:
- The visibility control now uses a checkbox with the consistent terminology Hide from users in all instances. This change affects the Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Surveys, and Grades (grade item and grade category) tools.
- In Discussions, the Visibility, Availability Dates, and Locking options move from the Properties tab to the Restrictions tab.
- The Hide from users checkbox appears under the title field of all activity creation pages in the Content tool.
- In Content, on the table of contents, there is now a visibility icon button for use with both content topics and modules. The icon serves as a visibility switch. The visibility status of a topic appears when the topic is not visible, when the table of contents is in bulk edit mode, or when a topic is in edit-in-place mode. The table of contents fly-out no longer provides the ability to switch the visibility of a topic or module.
- In Content, the Hide from users and Make Visible to users options are available in the context menus for topics and modules in the table of contents, and in the context menus of topics on the topics’ detail page.
The Instructor view of the list page of several tools now has consistent icons in a consistent order for activity restrictions. Changes include:
- All common activity icons appear before tool-specific icons.
- There is now only one Special Access icon in Quizzes (previously there were two, one for each type of Special Access). The Special Access icon also now appears in Assignments where it previously did not.
- All icons have been updated to the Daylight style (except the Bonus Grade item, which will be done in a future release).
- Alt-text appears on all icons on the activity pages. In some cases, the alt-text has been changed to provide consistent text across all icons of the same type.
Across many tools, including Quizzes, Surveys, Grades, and Discussions, the Restrictions tab provides the ability to control the visibility status and availability dates for an activity. Changes include:
- Changes to the Restrictions tabs in Quizzes, Survey, Grades, and Discussions to show Hide from Users with a check box control to turn on or turn off the visibility of the item.
- Previous sections containing the visibility settings in Surveys, Grades, and Discussions (for Forums and Topics) are renamed to Availability.
- Availability dates in Grades (for a grade item and grade category) and Discussions (for Forums and Topics) now appear and can be hidden.
There is now a consistent individual and bulk process workflow to hide or show activities. With this workflow, users can quickly change the visibility status from the list of activities without first having to edit the activity. Changes include:
- In Quizzes, Surveys, and Grades, users can hide or show individual items under the context menu of an individual item or bulk items from the More Actions button at the top of the page.
- In Discussions, users can hide or show individual items under the context menu of each topic and forum. Bulk hide or show is not available for Discussions.
The language and methods by which instructors save content on the New Activity page (Content tool) are now consistent. Whether the item is visible or not is determined by the Hide from Users permission check box. Changes include:
- Publish and Save as Draft have been combined into a single button called Save.
In addition, there are other consistency updates throughout the Brightspace Learning Environment:
- The Completion Method icon in the table of contents in the Content tool is now a menu. I
- In the Grade book, on the context menu for a grade item, the Grade All option is now Enter Grades.
- In the Grade Item and Grade Category event log, the Visibility property is now Visibility Status. Status options are now Hidden or Not Hidden.
- In the Grade Item and Grade Category event log, the End Date Restriction and Start Date Restriction properties are now Availability End Date and Availability Start Date.
- In the Grade Item and Grade Category event log, changes to the Visibility and Date properties are now logged independently.
- In Surveys, the display of availability dates on the survey Administrator and User list pages are now consistent with the display currently used in Quizzes.
For additional information about the changes as a result of this feature update, see Activity Visibility Improvements - Part 1 and Activity Visibility Improvements - Part 2
Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers | Updated
As previously announced in the August 2019/20.19.8 release, Microsoft Internet Explorer is approaching End of Life (EOL) status as a supported browser. Starting January 2020, Brightspace Learning Environment will no longer support Internet Explorer. To provide more visibility about this upcoming change, when an existing user logs in to Brightspace Learning Environment using Internet Explorer, a banner now informs the user about the approaching EOL date. The banner also includes a recommendation to upgrade their browser and a link to the EOL communication on the Brightspace Community. After logging in, the user can dismiss the banner for that session. For each subsequent session, the banner displays; however, the user can dismiss it.
For an optimal experience that offers better performance, accessibility, and security, D2L strongly recommends that all users access Brightspace Learning Environment with a supported browser.
Figure: The Internet Explorer End of Life banner on the login page.
Figure: The Internet Explorer End of Life banner in Brightspace Learning Environment.
Brightspace Pulse - iOS support | Updated
The latest version of Brightspace Pulse is supported on Apple devices with iOS 11 or higher. Older versions of Brightspace Pulse will continue to work on Apple devices with iOS 10, but will not receive any app updates. For an optimal experience, D2L recommends installing the latest version of Brightspace Pulse on Apple devices with iOS 11 or higher.
Intelligent Agents - Email Attachments | New
You can now add attachments to automated email messages when creating and editing intelligent agents. The intelligent agent email template contains an Attachments area that enables you to upload local files, select from available course files, or record audio. Attachment size is based on the email attachment size setting for your organization.
Quizzes – Change to immersive navigation bar | Updated
When evaluating a quiz submission, the user interface has been updated slightly. The Next Student and Previous Student buttons above the submission and learner information have been replaced by forward and back chevrons that display in the immersive navigation bar. Previously these buttons were displayed across the entire width of the page. The information on which user you are evaluating (e.g. 1 of 12) now displays between the back and forward chevrons.
Quizzes - Enter as User permission | New
In the past, users with appropriate permissions to preview and grade quizzes could use the Enter In-Progress Quiz as User feature to create a restricted impersonation session. They could then use the impersonation session to submit the quiz on behalf of the user. Now, administrators can control the ability to preview and grade in-progress quizzes using the Enter In-Progress Quiz as User permission. With this change, users marking quizzes no longer need to have impersonation permissions, administrators can be sure that there are no privacy infringement issues, and instructors will not accidentally infringe on a learner's privacy.
September 2019, version 20.19.9
Activity Feed - Inline rendering of remote plug-in attachments | New
When an instructor attaches a remote plug-in via a Quicklink to a message or assignment post, the plug-in now renders inline as an embedded attachment. This allows users to view the material without navigating away from Activity Feed. Previously, a remote plug-in attachment rendered as a simple web link.
Figure: An Activity Feed post with a remote plug-in attachment
Activity Feed - Message posts now support embed codes | New
To allow instructors and learners to share more material in a course, users can now paste embed codes directly into the body of message posts. These embed codes automatically attach and display inline for all users to view and interact with.
Figure: An Activity Feed post with an embed code attachment
Activity Feed - Improved attachment workflow and thumbnail previews | New
Users can now attach web links to message and assignment posts by pasting them into the body of messages or the instructions of assignments. The display of link attachments has also been enhanced to show a thumbnail and description, if available. Previously, links could only be added to posts by the Click and Attach workflow and the display was limited to a simple link icon and title.
Figure: An Activity Feed post with the new link styling containing a thumbnail preview and description
Assignments - Grades entered in Assignments and Grade Book are synchronized | New
When an instructor enters a grade for an assignment submission in the standard or spreadsheet view of Grade Book, the grade also appears with the submission in Assignments. Previously, grades entered in the Assignment tool were passed on to Grade Book; however, grades for assignment submissions entered in Grade Book were not passed to the Assignments tool. This change ensures data consistency between Assignments and Grade Book. Currently Assignment grades are not synchronized when the Assignment tool is updated by the Brightspace API or when Grade Book is exported and imported.
Note: This synchronization only occurs for new grade entries. Existing grade data for assignment submissions will not automatically be migrated because it would impact all past data and reports.
This feature implements PIE items D3610, and D391.
Brightspace Pulse - Activity Feed notifications | New
To help keep learners up to date on course activity, Brightspace Pulse now displays Activity Feed notifications in the Updates tab, for example, messages and links to course materials and external resources. Tapping an Activity Feed notification displays the post in Brightspace Pulse.
Discussions - Grades entered in Discussions and Grade book are synchronized | New
When an instructor enters a grade for a discussion in the standard or spreadsheet view of Grade Book, the grade also appears with the discussion post in Discussions. Previously, grades entered in the Discussion were passed on to Grade Book; however, grades for discussions entered in Grade Book were not passed to the Discussions tool. This change ensures data consistency between Discussions and Grade Book. Currently Discussion grades are not synchronized when the Discussion tool is updated by the Brightspace API or when Grade Book is exported and imported.
Note: This synchronization only occurs for new grade entries. Existing grade data for discussions will not automatically be migrated because it would impact all past data and reports.
This feature implements PIE items D3610 and D391.
Release Conditions - Release condition for topic completion | New
The Completed content topic is a new release condition that is met when a user completes a content topic. The method of completing the topic depends on the type, such as viewing a file or submitting an assignment. Similar to the currently available Visited content topic release condition, optional topics can also trigger this release condition.
This release condition ignores exemptions, meaning that if the learner completes the activity, the release condition can be met, regardless of the activity being required, optional, or exempt.
Figure: The Completed content topic release condition is now available from the Condition Type drop-down list.
Fall 2019 Updates
What's New for Fall 2019
Welcome Back! The D2L Services office has been working on new updates and new integrations over the summer.
Subscription Training
Ready to take your D2L courses to the next level? D2L Subscription training provides faculty and staff unlimited access to on-demand and live D2L training. It provides convenient access to training anytime, anywhere. In addition to flexible access, some additional features are:
- Tiered training to match your skill level- Beginner, intermediate advanced content
- Keep up-to-date with D2L features with What's New Sessions
- Get started quickly with recommended playlists
Find out more information on how to register for subscription training.
New Rubric Experience
What does the new rubric experience look like?
- The new rubric grading is consistent across all workflows and tools
- It auto-saves your changes as you grade
- It separates rubric Total from Overall Score making it possible to communicate both the numeric grade, and the level of achievement to learners
- It works the same whether you have Learning Objectives associated or not
- It has a responsive mobile view making it attractive to grade on tablets and phones
Instructor View:
Student view: 
In summary, here are the key new best practices to keep in mind:
- Since rubric work is auto-saved, there is no need to continuously Save the rubric. Instead, use the Publish and Save Draft options to make feedback visible immediately or later.
- Leave overall activity feedback in Overall Feedback for the activity, and not in the rubric. It will display to the learner in a nice consistent block, followed by a completed rubric with detailed criteria feedback.
- Be assured that your students will see your rubric and overall activity feedback in a consistent presentation across User Progress, Content, Assignments, Discussions and Grades
Kaltura Capture
Kaltura Capture is a personal recording solution for your Mac or PC that is integrated with My Media (Kaltura) and D2L. It allows you to record multiple inputs, such as your computer's screen, webcam, and microphone. Once it is installed, you're only one click away from recording your next course introduction or lecture video. Give it a try to turn your voice-over-PowerPoints into interactive embedded videos. Find out more on how to download and use the software on our website.
Kaltura Closed Captioning
All videos added to your My Meda (Kaltura) now have automatic, machine-generated closed captions. These captions are editable within My Media. The machine-generated captions are intended to be a base for creating accurate captions with the editor and also to enable users the ability to search and interact with transcript while watching a video. Read more about this feature on our Kaltura Closed Captioning page.
New Widget on Default Course Homepage
The Course Overview widget is a dashboard on your course homepage that allows you to see some data about course access and engagement.
The widget displays high-level aggregate information about the course and links to course-specific reports. For example, the widget can display a visualization of weekly course access (the Course Access report as a bar chart) and how many learners submitted quizzes today. In addition, the widget includes links to the Class Engagement tool, and Course Access and Tool Access reports. More information on the Course Overview widget can be found on our help page.
24/7 D2L Support Available
The D2L technical support specialists at the 24/7 Technical Support help desk are trained to assist users on a variety of topics including:
- Configuring your computer to use D2L
- Logging into D2L
- Troubleshooting problems accessing your online content
- Setting up your browser to support D2L
- Questions about how to use features in D2L
- Uploading and downloading assignments/email attachments
August 2019, version 20.19.8
Activity Feed – Visual improvements
The following changes are visible in Activity Feed:
- When selecting between Message and Assignment posts, the chosen option is now underlined to better indicate the post type.
- Field names have been added to improve accessibility.
- The post type icon has been removed to provide more authoring space when creating posts.
- Once a post is published, the new layout makes more efficient use of screen space.
Brightspace - Improvements to course notifications
To improve the delivery of course notifications in Brightspace Learning Environment, the Notifications option, available from the username on the minibar, includes the following changes:
- Added a Summary of Activity option for receiving email notifications about the summary of activity for each course. Options include: Never, Daily, or Weekly (default).
- Removed the following Customize Notifications options: Allow past courses to send me notifications and Allow inactive courses to send me notifications. Learners can now only receive daily email digests for current and future courses.
- Removed the following SMS notifications for Instant Notifications: Content - content item created, Content - content item updated, and Content - content overview updated.
If any of the removed notification options are currently selected, learners will no longer receive these notifications after the monthly update. To receive content-related instant notifications, D2L recommends using the Brightspace Pulse mobile app or select the Email option for the instant notification type on the Notifications page. Email content notifications remain unaffected.
This feature implements PIE item D2203.
Brightspace Learning Environment – Supported browsers
New clients can no longer access Brightspace Learning Environment using Microsoft Internet Explorer. If users attempt to access Brightspace Learning Environment using Internet Explorer, an unsupported page appears. The unsupported page contains links to download supported browsers and a link to the Community End of Life communication. The text of the unsupported page is customizable using the Language Management tool. Users cannot log in to Brightspace Learning Environment using any version of Internet Explorer.
When a user tries to access Brightspace Learning Environment using any version of Internet Explorer, a retro pop-up dialog box appears. The text in the retro pop-up dialog box has been updated to include the January 2020 end of life date information. Users who had previously dismissed the pop-up will see it again following the August update if Brightspace is accessed using any version of Internet Explorer. The pop-up can be dismissed again and will not reappear with subsequent updates. Sites that have explicitly turned off the retro pop-up dialog box for their entire org are not affected.
Brightspace - OpenDyslexic font setting | Removed
The OpenDyslexic font is intended to increase readability of text for users with dyslexia. D2L introduced this font into Brightspace Learning Environment as a measure of support for users with dyslexia, based on interest from clients and initially positive media reports. However, to date, there is no empirical evidence that it improves readability or comprehension for users with dyslexia. To ensure that D2L offers true accessibility solutions and that we align our design system and development practices with the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 Level AA Criteria), the OpenDyslexic font is removed in the August 2019 release.
For more information, see the Intent To End Of Life Notice For: OpenDyslexic Font Option In Account Settings blog post.
Email – Add images to messages
When composing email messages, users can select Insert Image to add pictures from their computer, a URL, or Manage Files. Images are inserted in place, attached to the email, and display in place for the recipient. The Insert Stuff button is no longer shown in Email, as it has several workflows that are incompatible with the external email experience.
This feature implements PIE items D871, D5458, D2163.
Intelligent Agents - Release Condition Re-evaluations
Intelligent Agents now re-evaluate the status of release conditions at the moment of triggering to determine whether a user has completed a particular release condition or not. Previously, Intelligent Agents retained release condition information from users, even if users no longer triggered the retained release condition.
This feature implements PIE item D3497.
Quizzes - Restore quiz attempts in the Quiz Attempt log
Instructors can now restore deleted quiz attempts for learners from within a quiz using the new Quiz Attempt log. The New Quiz Attempt log tracks quiz attempt submissions per user, in both an overview and detailed set of logs.
The following actions are captured in the Overview:
- Attempt Started
- Attempt Submitted
- Attempt Deleted
- Attempt Restored
The Restore button appears when a quiz attempt is deleted for a user. Instructors can access the attempt logs from the Quiz name drop-down menu and in the Grade Quiz area. The ability to see the Restore button beside deleted attempts is now controlled by the renamed Reset and Restore Attempts permission.
The Detailed Quiz Log captures the following actions:
- Quiz Entry and re-entry
- Response Save time
- Page Movement time
- Quiz confirmation screen / completion
July 2019, version 20.19.7
Accessibility – Compliance with WCAG 2.1
As part of our ongoing commitment to design and develop against WC3 accessibility best practices, there are updates to our shared web components, such as fonts, buttons, menus, and input fields, to ensure they align with WCAG 2.1 standards. These changes include:
- Text color change from #56A5C to #494C4E for our standard font styles, which is WCAG Level AAA compliant.
- Resetting clients to "Normal" for their Org default size to ensure that default configurations have appropriate legibility. In addition, the configuration option for setting a font override at the Org level has been removed. Users can still change their personal font preferences using Account Settings and existing individual user overrides are retained.
- Changes to the color, borders, hover and focus styles of other web components such as buttons, menus and input fields to ensure they comply with WCAG 2.1 color contrast requirements for non-text components.
These changes will improve readability and provide better ability to meet contrast compliance with non-text elements. It is D2L’s intention to be an industry leader in inclusive design, and these changes improve support for individuals with alternative fine motor, cognition, and low vision needs. These compliance changes contain no changes to workflows; all changes are look and feel only.
Activity Feed – Pin multiple posts
Instructors can pin more than one post to the top of their Activity Feed. Previously, only one post could be pinned at a time. This allow instructors to highlight more than one important post at a time to ensure that students do not miss critical posts.
This feature implements PIE item D4635.
Figure: Multiple posts pinned to the top of the feed
Activity Feed – Support for courses with section
Activity Feed posts can now be sent to specific sections in a course. Previously, posts and comments were available to all users in a course and could not be restricted based on section. If an instructor is enrolled in more than one section of a course, they can specify which sections can view the post. Instructors can also filter their course activity feed by a section, allowing them to focus on posts from a specific section.
This feature implements PIE item D3952.
Figure: Select which section(s) you want to view a post
Assignments – Edit category improvements
An Edit Categories option is now available in Assignments to allow users to edit all categories from one page. You can add, modify, delete, and sort categories, as well as manage unused categories. If a category with assignments is deleted, those assignments are added to the No Category area.
This feature implements PIE items D1858, and D1913.
Figure: Select Edit Categories from the Assignments page
Figure: Manage all categories from one page
Class Progress - Default indicator change
Class Progress has two Content tool indicator graphs: Content Visited and Content Completed. In this release, the default is switching from Content Visited to Content Completed to better reflect learner progress through the completion of Content activities. The change will apply to all users who utilize the default settings of Class Progress. Any users that have overridden any of their Class Progress indicators will not see a change. Users who want to have Content Completed appear can switch indicators using the Class Progress settings in their course.
Navbar - Display user initials when there is no user profile image | New
If a user does not upload a user profile image in Brightspace Learning Environment, the navbar now displays the user's initials in the user-profile badge. This change occurs for all roles and displays in the Brightspace Learning Environment navbar and Activity Feed. Previously, if a profile image was not uploaded, a blank user image displayed.
Figure: A blank user image previously displayed in the navbar
Figure: User initials now display in the navbar
Surveys - Improvements to the learner experience
To improve the learner experience when taking a survey, the following updates are now available:
- The primary button when completing a Survey has been updated from Save Responses to read as Submit Survey. Learners will continue to be prompted to confirm their submission when they submit the survey
- Learners can still save survey answers manually. The Save button now reads as Save Responses
- A new Back to Questions button is displayed when attempting to submit a survey with unanswered questions
- While learners are taking an anonymous survey, an alert appears at the top of the survey indicating that the survey is anonymous and their user information will not be tied to their responses
This feature implements PIE items D4528, and D1023.
Widgets – Updates to Lang Terms for Updates Widget and My Courses Widget
There are changes to lang term values to increase the clarity of the fields in the Updates Widget, the My Courses Widget, and Assignments (displayed in Grades) to more clearly describe the capability of the feature.
In the Updates widget:
- Show the number of new assignment submissions is now Show the number of unread submission files
- New Assignment Submissions for {subject} is now New Assignment Submission Files for {subject
In Assignments (displayed in Grades):
- New submission - View {subject}'s submissions in a new window is now Unread submission file - View {subject}'s submissions in a new window
May 2019, version 20.19.5
Binder - End-of-life
As of May 31, 2019, Binder is no longer supported by D2L. Binder will no longer work
with Brightspace, and it will be removed from the Apple AppStore and Google Play app
store.
Users who have Binder can continue to use it after May 31, however, no further maintenance
or update of the app will be available. Be advised that over time, the app will stop
working as the operating systems that Binder depends on incur updates.
For users who want to access course materials offline, D2L recommends the Brightspace
Pulse app for iOS and Android which is free to download from the Apple AppStore and
Google Play store.
Discussions - Save feedback in draft state
This feature provides instructors the option to save feedback on assessments in draft
state prior to publishing it to learners. Now when instructors add feedback to assessments,
the Save Draft and Publish buttons display.
Note: The Save Draft button does not appear when a discussion topic is only associated with a rubric.
Figure: General Feedback page with the Publish and Save Draft buttons
Quizzes - Full-screen quiz evaluation
Now instructors can evaluate quiz attempts in full-screen mode. This update enhances an instructor's quiz evaluation experience.
Figure: Quiz evaluation in full-screen mode