Brightspace by D2L Upgrade Training
August 2015
This document provides an overview of some new features, and improvements to existing features implemented in the
latest upgrade. GFC MSU is now participating in what D2L calls “continuous delivery” for Brightspace upgrades. What
continuous delivery means for us is that we should no longer have major upgrades like the one that just took place.
Instead, improvements and new features will be added monthly as they are released by D2L, much like other software can
be set to run automatic updates. The eLearning office will keep you informed of any changes as they are made available.
New |Checklist
This checklist consists of six tasks that are common to all courses online or face to face. To complete each task click on
the activity, then click on the “Blue Button”. This will take you to the proper location to complete the task. When you
finish each activity, you can return and mark that task done on the checklist.
Course Admin
New | Course Conversion Tool
The new Course Conversion tool allows administrators and instructors to import courses from other learning management
systems (such as Angel, Moodle, or eCollege). Users can be notified by email when the conversion is complete.
Note: If you have content that needs to be converted, please contact an Instructional Designer for assistance.
Import/Export/Copy Components tool
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After creating a course, the import workflow has been streamlined by
combining the Import Course and Copy Course Components options into a
single option: Copy or Import Course Components. After clicking this option,
users can import the course components by clicking Import Components.
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The Export course option is now only available through Edit Course ->
Import/Export/Copy Components tool.
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When importing course components, users can now choose to be notified
when the import is complete by enabling a notification check box. Previously,
notifications were enabled by default and could not be disabled.
Copy Course Components - Default activation of Homepage and Navbar
When copying components from a past course, the active homepage and navbar from the past course are now
automatically set as active in the new course. This will ease any issues related to copying and applying your instructor
widget. You only need to check the homepage and widget to make sure all information is kept up to date.
Copy Course Components – Associated Files will copy along with quizzes and content
When copying over content from a previous course, files that are linked and associated with an item you are copying
will automatically be selected to accompany the item.
“Include Associated Files” will be checked by default.
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Content
Dropdown Menu
New options are available in the New dropdown menu include the addition of Video and Audio creation tools. You can also
upload files directly to the Manage Files area to keep your file system clean and organized, then link them from the Content
directly using the Add from Manage Files link.
New | Creating Video Topics
Videos are a key content type for instructors who want to add lectures and other multimedia content to their course.
Instructors can now create video topics directly in the Content tool. Video topics are listed in modules with a
Video icon
to distinguish them from other types of files and link topics. Users can upload video files by dragging and dropping them on
to the upload target, or by browsing and selecting them from their computers.
Currently an upload is limited to 1GB file size.
Any web video can be used to create a video topic simply by pasting its HTML embed code in the Enter URL or Embed Code
field. Additionally, the Brightspace learning environment provides shortcuts for some websites, enabling users to create
videos by simply copying and pasting the URL of the video instead of the HTML embed code.
The following table lists some supported video sites frequently used by clients today.
Video Source
URL Support
YouTube
Vimeo
Khan Academy
TED
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Embed Code
Support
Extract Title Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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Extract Author
Support
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
New | Content - Closed captions for Video Topics
Instructors can now attach subtitle (SRT) files to video topics in Content. A video topic can include SRT files in multiple
languages. Subtitles are uploaded into a subfolder in the same location where the video file is located. SRT files uploaded to
this subfolder are automatically renamed according to the original filename.
Subtitles appear to users as closed captions within the default video player. Users can choose if they want to view subtitles,
and which available language they want to view.
Note: Subtitles are not automatically generated for videos and translated for different languages.
Closed Captioning extends the default video player to support instructors teaching language courses and students who
might benefit from additional learning support.
New | Additional “Next” and “Previous” buttons
Previously, users had to scroll back to the top of a topic page or open the side navigation panel to move to the next topic
when viewing course content and activities in the Content tool. Now, users can navigate more easily through topics with
the addition of Next and Previous icons above and below content.
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Icons in the collapsible navigation panel
A series of usability changes were made to the collapsible navigation panel available when viewing topics in the Content
tool. These changes focused on removing confusion around whether the Next and Previous icons moved between topics or
modules. The new design makes it clear whether the Next and Previous icons move between topics or modules when
viewing content in the Content Viewer.
New | OpenDyslexic font available
To increase accessibility for learners and teachers that have dyslexia, D2L incorporated the OpenDyslexic font
(http://opendyslexic.org/).
To use this font, from your personal menu, click Account Settings.
In the Font Settings area, from the Font Face drop-down list, select Open Dyslexic.
New | View PDF documents within Content
When using the Content tool, you can now view PDF documents inline. Previously, PDF documents were converted into
images for inline rendering.
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New | Content - File Management options and dialog display
Instructors can now choose to receive a dialog prompt to specify a Course Files path each time they create Content topics
via dragging and dropping onto the upload target area. The prompt can be enabled or disabled from the dialog prompt.
Clearing the Show a prompt to choose a folder in Course Files check box in Content Settings will allow instructors who are
not concerned about the organization of their files in Course Files or have their own processes for organizing files to
continue to drag and drop files without disruption.
The default path provided for the upload files and drag and drop
prompt is the last selected path for that module. This makes the
process of adding all files for a specific module to the same folder
much faster. If instructors dismiss the prompt, the last selected
path is used for all files added to the module via drag-and-drop.
If no folder was previously selected for a module, files are added
to the root folder in Course Files.
Instructors can also access a module’s context menu and click Set
Default Path to set a custom default path if they do not need a
prompt each time they upload a topic to that module.
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HTML Editor - Enable a browser’s spell checker
In supported browsers, the native Spell Checker now works with Learning Environment’s HTML Editor, while
maintaining the HTML Editor’s Spell Checker. Misspelled words are now underlined in text fields.
The HTML Editor also supports auto-linking of web addresses (URLs). Now, when users enter a URL in HTML Editor, it
will automatically convert to a link.
Workflow Improvements
Sometimes when instructors are working within the Content tool, they are required to navigate to another tool via Content
to complete their task. When this happens, instructors are now automatically directed back to the Content tool once the
task is done so they can continue what they were previously doing.
For example, if instructors initiate the Dropbox evaluation workflow using the Completion Summary area for a Dropbox
activity within Content, the system will return them automatically to the Dropbox activity within Content when they are
done. Additionally, if an instructor edits metadata related to a content topic from within the Content tool, they are
returned to the content topic when they are done.
Availability Dates - "Now" button available
The Now button has been restored in date selectors in locations where it had been removed. Tools affected include
classlist search filters, course builder tools with date restrictions, discussion dates, dropbox dates, grade items and
categories, manage dates, news, quizzes, and surveys.
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User interface improvements for topics
Brightspace by D2L updated the user interface for viewing content topics and activities with the goals of improving usability
and minimizing clutter. Previously, all information surrounding Activity Details, Learning Objectives, and Completion
Summary displayed on content topic pages as three stacked, collapsible areas. Now, these areas display as separate tabs,
improving discoverability of different areas, progressive disclosure of information, and aesthetics.
Dropbox
Workflow
Brightspace by D2L improved the workflow for deleting dropbox folders from the main Dropbox Folders page to align with
established web patterns. Instructors can now delete dropbox folders from their individual context menus or from the
More Actions button.
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Classlist
User Progress feature improvements
A link to Dropbox Submissions is available prior to assessment or comment submission.
Did you know, you can determine when a student last accessed your course, and when they last accessed D2L?
Discussions
New | Scroll Spy
Previously, the Read status of discussion posts by instructors and students automatically tracked during the page loading
process for all discussion posts. This often resulted in inaccurate data, making it difficult for users to track the posts they
hadn’t read, and produced inaccurate statistics on the number of posts read. Now, posts that are positioned on users’
screens to be read are marked as read as the user scrolls through them, ensuring a more reliable tracking process. Students
and instructors can trust that they won't miss an important post due to it getting marked read before they could read it,
and instructors can be more confident that students have actually read the number of posts reported in Statistics.
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Bulk edit forums and topics
Assess a learner's contributions from within a thread
Instructors can now assess all discussion contributions for a thread from a new context menu item: "Assess student". This
opens the topic scoring window with the learner's contributions and a field to grade them. The Assess Student context
menu item is now available for the reading view in the discussion thread context menu on the Thread List (View
Topic) page in Discussions. This change improves workflow experience by saving users a click from the previous
workflow, which required users to click on a thread before assessing a learner.
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Grades
Release final grades
Previously, when Final Grades were released to students, an open eye icon ( ) displayed in the Final Adjusted Grade
column of the Enter Grades page. Instructor feedback indicated that a clearer prompt would help instructors realize when
final grades had not been released yet.
Now, a closed eye icon (
updated open eye icon (
) displays in the Final Adjusted Grade column beside unreleased final grades and an
) displays in the Final Adjusted Grade column beside released final grades.
Quizzes
Disable check spelling in quizzes
By default, the spell checker is available in quiz attempts in the HTML editor. If you want the Spell Checker disabled for all
quizzes you will need to contact eLearning to have that variable changed. Once this is done, it will disable the spell checker
for ALL quizzes in that course.
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Ability to preview random question sections
D2L improved the process for previewing random question sections so that it is easier. Now, users just need to access the
Edit Quiz page for the quiz with random sections they want to view and click the section name in the Quiz Questions area
to review all random questions assigned to the quiz.
Respondus Lockdown Browser Tab
This new tab in the quizzes area will activate the dashboard and allow you to create more secure online quizzes and
tests based on the tools you enable.
Quiz timer
The Time Remaining clock in a quiz now displays seconds as well as minutes and hours to provide better information to
users taking a quiz. The clock also subtly flashes for the following times:
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If a quiz is set for more than an hour long, the clock flashes when there are 10 minutes remaining.
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If a quiz is set for less than an hour long, the clock flashes when there are 5 minutes remaining.
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Regardless of the set timer, the clock flashes when there is 1 minute remaining.
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If the quiz uses an unenforced time limit and displays a clock, the timer ticks upwards instead of downwards to indicate
how much time has been spent. ARIA alerts are also available for non-visual users.
Quiz Item Analysis
Additional statistics are now available in the Quizzes tool to assist instructors in evaluating how well students perform on
quiz questions after the questions are submitted for evaluation.
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User Stats includes the standard deviation and existing class average for the overall quiz.
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Question Stats now includes standard deviation, discrimination index, and point-biserial per question, along with the
standard deviation and existing class average for the overall quiz.
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Question Details now includes standard deviation, discrimination index, and average grade achieved per question.
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Increased answer box size
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Short Answer box has increased to 60 columns
Long Answer box has increased to 80 columns
Repositioned properties on the Assessment tab
We repositioned the Automatic Grade – Allow attempt to be set as graded immediately upon completion option located
in the Assessment tab when creating or editing a quiz. Previously, the positioning of this option caused some users to miss it
when configuring or editing quizzes.
Based on user feedback, we moved the option to the top of the page so that it is immediately noticeable and less likely to
be missed by users when configuring or editing quizzes.
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New Quizzes Assessment tab
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Intelligent Agents
New |Ability to enable and disable agents in bulk
The Agent List page now has Enable and Disable options, allowing users to easily manage these settings in bulk and update
an agent's status without having to first access the Edit Agent page.
D2L Assignment Grader
Platform compatibility
To take advantage of fixes and enhancements in the latest version of D2L Assignment Grader, when installing or upgrading
D2L Assignment Grader on an iPad, iOS 8.1 or later must be installed.
If you have an iPad with iOS 8.0 or earlier, you can still install and run the previous version of D2L Assignment Grader.
Hide courses past their end date
Instructors can now hide courses that are still active but past their end date when viewing and grading assignments in
D2L Assignment Grader. This feature helps filter the Dropbox folder list in D2L Assignment Grader to display current
courses only.
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