D2L is Reheating PIE!
admin
We have some exciting news to share about PIE!
Get all the details on what this means for your PIE submissions and how you can voice what's top of mind at your place of Teaching and Learning from the following article describing the first key milestone on the journey.
Comments
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What about the ideas with status "Not planned"? Like individual feedback on group assignments? Should we just forget about those, or are new comments still considered?
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@Ulf.M.583 thank you for this question! The Ideas in "Not planned" status will be archived for future reference as investments change. At this moment, we will not be considering comments on Ideas in the "Not planned" status. Please check out the link below showing a filtered view of the Ideas in the "Feedback Review Window" status and open for comments to flag value and interest.
https://desire2learn.brightidea.com/ideas/boards?status_filter%5B0%5D=Feedback%20Review%20Window
Thanks!
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Thank you for this exciting news about PIE; glad to finally see some new life being directed this way!
Will this "reheating" also include updates to how D2L manages/processes idea statuses? As just a few examples, there have been recent PIE items marked as "released" according to the release notes, but not updated in PIE (ex. D6218). There's also at least one case where the PIE item is marked as "Not planned", but was actually implemented and released in June 2025 (ex. D2237).
Having better communication and up-to-date statuses would be much appreciated and I think really help encourage people to submit more ideas. My experience with PIE has always been discouraging as I feel I submit great ideas and they get stuck "In Review" for years with no sign that they've been seen or discussed.
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Hi Matthew,
Thank you so much for your comment and enthusiasm for this coming enhancement - we are excited as well!
To answer your question - yes. In fact, the way in which we manage PIE and triage Ideas (with a goal of clearly "closing the loop") is one of two big focuses of this "re-heat" initiative. The second is a focus on what goes into PIE, aiming for the true "pie in the sky" ideas, as opposed to feature enhancements and bug/defect reports which have often found their way into current PIE.
We are confident that with the new, simplified workflow of the coming "re-heated" PIE experience will allow for D2L to keep everyone informed with where Ideas fall in regard with today's strategy and direction. We have heard that "being told 'no' is better than being told nothing at all," so with that, we are committing to being clear when we are not planning to address an Idea at this time. We've also been working on changes to internal processes to help us become more consistent in the kinds of details and rationale shared for status change and the expectations around time to respond to idea submissions.
Post-Fusion, you can expect to see more updates to our Community documentation on new PIE processes to help document and communicate these changes in greater detail.
Thank you again for your feedback, and please keep it coming, as it is incredibly valuable in helping us ensure we are building the best experience.
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I understand the value of decluttering the PIE. I do. There’s just so much content that it becomes unmanageable. Loads of good ideas but it’s just too hard to find them amidst all the piles and piles of other stuff. So decluttering makes sense.
But what also needs to be acknowledged in this Marie Kondo-ing of the PIE is that, alongside these “Not Planned” ideas that are not being migrated, you will find communities of users who have grown up around them. Micro-communities…along with related links, dialogue, workarounds, and other valuable interactions. And, while the idea may persist in an offline D2L archive, the community will no longer be accessible to the users who built it. And this I consider to be a significant loss…especially for long-standing ideas (many dating back more than a decade) that are heavily supported vote-wise but have been marked as “Not Planned.”
A great example of this is the idea of connecting attendance to grading (now marked as "Not Planned"). Dating back to 2013, this idea (and related ideas) has significant support, all of which will vanish on the new PIE. Does this mean that newcomers will propose it all over again without realizing that this backstory ever existed?
Attendance: Associate a Grade Item with an Attendance Register to export attendance scores to Grade (D222)
Submitted: 07/31/2013
Votes: 345Attendance to gradebook (D3537)
Submitted: 11/02/2016
Votes: 108Attendance Tool Redesign (D4426)
Submitted: 03/02/2018
Votes: 33Attendance (D7165)
Submitted: 12/14/2020
Votes: 27QR Code to track attendance and integrate with Attendance Tool or Gradebook (D9141)
Submitted: 05/12/2022
Votes : 31Allow access to attendance in the "custom formula" for calculating grades... (D1800)
Submitted: 08/14/2014
Votes: 35I also want to mention how much I value the community that has grown up over the past three years on BrightSpace quizzes in need of critical updates (D9656) with 244 votes.
Honestly, the prospect of restarting these communities from scratch on the new PIE feels overwhelming.
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@Mike.B.559 I want you to know- as always- your posts are thoughtful, nuanced and thought provoking. All of the folks working on this initiative are following these Community conversations on the reheating of PIE.
Please keep sharing with us. In launching new methods and processes, your perspective helps to shed light on challenge and opportunity.
I'm excited and hopeful for the ways we can continue to foster that spirit of ideation, connection, and inspiration that often emerged from the micro communities of the ideas in our Legacy PIE, by embracing some new approaches we hope will improve our ability to respond with greater efficiency to shared ideas, and celebrate the submissions and partnership that lead to real change in the ways we can teach and learn with Brightspace. -
@Mike.B.559 thanks for the feedback on what's next for PIE. I had not considered the value of closed PIE items for sources of workarounds. We will discuss how to best handle this so that knowledge base is not lost in this transition.
