IOS ipad & Apple Pencil Grading Capabilities?

kdiaz17@cnm.edu
kdiaz17@cnm.edu Posts: 4 🌱
edited March 25 in Development
Hello,

Is there any chance Brightspace is developing (or has already developed) grading capabilities with an instructor app and ipad + pencil -- so that I can actually handwrite comments on submitted papers, mimicking the process of pen and paper? I taught at a school that used Canvas in 2022/23 and that is the 1 capability that really stood out versus Brightspace -- the ability to grade with my apple pencil (or stylus) within Canvas' Speedgrader app. Right now, it seem like the Pulse App is really for students, nothing special for instructors. Am I missing something? Is there already a way to do this that I don't know how to access?

Thanks,
Kelly
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Answers

  • Ricardo.S.110
    Ricardo.S.110 Posts: 149

    Hello @kdiaz17@cnm.edu

    The Assignments Annotation tool is actually compatible with the Apple Pencil.

    However, Brightspace does not have a Grading functionality embedded into the Pulse App or any other Grading-designated mobile application at the moment.

    That said, I looked up the Community's Product Idea Exchange and did find a similar feature request:

    Pulse Instructor Functions (D6233)

    The above idea is not currently under consideration but that could change if it gets more upvotes.

    Also, feel free to come up with your own feature requests at any time.

    The Product Idea Exchange is designed for users like you to send direct submissions to our Product Development organization and has the following advantages:

    • It allows you to receive direct updates on each request you submit
    • It allows other community members to vote on ideas
    • It allows other community members to contribute to and collaborate on each idea
    • It ensures ideas that have the greatest impact on our clients and end users receive consideration for inclusion in future releases.

    We look forward to hearing from you at the Product Idea Exchange!

  • Blakely.P.396
    Blakely.P.396 Posts: 2 🌱

    I also find it frustrating that there is no grading app for instructors. I used Speedgrader on Canvas and it made grading much easier for me. I've tried using the Apple pencil to grade the website on D2L on my iPad and the responsiveness isn't good—it looks like a 4 year old's writing, so I had to give up.

  • Joel.L.9736
    Joel.L.9736 Posts: 2 🔍
    Ricardo:I clicked on the "Pulse Instructor Functions" link that you provided and can not access this link without a separate login. I would also like to say that I really wish I could grade with my ipad Pro. I just moved to another school and am hoping that this feature was added recently or will be soon.
  • Maryjane.D.6859
    Maryjane.D.6859 Posts: 4 🔍
    All of this. D2L needs to catch up to online instruction. Canvas allowed me to pivot *easily* to grading 100% of my assignments online w my IPad Pro from the first day we were sent home in 2020. Four years later D2L is still suggesting ridiculous and cumbersome work around. Easy to tell that the decision to use D2L was made by a government committee and not the local faculty.
  • Krizzy.S.9720
    Krizzy.S.9720 Posts: 15 admin

    Hello @Maryjane.D.6859,

    Thank you for sharing your feedback. We want you to be able to easily grade from your mobile devices too including iOS tools. You can do this in Brightspace using tools like the Quick Eval which offer a streamlined view of all learner submissions, including assignments, quizzes, and discussions, and offers robust filtering and sorting capabilities to easily access and grade all submissions. Note: Quick Eval is enabled per organization, if you don't see it in your course, ask your Brightspace Administrator/help desk about turning it on in your course.

    Thank you @Ricardo.S.110 for the information! You can indeed use Annotations across all web and mobile devices (including iPad) to evaluate and grade learners, and many instructors now utilize mobile grading on their iPads. This documentation explains how you can grade class activities using the  Quick Eval tool: https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/3549-grade-with-quick-eval

    If you're running into difficulty grading with Quick Eval or evaluating using an iPad creating a support case will help us investigate and resolve that issue. If you're not sure how to contact your help desk, please respond here and we can help to connect you. We appreciate your input and contributions to this important discussion on supporting Learners and Educators with improved assessment tools!

    Best,

    Krizzy

  • Quick Eval is enabled in our organization. I don't need to filter (although it is nice to be able to skip students who haven't submitted items). If I had to Annotate every student's lack of accent mark on every preterit verb in their assignment, the annotations would be longer than the assignment. I just want to be able to write directly on their assignments as I did when at a school that used Canvas — which was SOOO user friendly, had a mobile faculty app, and allowed me to mark on any type of file: docx, pptx, jpg, pdf, within the program itself — no down and uploading.

  • Daniel.M.401
    Daniel.M.401 Posts: 3 🌱

    One thing that our school noted was the annotations using the apple pencil on a IPAD had to be done in Safari. Not sure if this is still the case.