Release Notes

February 2024/20.24.2

Video: Release Highlights

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General Announcements

Updates are coming to the Documentation knowledge bases in Community! Starting in February 2024, you can find all Integrations content in the new Integrations Documentation knowledge base instead of the Administrator Documentation knowledge base. This includes documentation about integration utilities such as IPSIS, as well as partner learning tools such as the Respondus LockDown Browser and integrations by Google. We are working to minimize the impact of any broken links that may occur due to migrating this content, but you may need to update some bookmarks and links.
D2L is now in a reseller partnership with Credly. Credly is an add-on solution that integrates the leading platform for issuing, verifying, and managing digital credentials with D2L to deliver unique value to educational institutions. For information about purchasing Credly, contact your Client Sales Executive or Account Manager. For more information, refer to D2L Partner Profile - Credly.
D2L is now a direct reseller of ReadSpeaker's innovative text-to-speech solutions, including ReadSpeaker webReader, docReader, TextAid, and Custom Voice. Organizations looking to enhance their learning experience with these tools can contact their Client Sales Executive or Account Manager for details on purchasing ReadSpeaker solutions directly from D2L.

To view the change log for this release note landing page, go to Change History at the bottom of this page.

Bongo – Provide tailored feedback using Learning Outcomes with AI Coaching and Smart Scoring features | New

Bongo is a partner product that enables learners to create video-based assignment submissions and get personalized feedback. Clients who have purchased the Bongo Premium package can now provide a reference materials, such as a video transcript or text from an article or text book, that enables Bongo to generate a set of learning objectives. Using these learning objectives, the AI Coach feature offers targeted feedback to the learner during their practice attempts in order for them to improve. If the client is also using the Smart Scoring feature, the video assignment is automatically scored against each objective either saved in draft for the instructor to review, or automatically sent to the grade book .

For more information, review the Bongo Release Notes.

Enable the Automated Feedback option to turn on automatic analysis and use artificial intelligence to assess video assignments

Figure: The Automated Feedback option enables you to create learning objectives based on a reference document you provide.

Smart Scoring provides automatic evaluations based on the learning outcomes you have established. You can also adjust the assessment or view the full evaluation report.

Figure: An example of Smart Scoring that provides automatic evaluations based on the learning outcomes you have created.

Technical Details

Impact:

Slight impact to instructors and administrators due to the ability to create learning objectives against which Bongo can provide feedback and assessments.

Availability:

This feature is available to all clients who purchase the Premium Bongo Video Assignments tool and use the learning outcomes feature of the AI Coach and Smart Scoring features. This feature is not available with the free version of Bongo Video Assignments available with the Core Brightspace package.
The Learning Objectives and Smart Scoring features are only available for use with English language assignments.

To enable:

The AI Coach functionality is included in Premium Bongo Video Assignments.
- For current clients that have previously purchased Bongo Premium, the AI Coach is OFF by default. To enable, contact your Client Sales Executive or Account Manager.
- For new clients that include Bongo Premium in their package, the AI Coach is enabled automatically with the Bongo Premium subscription.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

Brightspace – Branded footer on main pages | Updated

With this release, a Powered by D2L Brightspace footer now appears on select pages in Brightspace. The footer appears on the following pages:

D2L’s login pages

Note: When customers use their own login pages, users do not see the D2L Footer.
Org and org unit homepages
Portfolio
Brightspace for Parents and Guardian
Discover
Manager Dashboard
Insights Portal Dashboard

This replaces the footer that previously appeared at the bottom of the login page and removes the corresponding Do not display D2L branded footer setting from the Login Page Management tool.

To learn more, refer to the Powered by D2L blog post in Brightspace Community.

Technical Details

Impact:

Slight impact to all users due to a new footer appearing on select pages.

Availability:

This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

Data Hub – Brightspace Data Sets improvements for February | Updated

The following Brightspace Data Sets (BDS) are no longer available in this release:

LTI Links Shared
- Refer to Changes to your LTI Data Sets for more information about this retired data set.
Survey Question Answer Options
- Refer to Update to Survey Brightspace Data Sets for more information about this retired data set.

The following changes to existing BDS are available in this release:

LTI Links - new columns: LastModifiedBy and IsDeleted
LTI Links - change Url column size from 1000 to 2000

Technical Details

Impact:

Moderate impact to administrators due to the removal of existing Brightspace Data Sets and the addition of new columns to existing Brightspace Data Sets.

Availability:

This feature is available to all Brightspace Core clients.

To enable:

Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is granted to administrators at the org level.
Ensure the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 8.13 or 9.2.
New and changed data sets appear the first time the data set runs after the version update.

Discover – Perform bulk actions on enrollment requests | New

Users with the appropriate role permissions (approvers) can now perform bulk actions on enrollment requests in Discover. This feature simplifies managing multiple requests from the Manage Requests page.

This release also introduces a new Delete Enrollment Requests permission that enables approvers to delete enrollment requests.

Approvers can:

Select and process multiple enrollment requests simultaneously, including options to approve, decline, or delete.
Send a collective comment to all declined enrollment requests.

Note: Approvers with the Delete Enrollment Requests permission can delete multiple requests in Pending, Approved, or Declined statuses. Deleting an Approved request does not unenroll a user from the related course. If an approver deletes a pending or declined enrollment request, learners can request enrollment again, if that course is visible in Discover.

Important: Approvers cannot restore deleted enrollment requests. Learners are not notified when an approver deletes an enrollment request. D2L recommends that approvers notify users of any deleted enrollment requests.

Previously, approvers were limited to handling one enrollment request at a time, without the capability to approve, decline, delete, or comment on multiple requests concurrently.

Select multiple enrollment requests. Choose from Approve, Decline, or Delete. When declining, send a collective comment.

Figure: Approvers can select multiple enrollment requests and perform bulk actions on them.

The Decline Requests dialog with multiple requests selected and a comment.

Figure: Approvers can send a collective comment when declining multiple enrollment requests.

Technical Details

Impact:

Slight impact to administrators due to the requirement to enable the Delete Enrollment Requests permission for approvers that want to delete enrollment requests.
Moderate impact to approvers due to the ability to approve, decline, or delete multiple enrollment requests at once.

Availability:

This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

This functionality is dependent on the following role permissions:
- To approve enrollment requests, users must have the Approve Enrollment Requests permission.
- To delete enrollment requests, users must have the Delete Enrollment Requests permission. This permission is not enabled and is off by default.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

Question Library – Removal of the question mark icon | Removed

The question mark (?) icon that appears next to questions in Question Library is removed to prevent visual clutter. However, the folder icon that appears in Question Library next to each section remains.

This change only impacts Question Library and the question mark icon remains in other areas of Brightspace.

Technical Details

Impact:

Slight impact to instructors who can no longer see the question mark icon next to questions in Question Library.

Availability:

This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

This functionality is automatically removed for all users.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

Change History

11-January-2024 Preview Release Notes published.

1-February-2024 Updated the Discover – Perform bulk actions on enrollment requests | New topic to include GIF image.

14-February-2024 Updated Bongo – Provide tailored feedback using Learning Outcomes with AI Coaching and Smart Scoring features | New to improve clarity of the feature description.

14-February-2024 Updated Data Hub – Brightspace Data Sets improvements for February | Updated to remove all changes to the Course Copy Logs BDS. These updates will be available in a future release.