Video: Release Highlights
Announcements
To view the change log for this release note landing page, see Document Change History at the bottom of this page.
Brightspace Editor – Advanced code editor visual update and accessibility improvements | Updated
Minor visual updates made to the advanced code editor in Brightspace increase the readability of tags and text in the advanced code editor and place the Save and Cancel buttons in consistent locations. Improved compatibility with screen reader technology is also included in this feature.
Previously, certain screen readers in specific form settings were unable to access or read from the advanced code editor.
This feature makes no changes to the functionality or workflows associated with the advanced code editor.
Figure: The updated location of the Save and Cancel buttons for the advanced code editor.
This feature addresses the following accessibility criteria
• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation
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Brightspace Insights – Quiz filter and contextual help added to Assessment Quality Dashboard | Updated
This feature builds on the Assessment Quality Dashboard updates released in Brightspace Platform 20.22.3/March 2022 with two more usability improvements:
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A new search input in the Quiz Details area where users can enter the name of a quiz to filter the dashboard results. Filtering the dashboard to quizzes with the same name allows users to compare multiple occurrences of the same quiz to see how the statistics vary.
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Hover text added to the "!" icons to provide context to users about when to act on flagged quizzes and questions.
Administrators can still return to the legacy Assessment Quality Dashboard experience by disabling the d2l.Tools.Insights.AssessmentQuality.EnableNewExperience configuration variable.
Figure: The updated Assessment Quality Dashboard with the Search by Quiz Name box highlighted.
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Brightspace Portfolio – Streamlined user navigation and filter controls | New
From a learner's portfolio in the Portfolio tool, user navigation and filter controls are now streamlined to reside in more intuitive locations. For example, the user navigation controls are now closer to the Portfolio header bar, making room for future functionality. In addition, the Filter drop-down list is now next to the applied filters.
Figure: User navigation controls are now closer to the Portfolio header bar and the Filter drop-down list is next to the applied filters.
Figure: Previously, a large white space existed between user navigation controls and the Portfolio header bar, and the Filter drop-down list was on the other side of the page from the applied filters.
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Data Hub – Course Access Log Brightspace Data Set | New
This release adds the new Course Access Log Brightspace Data Set (BDS), which returns information on users accessing their course offerings using the Pulse app. The data set creates a row with a timestamp when a user initially accesses a course, and creates additional rows for every 30 minutes that the user spends in the course.
The new Course Access Log BDS complements the existing Course Access BDS, which only reports on course access from the LMS via a browser.
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Ensure the Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission is granted to administrators at the org level and the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 7. New and changed data sets appear the first time the data set runs after the version update.
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Ensure that Brightspace Pulse is enabled in your organization. For more information, see Required permissions for Brightspace Pulse.
Data Hub – End of Adoption Period for Brightspace Data Sets Version 7 | New
Brightspace Data Sets Version 7 was first announced in the October 2021/20.21.10 release notes. With this release, the adoption period for Version 7 has ended and it is the only supported version.
Version 7 includes major changes that remove columns in existing Brightspace Data Sets:
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Removed VisibleStartDate, VisibleEndDate, PostingStartDate, and PostingEndDate columns from Discussion Forums BDS.
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Removed VisibleStartDate, VisibleEndDate, PostingStartDate, and PostingEndDate columns from Discussion Topics BDS.
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Removed ChecklistItemCount column from Checklist Objects BDS.
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Removed NumberOfItems column from Checklist Category Details BDS.
For more information about this version update, refer to Motivations behind the changes in Data Hub Brightspace Data Set Major Version 7.0 October 2021 Release in Brightspace Community.
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Group/Section Management – Asynchronous Group Creation | New
This feature moves group creation and enrollment to background task, minimizing risk of timeouts when creating large numbers of groups requiring enrollments.
When instructors create and save a new group category, the Groups tool displays the category and prompts instructors that their group or groups are being created in the background; further, it indicates that the instructor will be notified once the groups are created. The instructor who created the group receives a subscription alert in the minibar that indicates that the groups for their courses have been created.
While this is in process, the Brightspace UI indicates that "Group creation is in progress". While processing, users are unable to make changes to groups or enrollments.
To facilitate these changes, and the potential for allowing clients to make much larger numbers of groups in a category, this feature introduces pagination to the Groups tool, that limits each page to a maximum of 200 groups. In addition, the header row for the category has been moved to above the grid and the Delete and Email options are added to the Category dropdown menu.
Figure: The updated Groups page with the "Group Creation in progress..." message highlighted.
Figure: The updated Groups page with the Category dropdown menu and the Delete and Email options highlighted.
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Intelligent Agents – Create Agent page facilitates more flexible scheduling and frequency options | Updated
Building on the Intelligent Agents – Agent List page changes | Updated feature released in February 2022/20.22.2, this feature changes the Intelligent Agents Create Agent page to facilitate additional scheduling options and frequency options to allow for improved flexibility.
The changes to the Create Agent page include:
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A modernized user interface. This is a visual upgrade and does not impact functionality.
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Scheduling options have been moved to the top of the page.
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The ability to expand and collapse each section on the agent creation page (Scheduling, Criteria, Actions) to improve usability.
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Two new agent frequency options:
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One-Time Run allows instructors to choose a single date and time to run.
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Hourly allows instructors to choose a date and time to run between. If no dates are chosen, the Hourly agent runs every hour with the first time being "now" (that is once the agent is saved and enabled).
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The existing Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annually options all now have a Scheduled Time option that users complete to determine what time that the agent will run on the dates scheduled for the agent to run.
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The Subject line of the agents' emails now supports up to 128 characters. This brings it inline with the Email tool. Previously, the character limit was 100 characters.
Figure: The Intelligent Agent scheduling page with the Hourly option selected.
This feature implements PIE items D7457 (increase Intelligent Agent email character limit to 128); D5830 (Allow easier 'once off' intelligent agent scheduling); D5208 (Add "Time' Option to Restriction to Schedule of Intelligent Agent); and D7726 (Ability to Run Intelligent Agents Multiple Times Per Day).
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My Courses Widget – Language now managed in language pack | New
This feature adds language pack support for the My Courses Widget, allowing customers to customize language terms within the widget. Administrators can make these changes with the Language Management tool. Language terms are found under the Tool Package WebComponents in Collections d2l-my-courses\d2l-my-courses, d2l-enrollments\Enrollment, and d2l-image-selector\ImageSelector.
This feature implements PIE items D6255 (Language Management variables allowing custom terms) and D4457 (Ability to update the message in the language management tool).
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New Content Experience – Add and edit dates for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics | Updated
When the new create and edit experience is enabled, instructors can use a new edit page for Google Drive and OneDrive links where dates can be added and edited or associated files can be replaced. This more closely aligns to how links to other web items can be edited and increases the consistency of create and edit workflows across Brightspace Learning Environment.
Previously, only the topic title could be edited for Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive link topics in the new content experience.
Administrators must ensure that the d2l.3rdParty.GoogleDrive.EnableGooglePicker configuration variable is enabled for the Replace button to appear for Google Drive topics and the d2l.3rdParty.OneDrive.EnableOneDrivePicker configuration variable is enabled for the Replace button to appear for OneDrive topics.
Note: Microsoft OneDrive files cannot be embedded in Brightspace, as a result the Display Options portion of the page does not display for OneDrive files. The Replace button only displays if the File Picker configuration variables are enabled.
Figure: The updated editing page for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics.
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Moderate impact to administrators due to the need to enable the necessary configuration variables.
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Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to edit dates and replace associated files for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive link topics if they are opted in to the new create and edit experience.
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Ensure that the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable is enabled, along with the d2l.3rdParty.GoogleDrive.EnableGooglePicker, and d2l.3rdParty.OneDrive.EnableOneDrivePicker variables, depending on which integrations are in use.
Rubrics – Customize language terms in Rubrics | Updated
It is now possible to update the language package for the Rubrics tool with client-specific terminology. Using Language Management, administrators can apply the d2l-rubric lang term collection to apply language translations and create custom overrides to rubric web components. This enables instructors, learners, and other users to see language in Rubrics that more closely resembles the institutional policies for assessment language.
Figure: The tool package and language term collection for the Rubrics update.
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Rubrics – Rubric Overall Score is available in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian | Updated
With this update, the Overall Score now appears below the rubric criterion evaluations in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian, providing a consistent Rubrics experience with all Brightspace Learning Environment tools. Previously, Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian tools did not recognize rubric functionality improvements available in other tools. Now, instructors and other evaluators can add or remove a manual override of the Overall Score level in all assessment tools.
In the Overall Score, screen readers are informed that the overall score levels are selectable items. When the user navigates between levels, the screen reader reads the level order, level name, point level, level content, and selection status.
Figure: The Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent and Guardian, consistent with other Rubrics tool experiences.
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Slight impact to instructors and other evaluators due to the availability of the Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian.
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Slight impact to administrators, learners, parents, and other users who now see the rubric Overall Score in Brightspace Portfolio and Brightspace Parent & Guardian.
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SCORM – Edit dates and associated grade items for LOR based SCORM packages | New
SCORM packages added from the LOR using the New Content Experience now have an improved editing experience. When the new create and edit experience is enabled, instructors see a new edit page for LOR sourced SCORM packages. The editing page allows instructors to edit dates and associated grade items (like Imported SCORM topics) and edit LOR details and version information (like other LOR topics). This brings greater consistency to the create and edit workflows for all activities in Brightspace.
Previously, in the New Content Experience, only topic titles were editable for LOR based SCORM.
Figure: The new edit page for LOR based SCORM packages in the New Content Experience.
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Slight impact to Administrators due to the need to set the value of the d2l.Tools.Content.LessonsCreateExperienceOptIn configuration variable.
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Slight impact to Instructors as there are new editing options for LOR based SCORM packages in the New Content Experience
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Widgets - Widget Editor and updated permissions for the Homepage Widget Expansion pack | New
To streamline widget configuration and grant more control over who can configure widgets, some system widgets (previously known as custom widgets) in the Homepage Widget Expansion Pack now use the new Widget Editor for configuration and the new Retrieve Org Unit Custom Widget Data and Modify Org Unit Custom Widget Data permissions. Previously, shared files were used to configure some system widgets and there were no permissions to control who could configure system widgets.
The system widgets now configured by the Widget Editor include:
Figure: The new Widget Editor to configure the Visual Table of Contents Widget
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D2L deploys and turns on the new Widget Editor and each new system widget in Brightspace instances with the Homepage Widget Expansion Pack.
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Once the Widget Editor is turned on, administrators grant the new Homepages > Retrieve Org Unit Custom Widget Data and Modify Org Unit Custom Widget Data permissions to instructors that need to customize the system widgets that use the Widget Editor.
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From a course homepage, the Visual Table of Contents Widget, Welcome Window Widget, and Slim Announcements Widget now contain a (…) Customize Widget button that opens the Widget Editor to allow instructors to edit the JSON for the widget.
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If you currently have system widgets available in your Brightspace instance, a new version of each widget is automatically added to your Brightspace instance. Once the new system widgets are in your Brightspace instance, use Homepage Management to replace the existing system widgets with the new system widgets and configure the new system widgets as needed.
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If you don’t have the Homepage Widget Expansion pack, don't see a specific system widget in your Brightspace instance, or want to purchase a specific system widget, contact your D2L Customer Success Manager or D2L Client Sales Executive.
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For more information on configuring each system widget, see Homepage Widget Expansion Pack.
IPSIS – Course Has Sections option permanently turned on | New
For course offerings with sections created by the IPSIS integration, the Course Has Sections checkbox in the Course Offering Information page is now permanently turned on and cannot be turned off. To effectively manage courses with IPSIS, all course offerings must allow sections. Previously, any user with the appropriate permissions could turn off the Course has sections option in a course offering with sections created by IPSIS, which would convert all sections in the course offering to groups.
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Ouriginal – Language updates for improved clarity and removal of opt out option | Updated
The Ouriginal interface has updated its language terms to display similarity in all places that previously referenced plagiarism. For example, Assignments Analyzed for Similarity now displays in place of Assignments Analyzed for Plagiarism.
The opt out option has also been removed from the submission menu as its function has changed. This change is due to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), as the submitter and receiver are never shown when there is a match outside of a user's organization. Opting out in this scenario would prevent instructors from viewing information on matches from within their own organization.
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- *Added on 7-April-2022 Updated the text of Group/Section Management – Asynchronous Group Creation | New to make clear that the notification message is delivered to the instructor who created the group, not the learners enrolled in the group.
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*Added on 7-April-2022 Added the Brightspace Portfolio - Streamlined user navigation and filter controls | New feature.
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*Added on 7-April-2022 Added the IPSIS - Course Has Sections option permanently turned on | New feature.
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*Added on 7-April-2022 Added the Widgets - Widget Editor and updated permissions for the Homepage Widget Expansion pack | New feature.