D2L Brightspace Updates
December 2022
Discussions
To extend the text-to-speech support in Brightspace, ReadSpeaker is now available
in Discussions.
New Quiz Experience
With the December release, D2L presents a new Quiz Experience. As part of the D2L
commitment to provide consistent workflows, the D2L Quiz Tool interface has been updated
to look more like the Assignments Tool interface. Instead of tabs, expandable menus
are now arranged for a one-page view.
Until this interface becomes the default in May of 2023, you may toggle between the old and new interfaces by clicking the tab with the down arrow at the top right of the New Quiz screen. If you choose to turn off the interface, you will be prompted to provide feedback, but you may clear this window by clicking the cancel button or the X on the window should you choose not to leave feedback. However, please note that your feedback goes directly to D2L and is valuable in improving future releases.
Additional resources are available here:
Knowledge Base Article – The New D2L Quiz Creation Experience Overview
MediaSpace Video – The New D2L Quiz Creation Experience Overview
September 2022
Quiz Tool Update
With the September 2022 release, instructors have the option to create quizzes with
no time limit. The No Time Limit option is now the default timing setting for new
quizzes.
August 2022
Assignments
An undo/redo button has been added to the PDF Annotations toolbar.
The default search filter for Assignment Submissions has been updated from Users with
Submissions to Show everyone.
Quizzes
Disable Right Click option has been removed from Quizzes. As browsers have decreased
website control over end user behavior, the setting could no longer be consistently
applied to all students.
Restore Deleted Quizzes
This feature adds a new option in the More Actions menu of the Quizzes tool that allows
instructors to restore deleted quizzes along with student attempts. Note: any quiz
deleted prior to the August 2022 release will require D2L Help for restoration.
July 2022
Copy Assigments Tool
With the June 2022 update of the D2L Brightspace release, instructors who teach several
courses can copy assignments between their courses. The copied assignment includes
some key assignment properties but excludes some attributes. For details, please refer
to the documentation here.
January 2022
Discussion Tool Updates
Consistent Evaluation Experience is now the default. To provide the same evaluation
experience across activities, the discussion evaluation experience now has the same
format as the assignment evaluation. Consolidated Dates are now the default. Locking
Options have been removed. Visibility and access is controlled in Availability Start/End
Date options.
Email Address Field Improved Workflow
A simplified workflow for selecting an email recipient is available (old workflow
still available).
IA Export and Import Now Available
Instructors may now include Intelligent Agents in course import/export.
Quiz Tool Terminology Updates
When setting Assessment options in the Quiz Tool and/or creating a Grade Item in the
Grades Tool, terms have been updated to describe the action that occurs (i.e., publish
or sync) when that option is selected.
A full list of updated terms is available here.
A PDF list of terminology changes with examples may be found here.
July 2021
Assignments – Add Categories in the New Assignment Creation Experience
The new assignment creation experience supports the alignment of assignments into categories. Instructors can add new or existing assignment categories when creating or editing a new assignment.
May 2021
Accommodations in the Classlist, Quizzes, and Class Progress
The new Accommodations are able to enable the following options for a student: modify the time limit for all quizzes or always allow right-click in quizzes. The modified time can be applied in terms of a time multiplier or a set amount of additional minutes. The right-click accommodation option will override the setting to disable right-click if enabled in the original quiz settings.
Once granted, these accommodations apply to every quiz in the course. Instructors will be able to view from the Classlist which students were given accommodations with a new search filter and icon. The icons will also be visible in the Class Progress area.
D2L Consistent Evaluation Experience for Assignments
The assignment evaluation experience is streamlined, so the most commonly used tools are easy to find and use. The layout is the same as before, with student submissions on the left and evaluation tools on the right. The HTML editor in the feedback box is also be updated to improve formatting options.
January 2021
New Assignments Creation Experience
The create and edit Assignments page has an updated look and feel. The classic tabbed view has been transformed into a new, fully immersive page layout. The primary panel on the left contains frequently used fields that are always displayed. These fields are most relevant to learners and are the core details instructors want to add; a due date, instructions, and attachments.
The panel on the right organizes additional, more advanced options such as start and end dates, rubrics, annotation tools, and Turnitin. When these options are collapsed, summary text provides details about which settings are active and subtle hints that aid in the discovery of additional settings. As a result, you can see everything at a glance with little to no scrolling, and without having to navigate through any tabs.
The new experience streamlines the process of linking assignments to your gradebook automatically. When you enter a score, your assignment is added to Grades, and the name and score are automatically synced for you. If you traditionally create grade items in advance, support for selecting existing grades and categories is also available.
Visual Word Count for Discussion Posts
A visual word count is now visible in the HTML Editor for discussion posts. All words in a discussion post are counted and include filler words such as “the,” “if,” and “to.”
The word count is dynamically displayed to students while they type in the HTML Editor (Discussions Reading View only) and it also appears next to their posts in the Discussions Reading View and Grid View. Students can view the word count for their posts only.
For instructors, the word count appears on the Assessment page during the discussions assessment process, and it also appears inline with the post details in the Discussions Reading View and Grid View. Instructors can view the word count for all user posts.
Incorrect Quiz Questions Retake Option
When enabled by the instructor, students will have the ability to retake incorrect questions in quizzes. Retake Incorrect Questions Only is a quiz configuration option available to Instructors when creating Quizzes with more than one attempt. When the setting is enabled, questions where the student's score on previous attempts is 100% are not available to be answered on later attempts.
July 2020
Ally - Kennesaw State University is excited to be making the Blackboard Ally tool available to faculty and students beginning on July 24. Ally is a tool that not only assesses a course for elements of universal design, but also allows learners access to multiple formats of available content so that they are able to learn in the formats in which they are most comfortable. Go to https://uits.kennesaw.edu/d2l/ally/ to learn more.
My Courses Widget - Pinned tab and notification icons | New
The July 20.20.7 release of D2 Brightspace comes with a new “Pinned” tab in the My Courses widget along with new notification icons. The pinned tab allows instructors and students to create a curated view of their pinned courses.
The pinned tab appears in the widget only after courses are pinned. The tab remains in view until all courses are pinned. The My courses widget remembers the last viewed tab and shows the same tab the next time the homepage is viewed.
January 2020
Classlist – Total number of users field and floating buttons | New
To improve ease of use, the total number of students (whole class, section, group) now appears in a field at the bottom of the Classlist page for at-a-glance viewing to help instructors keep track of the total number of students, which may extend beyond the users visible on the page. On the Print Classlist and Email Classlist pages, the clickablePrint and Email buttons now float consistently on screen, to ensure easy access to these actions without excessive scrolling.
Quick Eval – Dismiss activities from list | New
To improve the ability to manage items on their Quick Eval list, instructors can now select items that appear in their Quick Eval list and remove them temporarily or permanently. Instructors can view their dismissed items in the Dismissed Activities List and restore them to the Quick Eval list at any time.
Quizzes - New Quiz Authoring Experience Preview | New
The new quiz authoring experience preview contains the following additions:
- Users can delete questions from a quiz using the new quiz authoring experience
- Users can delete sections and question pool from a quiz using the new quiz authoring experience
It is currently not recommended to implement the new quiz authoring experience preview for general use in courses.
October 2019
Quick Eval is here!
Quick Eval offers evaluators a single location to view all learner submissions that are awaiting evaluation. Submissions made to Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions are displayed in a sortable list and can be selected to take you directly to their assessment page. Educators can sort, filter, and search submissions to prioritize their evaluation work. Sorting can be done using the first or last name of the learner, Activity Name, Course Name, and Submission date. Filtering can be done using one or more of the following categories: Activity Name, Course Name, and Submission Date.
For documentation support on using this great tool, click here.
May 2019
DUO is required to log in to D2L for faculty and students.
The following areas have upgrades and user improvements:
Assignments:
Improvements to the assignment list view: When accessing assignments, the list view displays updated information for instructors and students. Instructors now see the number of learners who have completed the assignment, the number of learners who have had the feedback published and the due date. Students also have an updated view of completion status, their score and evaluation status.
Instructors can now use the built-in annotation toolbar in assignments to provide contextual feedback with highlighting, free hand drawing, shapes, and associated commenting.
My courses widget:
Visual updates to course widget tiles. New status badge indicates the inactive and closed status of courses as well as the course end date.
Rubrics:
New improved rubrics grading experience in Discussions for newly created rubrics. This does not impact any rubric that was previously created.
All rubric assessments and feedback updates for discussions and grade items now automatically save in draft state while updates are in progress.
Rubrics in draft state are not visible to learners until the instructor selects Save & Publish, at which time learners can immediately view their feedback from Assignments, Content, Discussions, Grades and User Progress.
Instructors can choose to bulk publish feedback to all or select users at once, such as for an entire class or group.
New Retract Feedback option enables instructors to remove published feedback from view of learners for changes to the Total Score. The Overall Score and Overall Feedback portions of the rubric can be edited without retraction.
Pop-up grading window that contains all rubrics for the discussion, a place to enter Overall Feedback, and a list of posts that the student has made.
Enjoy more mobile-friendly grading.
January 2019
KSU D2L Brightspace is now a fully cloud-hosted solution, allowing for increased stability, streamlined updates, and better service reliability.
Small interface improvements for instructors and students.
The return of the “Continuous Delivery” model for D2L, with regular, incremental improvements throughout the year.
May 2018 – D2L Brightspace Daylight Experience
KSU D2L Brightspace received a significant visual and interface update prior to the start of the 2018 May semester: D2L Brightspace Daylight Experience. Daylight features the same functionality, sign-in process, and course content available in the classic version of D2L Brightspace.
New features in the Daylight update include:
- Responsive interface with improved compatibility for mobile devices.
- Streamlined navigation
- Tile based course layouts
- Visual and interface updates to the Quizzes tool
…and more
Please note that some of your customized course content may display differently as a result of this interface update. We encourage you to evaluate the look of your active course content in D2L.
Preview the New Update
As a preview of the updated service, we have created a new guide and instructional videos for using Daylight, including:
Guide - Navigation and My Courses Quick Guide
Video - Navigation and My Courses
