Month: September 2021

Continuous Delivery Updates for September 2021

Students and Instructors

CourseLink – Set and view user pronouns

Users can now set their pronouns through Account Settings.

The area under Account Settings, where you can set your pronouns.
Figure: The area under Account Settings, where you can set your pronouns.
A user profile card with the pronouns displayed.
Figure: A user profile card with the pronouns displayed.

Instructors Only

Dropbox – Create select box grade items in the New Dropbox Creation Experience

This feature builds on the Add categories capability in the Dropbox Creation Experience feature released in July 2021.

With this release, the new Dropbox Creation Experience supports creating new select box grade items. Previously, only numeric grade items could be created from the new assignment creation experience.

In addition, this feature provides support for choosing a grade scheme when creating numeric or select box grade items. Grade categories now progressively display when creating a grade item. Previously, grade categories always displayed when available.

Also, to make interface text more clear, the following labels have been renamed in the new Dropbox Creation Experience:

  • Score out of is now Grade out of
  • In Grades is now In Gradebook
  • Choose in Grades is now Edit or Link to Existing
  • Remove from Grades is now Not in Gradebook

When creating a new assignment as an instructor, under Grade Out Of, click Ungraded.

Click In Gradebook, and then select Edit or Link to Existing.

From the Edit or Link to Existing dialog, the following options may display under Create a new grade item:

  • If the Grades tool has available grade categories, the Choose Grade Category option displays. Clicking this button displays available grade categories for association. 
  • If the Grades tool has multiple grades schemes, the Change Grade Type & Scheme option displays. Clicking this button displays available grade types and schemes for association. 

Click OK, and then Save.

In Gradebook options when creating a new assignment.
Figure: In Gradebook options when creating a new assignment.

Dropbox – Restricting file extensions for submissions

Instructors can now specify the extensions of files that learners can upload as dropbox submissions. When an instructor is creating a file submission assignment, there is a drop down in the Submission and Completion section of the New Dropbox Creation Experience. In this drop-down list, instructors can choose the restrictions they want. Choices include: 

Note: When a .GIF file is converted to PDF, only the first frame of the .GIF displays.

  • .PDF only
  • Files that can be previewed without any conversion, such as .HTM, .HTML, .MHT, .MHTML, and .BMP
  • Images and videos
  • Custom filetypes

If an instructor choses Custom File Extensions, they can then enter file extensions that are allowed for file submissions. When this restriction is set, learners are presented with a list of acceptable file extensions for their assignments. When a learner attempts to upload a file submission for an assignment of an file extension type that the instructor has restricted, an error message appears.

Import / Export / Copy Components – Export release conditions in course packages

Now when you export CourseLink course packages, you can export release conditions and any associations. As a result, you no longer need to re-create these release conditions when you import the course package.

Rubrics – Additional information on Grade tiles

When a rubric is collapsed, instructors can now see if the rubric is complete. If the rubric is complete, the collapsed rubric shows the overall level of the rubric, and if the rubric is not complete, the number of unscored criteria appears on the tile. 

Previously, it was only possible to see the overall score of the rubric when the rubric was expanded. 

New Experience collapsed tile for partially scored points-based rubric.
Figure: New Experience collapsed tile for partially scored points-based rubric.
New Experience collapsed tile for completed rubrics (points-based and text-only rubrics).
Figure: New Experience collapsed tile for completed rubrics (points-based and text-only rubrics).

Rubrics – Brightspace Editor Additional Functionality

This update includes the following:

  • The Brightspace Editor toolbar now appears in the following locations:
    • Rubrics Creation and Edit experiences in the Description field
    • Rubrics Creation and Edit experiences in the Feedback field
    • Evaluation mode in the Feedback field. 
  • The Insert Stuff and Insert Quicklink buttons now appear in the different views with additional formatting options.  
Figure: The Brightspace Editor in the Rubrics Description field.

Rubrics – Copy and delete criteria groups

In response to client feedback about the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience, it is now possible to copy or delete a criteria group on a rubric. The delete option is only available if there is more than one criteria group.
Note: When a rubric with attached assessment items has submissions evaluated against it, the rubric is locked and can no longer be edited or deleted.  

After you click Copy Criteria Group, a new criteria group appears below the original criteria group. 

If you are using keyboard-only navigation, these options are available in the tab order after the criteria group name. Once the criteria group is copied using keyboard navigation, the keyboard focus moves to the new group’s name.

Note: Aligned learning outcomes are not copied when you copy a criteria group. Specific details of the evaluation criterion should be updated and re-aligned with specific learning outcomes which apply to the new criterion elements in the criteria group. 

The Copy and Delete options are available in the action menu on the Criteria Group header.
Figure: The Copy and Delete options are available in the action menu on the Criteria Group header. 

Contact

If you have any questions about the updates, please contact CourseLink Support at:

courselink@uoguelph.ca
519-824-4120 ext. 56939