Tag: 2021

Continuous Delivery Updates for February 2021

Instructors Only

Dropbox – Save Progress and Visual Enhancements

The Save button in the new Dropbox creation experience enables an instructor to save their progress while creating or editing a folder. Previously, Save and Close was the only option.

The scrollbars on the main and right-hand panels now appear thinner and less noticeable, providing more vertical space when creating or editing a folder.

The name of the folder appears in the immersive navbar along the top of the page.

The name of the Dropbox folder on the immersive navbar and the less obtrusive scrollbar in the new Dropbox creation experience
Figure: The name of the Dropbox folder on the immersive navbar and the less obtrusive scrollbar in the new Dropbox creation experience

Brightspace Pulse – Course access events added to Brightspace Data Platform

To allow administrators and instructors to see when learners access courses from Brightspace Pulse, the app now sends course access events to the Brightspace Data Platform (BDP). The BDP stores these events, and then computes and stores the aggregated data, which can then be accessed through various course reporting tools, such as Classlist, Class Progress, Engagement Dashboard, and the Course Overview widget. For example, in Classlist, the Last Accessed column now displays a timestamp when a learner accesses a course from Brightspace Pulse.

Grades – Additional features for Mastery view of the grade book

The first time you use the Mastery View table page, a message appears under the page title indicating the default calculation method for the data in the view and provides a link to the Settings page, where you can change the calculation method.

If you change the calculation method after evaluation data has been collected, a warning message appears to indicate that the evaluations must be recalculated according to the newly selected method.  Any prior evaluations with manual overrides or feedback are not affected by changing calculation methods. If outcome overall achievements are already published, recalculations for the newly selected method are also immediately visible to learners.

When viewing the Outcomes Progress Evidence page from a mobile device, the evidence appears in a responsive display format for the smaller screen. 

Quick Eval – Homepage widget

Quick Eval can now be added to course homepages as a widget to allow instructors to view and access any submissions awaiting evaluation. The Quick Eval widget displays a list of up to six activities with submissions to evaluate. The activities are sorted by due date, with the earliest date first. The icon indicator in the widget shows the type of activity (dropbox, discussion, or quiz), and the number of unevaluated submissions for each activity. The due date and course information are also visible below the title of each activity.

The Quick Eval widget displaying unevaluated activities
Figure: The Quick Eval widget displaying unevaluated activities

Rubrics – Warning dialog for partial evaluations

Previously, if an instructor attempted to publish a partially completed rubric evaluation, the partial evaluation dialog appeared. If the instructor tapped Enter on their keyboard, the partial evaluation was published. 
Now, the default button behavior has changed so that tapping Enter on the page returns the user to the rubric to complete the evaluation. This change adds a verification layer to reconsider their action and ensure that instructors are not mistakenly publishing incomplete evaluations. 

The partial evaluation warning dialog appears the same, but has updated default behavior.
Figure: The partial evaluation warning dialog appears the same, but has updated default behavior.

Respondus – New Live Proctoring Feature

Earlier this month, the Respondus Live proctoring feature was released to instructors.

This feature leverages a video conferencing system (Zoom, MS Teams, etc.) and allows instructors to proctor students in real-time during online exams, tests, and quizzes.

This feature is intended for small classes where an instructor can view all students on the screen at once.

For more information on this new feature as well as instructions on how to enable it, please see the Live Remote Invigilation of CourseLink Quizzes with Respondus LockDown Browser section of the Tips for Live Remote Invigilation with Zoom or Teams page on OpenEd’s Remote Teaching & Learning website.

Zoom – Live Transcription (Closed Captioning) Service

Earlier this month, the Zoom Live Transcription Service was released.

The Live Transcription (closed captioning) service is available for Educational/Pro account holders. This service automatically captions speakers in Zoom meetings, adding their text to the bottom of the meeting window, as well as making a live transcript available in its own panel.

Visit the Zoom: Live Transcription Service page for details on configuration and setup options.

Contact

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

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

Continuous Delivery Updates for January 2021

Students and Instructors

Respondus LockDown Browser for Chromebooks

A beta release of Respondus LockDown Browser for Chromebook is now available for CourseLink.

Instructors

During the beta period, instructors will have to enable the use of the Chromebook version on a per exam basis.

  • Go to the LockDown Browser Dashboard within CourseLink
  • Select “Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam”
  • Expand “Advanced Settings” and select “Allow students to use LockDown Browser for Chromebook (beta)”
  • Save the exam settings for LockDown Browser

Students

Installing LockDown Browser on your Chromebook is easy.  

  • Log into the Chromebook and start Google Chrome
  • Log into CourseLink and navigate to the exam that requires LockDown Browser
  • Select the link for downloading and installing LockDown Browser
  • From the Chrome web store, select “Add to Chrome” to install the LockDown Browser Extension
  • Note: during the beta, this extension will only work with quizzes an instructor has enabled for use with LockDown Browser for Chromebook

Instructors Only

Dropbox – Multiple Rubric Support in Consistent Evaluation Experience

This feature is a continuation of the feature that was introduced in the December 2020 release.

If a Dropbox folder includes multiple rubrics, they are all visible to instructors using the Consistent Evaluation Experience. Instructors are also able to choose the default scoring rubric. Previously, the Consistent Evaluation Experience would only display one rubric on the assignment evaluation screen.

Insights – Settings and Filter Improvements on the new Engagement Dashboard

The new Settings page has two tabs: Summary Metrics and Result Table Metrics. The Summary Metrics tab contains the Roles filter, which enables you to select the learner roles you want to include in dashboard data. All roles that you exclude are not included in any data query on the Engagement Dashboard. The Summary Metrics tab also enables you to determine which cards are included in the Dashboard display and set your own threshold for the System Access metric. By default, all the cards are included on the dashboard. 

All cards appear in the selection list, and all are selected by default.
Figure: All cards appear in the selection list, and all are selected by default.  

Widgets – Widget Sandboxing to Enhance Content Security

To enhance the security of Widgets that execute scripts to create extra-rich HTML experiences (such as objects that can execute JavaScript), there is now a sandboxing feature that creates a secure iFrame around the HTML file. This will allow an HTML file to execute scripts (such as JavaScript) within the iFrame only but will prevent them from executing outside the iFrame (against the domain). This enables some flexibility in creating rich content, but reassurance for the security- conscious that end user information remains secure in all situations.

The Widget Security area of the Widget Properties dialog box.
Figure: The Widget Security area of the Widget Properties dialog box.

Course Export – Export File Upload Attribute for Written Response Questions

Written Response quiz questions that allow for file upload can now be imported and exported from CourseLink. With the ability to import and export these questions users can share them with users from other instances of CourseLink (D2L Brightspace). 

Grades – Additional Features for Mastery View in Grades

To increase the value of the Mastery view of Grades, originally released in December 2020, this release updates and adds the following new features:

  • Three new calculation methods: Highest Level, Most Recent Level, and Decaying Average.
  • A Publish All button for overall levels of achievement for all outcomes to all learners.
  • A Search by Student Name field.
  • A warning when the user attempts to change the default achievement scale.
  • Removal of the Clear Default option in the Achievement Scale dialog.

Contact

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

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