Discussions – View attached file feedback for discussion evaluations
Instructors’ attached files now appear in the Attached Files section for each learner’s discussion evaluation. Learners can view attached file feedback when viewing their evaluated discussion topic.
Instructors can view all attached files by clicking on the learner’s name and selecting Discussions. Learners can view all attached files by clicking on Discussions in Class Progress. Instructors and learners can view all attached discussion evaluation files in the Class Progress tool.
Additionally, the Discussions tool’s evaluation process is now consistent with the Dropbox and Quizzes tools’ evaluation processes.
Figure: Learners can view their feedback for a discussion topic in the Attached Files section of their evaluation.
Instructors Only
Quizzes – Additional functions
Additional functions are now available in Quizzes and Question Library for arithmetic quiz question types. The following functions can be used for arithmetic quiz question types:
ASIN
ACOS
ABS
Log2
SINH
COSH
Reminder: McGraw Hill Connect – Widget and LTI 1.1 integrations
Please note that the McGraw Hill integration widget and all MH LTI 1.1 integrations will be removed after April 29, 2024.
Instructors should work with McGraw Hill to migrate content to the McGraw Hill Connect LTI 1.3 integration in the Content tool.
Testing Services [RegisterBlast] – Removal and update
Please note that the Guelph-Humber Testing Services (RegisterBlast) link will be removed and replaced with an updated LTI 1.3 version as of May 1, 2024. The new RegisterBlast link can be found in Content > Existing Activities > External Learning Tools.
Please reach out to Testing Services for instructions on restricting the module or content item to specific students.
Figure: The RegisterBlast integration link found under the Existing Activities menu in Content.
Contact
If you have any questions about the updates, please contact CourseLink Support at:
Quizzes – Confirmation dialog for learners exiting a quiz
This feature introduces a confirmation dialog to learners closing in-progress quizzes. The dialog is context-based, providing additional information about the impact of exiting the quiz (such as whether a learner will be able to return to their quiz after exiting).
Figure: The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date.Figure: The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires.Figure: The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past.
Respondus LockDown Browser – End of Support for Windows 7
As of June 28, 2023, support for Respondus LockDown Browser on Windows 7 will end. Several technologies relied on are ending their support for Windows 7 on that date, which means LockDown Browser will also cease working on Windows 7 computers at that time.
Students using Windows 7 will need to upgrade to Windows 10/11 or find another device that is supported. LockDown Browser can be used with Windows 10+, Mac 10.13+, and iPads running iOS 11+ (if enabled by the instructor).
We remind students that OpenEd offers a laptop loan service on the Guelph campus. Please contact cts@uoguelph.ca for booking or more information.
Instructors Only
Discussions – Introducing the new creation and editing experience
The new discussion creation experience brings create and edit consistency changes from Dropbox and Quizzes to Discussions, making it familiar and easy to learn. This first release is at full parity with classic discussions and brings refreshed workflows and improvements to restricting group topics and threads, associating topics to forums, and wording changes to a few settings that you may be familiar with.
Figure: The new Discussions creation and editing experience.
The primary panel on the left contains the same frequently-used fields as Dropbox and Quizzes. These fields are most relevant to learners and are core to discussion topic creation. The right-hand panel provides advanced options such as start and end dates and release conditions. These options follow the same logical groupings as found in Dropbox and Quizzes. Other topic-specific settings can be found in the right-hand panel.
Editor – Advanced code editor visual update and accessibility improvements
Minor visual updates made to the advanced code editor in CourseLink 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.
Figure: The updated location of the Save and Cancel buttons for the advanced code editor.
Instructor Only
Insights – Quiz filter and contextual help added to Assessment Quality Dashboard
This feature builds on the Assessment Quality Dashboard updates released in March 2022 with two more usability improvements:
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.
Hover text added to the “!” icons to provide context to users about when to act on flagged quizzes and questions.
Figure: The updated Assessment Quality Dashboard with the Search by Quiz Name box highlighted.
Groups – Asynchronous Group Creation
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 CourseLink 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 users 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.
Intelligent Agents – Create Agent page facilitates more flexible scheduling and frequency options
Building on the Intelligent Agents – Agent List page changes feature released in February 2022, 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:
A modernized user interface. This is a visual upgrade and does not impact functionality.
Scheduling options have been moved to the top of the page.
The ability to expand/collapse each section on the agent creation page (Scheduling, Criteria, Actions) to improve usability.
Two new agent frequency options:
One-Time Run allows instructors to choose a single date and time to run.
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).
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.
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.
Zoom Cloud Storage Retention
Overview
Zoom is a web-based conferencing service available to all instructors teaching during the current semester or for those users who have purchased a license with OpenEd. Users have access to the Zoom Cloud service when provided a Zoom Pro license.
Zoom Cloud is intended for temporary, non-archival storage, to be used during the current or immediate academic term. Instructors and staff are expected to assess those recordings on a routine basis and transfer their recordings to University-approved storage solutions like OneDrive.
Retention Period
Starting September 1, 2022, OpenEd will implement a one-year Zoom Cloud retention period. All Zoom recordings will be retained for one year, keeping up to the matching semester from the previous year. At the beginning of each subsequent semester, the next deletion cycle will begin.
All deleted files will be stored in the owner’s Trash for an additional 30 days. After the 30-day Trash timer expires, the recordings will be deleted permanently.
Examples of Zoom Cloud Recording Deletion Dates
Deletion Date
Delete up to:
Semesters Retained
September 1, 2022
August 31, 2021
F21, W22, S22
January 3, 2023
December 31, 2021
W22, S22, F22
May 1, 2023
April 30, 2022
S22, F22, W23
Considerations
Be aware: Know the retention period so you can plan accordingly.
Want Reminders? You can enable an alert when recordings will be permanently deleted from Trash. Sign in to https://zoom.us, click Settings and select “Email Notification.” Enable “When the cloud recording is going to be permanently deleted from trash.”
Zoom Transfer Tool
OpenEd has developed a Zoom recording transfer tool to assist you with managing and transferring cloud recordings between your UofG Zoom Pro account and your UofG OneDrive account. The Zoom Transfer Tool makes the process of copying your Zoom cloud recordings to OneDrive simple and offers the option to automate the process for all future Zoom cloud recordings.
Support for Avatars: Meeting hosts can allow users to select an avatar to represent themselves during meetings. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level. Avatars are also accessible through Windows, macOS, and iOS desktop clients. You can select an avatar in the Background & Effects section of the desktop client settings or in-meeting settings. This feature requires 5.10.0 or higher.
Show invitee list in Participants panel: Meeting hosts can enable the Show invitee list in Participants panel setting that allows hosts, co-hosts, and alternative hosts to view a Not Joined section in the participants panel of the meeting. This section lists the people who were invited to the meeting but have not yet joined, as well as their calendar responses. This feature requires hosts and users to have the Calendar and Contacts Integration (Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar) configured in the user profile. This setting is available at the account, group, and user levels. This feature requires version 5.9.6 or higher and is also available for Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop clients.
Schedule a recurring meeting with a saved Breakout Room assignment: When a host saves a breakout room configuration and participant assignments during a Zoom meeting, they can select the saved breakout room assignment they want to use when scheduling a recurring meeting in the web portal. This is limited to 10 saved configurations per account/user and is also available on Windows and macOS desktop clients.
Expand/Collapse all Breakouts when self-selecting for Windows, macOS, and Linux: When self-selecting breakout rooms, participants can quickly expand or collapse all available breakout rooms. This makes it easier to find and select the desired breakout, in particular when there are many breakout rooms available to choose from.
Contact
If you have any questions about the updates, please contact CourseLink Support at:
This feature releases the new and improved Brightspace Editor.
Please note this feature will be turned on starting April 29, 2021.Please note that this editor has a bug and will be delayed until the May 2021 updates.
The new Brightspace Editor permanently replaces the previous editor in the new Dropbox Evaluation Experience and the new Dropbox Creation Experience. The new Brightspace Editor will be the only editor available in all new experiences released from April 2021 onwards. The new Editor will be released in the following tools at a later date:
Quiz Builder
Activity Feed
New Rubrics
Figure: The new Brightspace Editor.
The new Brightspace Editor includes the following improvements to existing features:
Refreshed formatting options
The Lato font type
A refreshed color picker
A refreshed font size menu
A comprehensive and standard emoticon menu
A comprehensive and refreshed Symbols menu
An advanced source code editor
A refreshed Tables feature, including data sorting
A refreshed Accessibility Checker
The Check Accessibility, HTML Source Editor, Preview, and Toggle Full Screen functionalities have now been placed in the top bar
The Editor also includes the following new features:
Wordcount functionality that includes words, characters, and text selection.
Context menus while editing to enable quick access to text, link, and image editing options; including advanced image editing options. Note that image editing is not available in all context menus yet.
A new overflow menu with additional, less frequently used menu options.
The list below outlines what is not included in the Editor:
Spell check functionality. D2L recommends using your browser spell check functionality.
Cut/Paste functionality. D2L recommends using your browser hot keys/menus for this functionality.
Rubrics – Navigation Accessibility Improvements
This feature was originally released for the Rubrics tool in June 2020 and updated in July 2020 and March 2021. To increase the value of the rubric tool in CourseLink, there have been accessibility improvements to the rubric creation and evaluation workflows:
Screen readers now inform users of controls for adding feedback to criteria when reading the criteria group table. The table summary now includes the following text: This table lists criteria and criteria group names in the first column. The first-row lists level names and includes scores if the rubric uses a numeric scoring method. You can give feedback on each criterion by tabbing to the add feedback buttons in the table.
When a score field has the focus, the screen reader now informs the user if it is a criterion score or a total score based on the field label. It also indicates which criterion the score is associated with and what action the user can take. For example: 2/4, score of Criterion 1. Press Enter to override the criterion score.
Previously, the Total Score and Criterion Score fields did not clearly indicate whether the score is a manual override. The override information appeared in a tooltip that was not visible to assistive technology including screen readers; an asterisk was the only differentiator. Now, the screen reader can read the tooltip content when the Total Score or Criterion Score fields have the focus.
Previously, when the Total Score was a manual override, the Clear Override button appeared; however, when Criterion Score was a manual override, the Clear Override button only appeared if the focus was on the score. Now, Clear Override appears when either the Total Score or the Criterion Score is a manual override, regardless of where the focus is.
To improve usability with assistive technology, the Add Feedback button indicates to screen readers the criterion to which the feedback is associated. The Clear Feedback button also indicates the associated criterion.
When the keyboard focus moves to the default rubric group or new criteria group, the screen reader now tells users the number of rubric levels and criteria in the group.
Previously, users who used keyboard-only navigation and screen readers were not able to delete aligned outcomes. Now, when a user navigates to the Browse Standards button and focuses on an outcome tag, the screen reader reads the tag content and provides guidance that they can press Delete to remove the aligned outcome
Previously, the screen reader only read the content of the level name and points fields and indicated that it was a text field. There was no indication of the significance of the field. Now, when the level name text field has the focus, screen readers indicate that the field is for editing the name of a specific level. When the points text field has the focus, the screen reader indicates that the field is for editing the points of a specific level.
Instructor Only
Dropbox – Action menu for group assignments in New Dropbox Evaluation Experience
The New Dropbox Evaluation Experience now includes a drop-down menu from the group name. This menu contains links to:
Email the group (opens in a new window)
See all group members
Instant message the group (opens in a new window)
Figure: The drop-down action menu appears from the Group Name on the File Submission page in Dropbox.
Dropbox – Anonymous marking in the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience
This feature makes anonymous marking fully supported in the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience. When using Anonymous marking, the Anonymous User number appears in place of the username, just as it appeared in the legacy Dropbox experience. In addition, the following features of anonymous marking remain the same:
No profile card appears for anonymous users
Usernames become visible once any learner’s evaluation is published
Group names are always visible even when using anonymous marking
Rubrics do not include the user’s name
Anonymous marking uses Publish All instead of the Publish button. If no feedback for anonymous users has yet been published, the Publish button is disabled and a message appears to direct users to the Publish All button. If any user feedback has been published, all Publish buttons become automatically enabled.
Figure: Anonymous marking in Dropbox displays learners as Anonymous User [#] instead of by username.
Dropbox – Context menu on the Evaluation screen in the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience
A new context menu appears in the side panel of the updated Dropbox evaluation screen. This menu links to the following:
Edit Activity (opens assignment page in new tab).
Special Access Dates (opens the Edit Activity screen so users can update Special Access rules).
Note: The context menu will not appear if the user does not have the required permissions to access these links.
Figure: The new context menu appears when grading a submission in the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience.
Dropbox- Single file submissions open directly in the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience
In the New Dropbox Evaluation Experience, when a learner has submitted only one file, the evaluator no longer has to click into the evaluation and then into the file. The file opens directly for the evaluator, saving a click during the evaluation process. Late submission information continues to display above the file, as it currently does.
Brightspace Insights – Engagement Dashboard User Level Metrics
To increase the value of the new Engagement Dashboard, originally released in November 2020 and most recently updated in March 2021, this release adds the following:
New User Level Metrics tab in Engagement Dashboard Settings where you can select which metrics appear on the Learner Engagement Dashboard display.
Figure: All the User Level Metrics are selected by default.
Classlist – Search filter when adding existing users
When enrolling users in a course, an instructor can now deselect the Include users already enrolled in org unit check box to set their search filter to filter out users already enrolled in the course.
Figure: The Add Existing Users page with the new Enrollment search filter
Content – URL topics now Open as External Resource by default
Previously, when a user created a new URL Content type, the Open as External Resource option was not selected by default. In some cases, this caused a Cross-Origin resource sharing (CORS) error to appear when viewing the content topics. Now, the URL Content type, such as a Google Team Drive Public link, has the Open as External Resource check box selected by default. Users can choose to deliberately remove the Open as External Resource option if necessary. If it is deselected, users are advised that D2L recommends opening links in a new window to prevent issues viewing the resource before saving.
When viewing a content topic that is a URL, the button to open the resource in a new window always appears so that if the content cannot load in an embedded frame, a user can choose to open the content in a new window.
Grades – Mastery View calculation improvements
Mastery View was originally released for the Grades tool in December 2020. To increase the value of the Mastery View of the Grades tool in CourseLink, there have been improvements to the calculation functionality:
When you switch to a calculation method, but do not save the new method, you can return to the original calculation method, and restore the original values of the Choose Activities to use in the calculation field. If you switch to a new calculation method and save the new method, if you return to the original calculation method, the Choose Activities to use in the Calculation field uses the default values.
Quizzes – Improvements to Special Access functionality
Instructors can now grant learners special access in terms of quiz time multipliers (for example, 1.5x quiz time) or +minutes (for example, an additional 30 minutes). For example, if an instructor has a 30-minute quiz and using the Special Access page, grants three learners 1.5x the quiz time, their updated quiz time of 45 minutes displays. Instructors no longer have to manually calculate the updated quiz time.
Note: After extending the learners quiz time by way of quiz time multipliers or +minutes on the Special Access page, if an instructor updates the duration of the quiz, the learner’s quiz time on the Special Access page does not dynamically update at this time.
Figure: The Add Special Access screen with the updated Timing area.
Quizzes – Secure and consistent editing experience
For a more secure and consistent editing experience in CourseLink, creating any of the following question types now automatically filters out JavaScript and non-standard HTML: Likert, Ordering, Matching, Fill in the Blanks, Short Answer, Multi-Short Answer, Arithmetic, and Significant Figures. For existing questions containing JavaScript and non-standard HTML, the questions continue to display as intended until an instructor edits and saves the questions, which removes the JavaScript and non-standard HTML. Previously, instructors could add JavaScript or non-standard HTML to question types in order to create dynamic content for quizzes.
Contact
If you have any questions about the updates, please contact CourseLink Support at:
To increase the level of student privacy in CourseLink, the Classlist navbar link will be removed from the default navigation bar.
Instructors can access the Classlist link by selecting Course Admin from the navbar. If there is a compelling reason to add the Classlist link, instructors can create a copy of the default navbar and add the Classlist link.
Brightspace Pulse – Pin and Unpin Courses
To help learners more easily find their current courses in Brightspace Pulse for iOS, learners can now pin and unpin courses from the Courses screens. Pinning a course ensures it remains at the top of the screen for easy access. Previously, learners could only pin and unpin their courses in CourseLink.
To pin or unpin a course in Brightspace Pulse, do one of the following:
From the Courses screen, tap the ellipses (…) icon in a course tile.
From the Course Homepage screen, tap the ellipses (…) icon at the top of the screen.
From the list of actions, tap Pin or Unpin. A pinned course is denoted by a Pin icon. Unpinning a course removes the pin icon.
Instructors Only
Dropbox – Dropbox Page Column Name
This feature updates the New column name on the Dropbox page to read as New Submissions.
Figure: The Dropbox page with the New Submissions column
Pagination Default for Classlist and Grades
The pagination default in CourseLink for Classlist and Grades will be increased to [50, 100, 150, 200, 250] instead of the scale that started at [10, 20, …].
Learning Outcomes – Ability to Copy Outcomes
To provide a consistent copy experience, all learning outcomes that are in a course can now be copied to another course.
Now, you can outcomes from a source course to a target course. When selecting to copy outcomes with other course components, all other object references, such as alignment to rubric criteria or achievement scale mapping in the source course, and so on, are copied from the source to the target course as expected.
The changes also provide consistency in the editing experience. You can only edit outcomes at the location they originated. For example, if the outcome was authored in a program, it can only be edited in that program; it cannot be edited in the target course. To assist in knowing which learning outcomes can be edited from a user’s current location, there are icons to indicate if an outcome is locked (cannot be edited) or open (can be edited).
Copied outcomes will be copied as a reference (or link) back to the original source course. Any change made to the source outcome is automatically inherited in all target courses. If an outcome is copied to a target course, you cannot delete the outcome at the source without first deleting the outcome from all target courses.
Contact
If you have any questions about the updates, please contact CourseLink Support at:
![Anonymous marking in Dropbox displays learners as Anonymous User [#] instead of by username.](https://bpb-ca-c1.wpmucdn.com/wp.opened.uoguelph.ca/dist/2/436/files/2021/04/dropbox_anonymous.png)
