Tag: july

Students and Instructors

Quizzes – Quiz Timing Improvements for Learners

The following improved Quiz Timing options are now available for learners:

• Option to show or hide the timer to reduce anxiety during quiz taking.
  Note: Once a learner sets their preference, the setting preserves across all quizzes.

Warnings displayed at certain times to support awareness of time left. The following warnings are applied:

• 1 minute remaining on the quiz
• 5 minutes remaining (only on quizzes with 10 minutes or longer quiz time limit)
• Half of the elapsed time (only on quizzes with 20 minutes or longer quiz time limit)

The simplified Quiz Results page appears when a learner completes a quiz attempt or returns later to view their quiz results (previously known as Submission View). The page now displays the text ‘Your work has been saved and submitted’ to all learners. This text is no longer editable by instructors. The existing text field allows adding a custom message to be displayed within the Quiz Results page under the new default message.

Discussions – Consistent settings and interface of availability dates across CourseLink

This feature updates the settings and format of availability dates and states in Discussions, to align with other activity tools and create a unified content experience for both instructors and learners.

Availability dates in the Discussions list are now displayed as a simple date range below the titles of discussion topics. Hovering over the date range text displays a tooltip that includes the information about start and end dates. Tooltips also include applied settings to explain how the discussion topic appears to learners before and after these dates.

Previously, the availability dates in the Discussions topics did not include a hover tooltip.

The corresponding update for Quizzes is planned for a future release.

Instructors Only

Quizzes – The New Quiz Creation Experience is now universally enabled

In this release, the New Quiz Creation Experience reaches the end of the adoption phase of feature development and becomes the only editing experience for all users. The New Quiz Creation Experience is now set to on as the default with no option to opt out.

Quizzes – Synchronous Quizzes

Instructors need a way to set up quizzes that start and end at the same time for all learners, rather than when the learner launches the quiz. This facilitates quizzes where the instructor requires all learners to take the quiz at the same time similar to in classroom learning and supporting medium-high stakes quizzing.

CourseLink quizzes currently provide the flexibility for learners to take a quiz in their own time (asynchronous), providing a more relaxed experience that accommodates the learner’s schedule. With synchronous quizzes, an instructor can set up quizzes with real-time windows where the quiz timer begins on the start date and stops at the end of the quiz time limit for all learners.

Setting up a synchronous quiz in the New Quiz Experience

1. On the Quiz Creation screen, click to expand Timing & Display.
2. Check Set time limit, then enter a Time Limit in minutes.
3. Click Edit Timer Settings.
4. In the Timing dialog, under Quiz Start, select Synchronous: Timer starts on the start date.
   Note: If there is no Start time and date set for the synchronous quiz, a No start date set alert appears under the radio button option and you are not able to save the quiz. Due date is disabled for synchronous quizzes.

Countdown timer until Synchronous Quiz starts

For a learner taking a synchronous quiz, the Start Quiz button is disabled until the start date and time arrives. A countdown timer appears on the Quiz Start page to indicate the time remaining before the quiz becomes available.

Quizzes – Quiz Timing Improvements Featuring Auto-Submission

This release updates the Quiz Creation experience for instructors by simplifying the quiz timing setup workflow, adding useful new features, including the ability to auto-submit, and removing obsolete quiz timing options.

With this release, learners can show or hide the timer, receive time warning messages, and access more information about their quizzes.

• The updated settings allow instructors to choose if they want to set a time limit by selecting the Set time limit checkbox, which is cleared by default. If Set time limit is selected, instructors can add a Time Limit and edit the Timer Settings.
• The previous Prevent the student from making further changes option has been changed to Automatically submit the quiz attempt. Quiz auto-submission automatically hands in quizzes on enforced time limit quizzes at the end of the set time, improving quiz integrity. This behavior is changed on all existing and in-progress quizzes with the update.
  Note: The Automatically submit the quiz attempt option is now the default setting for all newly created quizzes with a time limit and is used automatically if the instructor does not edit the quiz timing settings. The previous default setting was Allow the student to continue working.
• The previous Allow the student to continue working option has been changed to Flag the attempt as exceeded time limit and allow the learner to continue working. This behavior is changed on all existing and in-progress quizzes with the update.
• The Grace Period and Allow student to continue working but automatically score zero options are removed to further streamline the process of quiz creation. With this update, any existing and in-progress quizzes that include these settings are changed to the following new behavior:
  • A quiz that previously had a grace period now uses the time limit set on the quiz.
  • A quiz previously set to Allow student to continue working but automatically score zero now sets the quiz to Automatically submit the quiz attempt.

Dropbox – Download a file with an empty filename

This feature allows instructors to download a submitted file from a user who uploaded it with no filename.

The default value will be set as ‘no–filename’, which administrators may modify, if needed.

This update resolves the Instructor can’t open assignment submission with no characters before the extension issue.

Previously, instructors could only check files with existing filenames in the evaluation screen and/or download them.

Editor – Edited images are saved with their original names to improve ease of location

With this release, images edited within the CourseLink Editor are saved with their original names followed by a date-time string, which helps instructors find changed images easily in Manage Files. Changes to an image using Edit image in the floating toolbar are saved as a copy of the image with the name format ‘OriginalFileName_yyyyMMddHHmmss.jpg. ‘

Zoom – Upgrade CourseLink Integration

During the week of August 29, the current deprecated Zoom integration (LTI 1.1) will be removed. The new Zoom integration (LTI 1.3) has been made available. The new integration has been labelled as LTI 1.3 to identify it in the list of available tools.

Please note: The integration will not automatically update. Instructors must remove the old integration and replace it with the new Zoom LTI 1.3 version.

Please contact CourseLink Support if you need assistance with adding the new Zoom LTI 1.3 integration.

New Features

The Zoom LTI 1.3 integration comes with a couple of new features.

Office Hours – easily scheduling

Set up office hours or bookable meetings using the Appointments tab and the ‘+ Create Schedule’ button.

Pre-assign Breakout Rooms with Roster Sync

Meeting hosts can pre-assign participants from the CourseLink Classlist into breakout rooms when scheduling meetings.

Please note: Users removed from the Classlist won’t be automatically removed from pre-assigned breakout rooms.

Meeting hosts must have the setting ‘Assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling’ enabled on their account.

Access Pearson – Upgrade CourseLink Integration

During the week of August 29, all deprecated (LTI 1.1) integrations for Pearson will be removed, including Pearson widgets. The new Access Pearson LTI 1.3 integration has been made available.

The Access Pearson integration has the latest features, including assignment, course tool, or eText links, and other improvements. This also gives instructors the option to choose the product—MyLab and Mastering or Pearson Revel, eText, or Live Response.

Please contact CourseLink Support for assistance with upgrading to Access Pearson.

Contact

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

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

Students and Instructors

CourseLink Requirements – Receive browser update alerts

The supported browser list is updated to reflect browsers that need to be updated. Users will receive the message “Your browser is looking a little retro” that prompts users to update their browser. Legacy Browsers are also updated. All users of Legacy Browsers receive the message “Unsupported Browser” either before or after logging in. There are no changes to the ability to access CourseLink.

Brightspace Pulse – Discovery better supports text-to-speech assistive technology

This release contains several accessibility improvements to Brightspace Pulse’s Discovery feature, allowing it to better support users who employ text-to-speech assistive technology. These improvements consist of:

• The Who provides your learning autocomplete field is renamed to Find your school or institution. This is to make the label more intuitive and gives a non-visual learner a better idea that the field is autocomplete. The Find your school or institution autocomplete field is additionally marked up as an edit field, indicating to the user where to tap to activate it and what to enter in the field. If no results are returned, the following prompt is shown: “We’re sorry! We were not able to find a match. Please try a different institution. Or, if you know the school or institution’s web address, you can enter it down below.” Previously this prompt read “This may not be a compatible learning management system”.
• When a user types a letter, the displayed results are announced via an ARIA audio alert. When a user enters a search without any results, they are notified of such without requiring them to press the Enter key. Upon pressing the Enter key, the ARIA audio alert indicates that “<N> results found. This indicates to non-visual users if there are results. Previously, this change of results was not announced by an ARIA audio alert despite changing visually.

This feature has accessibility impacts, including:

• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions

• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships

• WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 4.1.3 Status Messages

Instructors Only

Introducing OpenEd Toolbox

The OpenEd Toolbox application is a custom-built suite of CourseLink productivity tools created by our OpenEd Information Systems and Development (ISD) team. It began as an ad-hoc project to build and share additional custom utilities specifically for assisting CourseLink Support with common requests.

This application has now matured and is ready for release to our instructor community, allowing you to leverage the same tools safely and securely for your own course site(s).

Access OpenEd Toolbox using the UofG SSO system. Please view the Toolbox training session video to learn more.

OpenEd Toolbox support documentation

Grades – Copy grade items only copies unique or in-use grade schemes

This feature updates the Copy Course Components functionality in regard to copying grade schemes to prevent unnecessary duplicates.

When a grade item is copied, any grade scheme associated with the item is also copied. If a grade scheme is not associated to a grade item within the course offering, the scheme is only copied if the grade scheme is unique (i.e., there are no duplicates which match on name, and ranges).

Previously, unassociated grade schemes were always copied over with the grade items, causing numerous unnecessary duplicates.

Turnitin – Rearrangement of options for the Turnitin integration

The Turnitin integration options layout and feature names are changed with this release. The option changes can be viewed on the Turnitin Integrations options page.

GradeMark is now Online Grading and Originality Check is now Similarity Report. Instructors can enable features for Online Grading and Similarity Report separately within the Turnitin Integration options page.

Turnitin – Turnitin feature names are now reflected in CourseLink’s user interface

In CourseLink, the submission view now reflects the new Turnitin feature names that match CourseLink’s user interface styling and text. The column titled Turnitin Similarity is now Turnitin® Similarity Report. The column titled Turnitin® GradeMark® is changed to Turnitin Online Grading.

There is no change in the functionality of submission views.

Turnitin – Restrict files to file types supported by Turnitin

Previously, Turnitin similarity check only supported specific file types while Turnitin grading check accepted any file type.

Instructors can now restrict file types to those supported by Turnitin. If an invalid type is submitted, an error is reported with no other side effect.

What’s new in Zoom – June 2022

Zoom Whiteboard training is here! Explore the exciting new Zoom Whiteboard through Zoom Learning Center’s Welcome to Zoom Whiteboard training. Learn how to access, create, and share whiteboards before, during, and after meetings. Take advantage of the infinite canvas to visualize ideas, workflows, processes, and so much more. Come see all the possibilities of this new tool.

Search breakout rooms in Windows, macOS, and Linux – Hosts and co-hosts are able to better manage breakout rooms with the ability to search participants or breakout rooms by name, allowing them to quickly view, assign, or move participants between breakout rooms.

Software Lifecycle Policy – a reminder that Zoom will be implementing its new Software Lifecycle Policy on November 5, 2022 (Pacific Standard Time) for all products and services, starting with the minimum client version 5.8.6. Users who are running an end-of-life version after November 5, will not be able to join meetings via the Zoom Client and will be prompted to update or join from the Web browser. Please note that we will also be ending support for the ChromeOS client and are asking all customers to migrate to Zoom’s Progressive Web Application (PWA). As always, we highly recommend you regularly download and update to the latest version of Zoom software by checking for updates within the Zoom client or by navigating to zoom.us/download to take advantage of all of the latest security and functionality features.

Contact

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

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

Instructors Only

Dropbox – Add categories in the New Dropbox Creation Experience

The new Dropbox creation experience supports the alignment of assignments to categories. Instructors can add new or existing categories when creating or editing a new Dropbox folder.

Dropbox – Org Defined Id field in the User Profile card

When an instructor hovers over a learner’s profile in the new Dropbox Evaluation Experience, the User Profile card now displays the value of the Org Defined Id (student number) field, if enabled in the Profile Cards tool. By default, the new Org Defined Id field in the Profile Cards tool is enabled.

CourseLink Platform – New External Resource icon

To differentiate from the similar generic download icon, the external resource icon is now changing to a building block icon. This new icon better represents the building block approach of external resource functionality.  

The new icon now appears in External Learning Tools under the Add Existing options of the Content tool.

Grades – Add categories for text, calculated, and formula grade items

This feature enables you to better organize your grade book by adding categories to text, calculated, and formula grade items. This improved organization does not impact the calculation of the category these grade items are in. The totals in these categories do not contribute to the final grade.

You can import, export, and copy category values for these grade item types.

Quizzes – Quiz Introduction field removed

To reduce redundancy in the Quizzes tool, the Introduction field is being phased out. In this release, when an instructor creates and/or edits a quiz, the Introduction field is no longer available.

If any quiz previously had text in the Introduction field, on clicking Edit, the text is automatically appended to the Description field. A message appears indicating that these two fields have been merged. Instructors can review the modified quiz description prior to saving the quiz.

Note: In some interfaces, for example Content, the Instructions field is displayed. This Instructions field already maps to the quiz Description field. Hence, there is no change to this workflow.

When importing a course using Import/Export/Copy Components, text in the quiz Introduction field automatically appends to the quiz Description field. The export and copy workflows remain unchanged.

Quizzes – Relocation of the Reports Setup functionality

The Report Setup tab on the Edit Quiz page is now available on the context menu of a quiz and reads as Setup Reports.

The Reports option available on the quiz context menu is also updated and reads as View Reports.

Quizzes – Set grace period time to 0 minutes

When setting an enforced time limit for a quiz, instructors can now set the grace period for a quiz to 0 minutes, in place of the default grace period setting of 5 minutes. Entering a 0 minute grace period flags the quiz attempt as exceeded immediately when the quiz time limit is reached by the learner. Quiz attempt logs display when the learner attempt exceeds the regular time limit, grace period time limit or any extended time limit. Grace period of 0 minutes can be set for quizzes with special access restrictions as well.  

Note that setting a grace period can support learner accessibility requirements and other situations, such as slow internet connections when completing quizzes.

Quizzes – Status and workflow changes for quizzes with ungraded questions

To support instructors who need to manually score questions within quizzes, the following quiz status and quiz grading workflow updates are available:

• For quizzes that contain questions that need to be manually scored (such as Written Response questions) AND that have the “Allow attempt to be set as graded immediately upon completion” option disabled, a new Pending Evaluation status appears beside the quiz attempt on the Grade Quiz page.
• While evaluating a quiz attempt with unevaluated questions, the instructor can now select Pending evaluations in the Question View drop-down menu to filter for only the questions that require manual evaluation. 
• Instructors can now filter the Users tab by status. The available filters are: Published, Saved as draft, Pending evaluation and an empty status. The empty status denotes a quiz with auto-scored questions, where all questions are evaluated and there is no question evaluation pending. 

Contact

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

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

Students and Instructors

CourseLink – Supported Browsers

• Brightspace Learning Environment supports HTML5 Video Player and does not rely on Adobe Flash and Adobe Flash Player.
• The concept of a Maintenance browser is removed from the CourseLink (D2L) Platform Requirements documentation, as this previously related to the now unsupported Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. All supported browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari) deploy using a continuous delivery model and CourseLink supports the latest versions of these browsers.
• As of the July 2020 release, Firefox ESR is no longer a supported browser, due to extremely low usage. To support clients through this transition, D2L will fix high-priority issues for Firefox 68 ESR (until the end of September 2020) and Firefox 78 ESR (until the January 2021 release).
• D2L’s browser version check now displays warnings for browsers earlier than the following versions:
  • Chrome 81 (released in April 2020)
  • Chromium-based Edge 81 (released in April 2020)
  • Edge Legacy 44 (not receiving any further updates)
  • Safari 13 (released in September 2019)
  • Firefox 76 (releases May 5th, 2020)

You can access CourseLink with older versions of our supported browsers; however, D2L does not test CourseLink against these older versions. This means you may encounter unexpected user interface behavior and appearance, or broken and unsupported functionality. In most cases, D2L does not fix software defects experienced in unsupported browser versions. For an optimal experience that offers better performance, accessibility, and security, D2L strongly recommends that all users access CourseLink with a supported browser.

Widgets – Pinned Tab on My Courses Widget

A new Pinned tab now appears in the My Courses widget (Update Sort Logic view only). The Pinned tab allows learners and instructors to create a curated view of their pinned courses.

The Pinned tab appears in the widget only after a user pins a course in the Course Selector. The tab remains in view until all courses are unpinned. The My Courses widget remembers the last viewed tab and shows that same tab the next time the homepage is viewed. This makes it easy for instructors and learners who only wish to view pinned courses to see those courses upon login.

User Management – Character limit enforced for text fields in User Profile

This feature was originally released for the User Management tool in January 2020. This update now enforces the 4000 character limit for long text fields in the User Profile page.

In the January 2020 release, reasonable character limits for long text fields in the User Profile page were added. The following Personal Info fields were limited to 4000 characters each:

• Interests/Hobbies
• Favorite Music
• Favorite Books
• Favorite TV Shows
• Favorite Movies
• Favorite Quotations
• Favorite Websites
• Future Goals
• Most Memorable Learning Experience

After the January 2020 release, if users had information in these fields that exceeded 4000 characters, it continued to display.

Instructors Only

Dropbox – Competencies in the New Dropbox Creation Experience

This update includes the capability to add and remove learning objectives from the Competencies tool when used with the new create and edit Dropbox experience.

The new experience also displays a warning if a learning objective does not have an associated rubric, as objectives must have an associated rubric in order to be evaluated.

When a user opts in to the new experience, the Manage Learning Objectives functionality appears under the Evaluation & Feedback accordion if the Competencies tool is enabled and if the user is not using the Learning Outcomes tool.

Email – Verify Email Address Changes

Previously, users were able to add a forwarding email address, or add a reply to address without verifying their email address.

Now, when users add a forwarding email address, or add a reply to address, they receive an email prompting them to verify their email address. When sent, the username that requested the email change appears in the verification email.

Rubrics – Accessibility improvements in Rubric creation workflow

This update includes the following accessibility improvements in the rubric creation workflow:

• When you change the names of levels in the rubric create or edit experience, screen readers now read the updated name rather than the original default level names.
• Screen readers now indicate when new levels, criterion, groups, and overall score levels are added to a rubric. Previously, there was no loading progress indicator.
• Screen readers now state that there is a new level, criterion, group, or overall score level.
• The keyboard navigation tab sequence is improved when navigating to the Add and Cancel buttons in the Outcomes Picker window.

Contact

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

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