Brightspace Platform 10.7€¦ · Technical Details Next Steps Slight impact to instructors due to...

Brightspace Platform 10.7.7 Preview Release Notes

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© 2017 by D2L Corporation. All rights reserved.

Contents

Contents................................................................................................................ 2

Features ................................................................................................................ 4

Brightspace Learning Environment ................................................................... 4

Activity Feed - General availability of scheduled posts - AWS Enabled | Updated ......................................................................................... 4

Assignments - Rubric Visibility | Updated...................................................... 6

Brightspace for Parents - User Is Parent Permission | New ......................... 8

Capture - Capture 8.6 and earlier are no longer supported | Removed ....... 9

Data Hub - Improvements to Brightspace Data Sets - AWS Enabled | Updated ......................................................................................... 9

Grades - Expansion of grade exemptions work | Updated ......................... 11

Groups and Sections - Improvements | Updated ........................................ 14

Lessons - General availability - AWS Enabled | New ................................. 15

Lessons - Browse for HTML Templates when creating documents | New ......................................................................................... 16

Lessons – Compatible with exemptions | New ............................................ 17

Lessons - Add content from 3rd party Content-Item Message tool providers | New ..................................................................... 17

Lessons - Learners can download materials | New .................................... 18

Fixed Issues ........................................................................................................ 20

Assignments .................................................................................................... 20

PRB0056125 ................................................................................................ 20

Brightspace Developer Platform ..................................................................... 20

PRB0055896 ................................................................................................ 20

Calendar .......................................................................................................... 20

PRB0052564 ................................................................................................ 20

Lessons ........................................................................................................... 21

PRB0055975 ................................................................................................ 21

Import/Export/Copy Components ................................................................... 21

PRB0055494 ................................................................................................ 21

Intelligent Agents ............................................................................................. 21

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PRB0055781 ................................................................................................ 21

PRB0053470 ................................................................................................ 21

User Management ........................................................................................... 22

PRB0056116 ................................................................................................ 22

Known Issues ..................................................................................................... 23

About D2L ........................................................................................................... 24

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The following release notes are for clients installing Brightspace Learning Environment 10.7.7 (November 2017). This is pre-release information. The functionality, screens, and configuration of features are subject to change before release. D2L recommends reviewing the final release notes to determine if there are any changes that impact your organization. Features

Brightspace Learning Environment

Activity Feed - General availability of scheduled posts - AWS Enabled | Updated

Scheduled posts allow instructors to create a post in advance, and set it to appear on the Activity Feed at a future date and time. This allows instructors to create posts at convenient times to better manage and control their feed.

Figure: Select Post Later to schedule to post to appear at a future date and time

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Figure: Set the date and time and click Schedule Post

Impact of Change

Technical Details Next Steps

Slight impact to instructors due to additional options available when creating activity feed posts.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients in the US, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and Singapore. To enable: N/A Microservices dependencies: This service depends on the Authentication service, Landlord service, and the Reflex service. Microservices location(s): Authentication and Landlord are services in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) location: U.S. East (N. Virginia). The Reflex service is available to clients in the US, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and Singapore. Client regions are determined by D2L and routed accordingly.

N/A

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Impact of Change


A planned post can take up to two minutes to appear in the feed from the scheduled time. Planned assignments are hidden from users and automatically become visible once they appear in the feed.

Assignments - Rubric Visibility | Updated

In the Assignments tool, rubrics are now positioned at the beginning of the assessment portion for an assignment. Previously, rubrics appeared below the Learning Objectives as part of a large list of rubric links. Now, additional links have been removed and the rubrics are displayed, followed by the assignment’s learning objectives.

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Figure: The assignment rubric is visible above the assignment learning objectives.

Figure: Rubric links are condensed down to one single link.

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Impact of Change


Slight impact to users due to the new placement of assignment rubrics.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: Assign rubrics to competencies and learning objectives to see the update. Microservices Dependencies: N/A Microservices Location(s): N/A

N/A

Brightspace for Parents - User Is Parent Permission | New

This feature introduces the new User Is Parent permission, which must be enabled on the Parent role to grant Parents / Legal Guardians access to Brightspace for Parents.

Impact of Change


Slight impact to Brightspace for Parents users with the Parent role due to the new User Is Parent permission.

Availability: This permission is available to all Brightspace for Parents users with the Parent role. To enable: Administrators must enable the User Is Parent permission for the Parent role. Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices locations: N/A This permission does not impact the creation of parent-child relationships using SIS integrations. With the introduction of this role permission, if Brightspace for Parents users do not have a child associated with their account, then a message is displayed stating that there are no learners associated with their account.

Contact your Administrator to enable the User Is Parent permission for the Parent role.

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Capture - Capture 8.6 and earlier are no longer supported | Removed

The infrastructure supporting Capture 8.6 and earlier is now deprecated. Communications about this change to support began with the initial deprecation notice in March 2017. Removal of infrastructure support is the final step in completing the deprecation process.

Impact of Change


Moderate impact to users who have not upgraded to a supported version of Capture.

N/A If your instance of Capture has not yet been upgraded, please contact your D2L Customer Success Manager.

Data Hub - Improvements to Brightspace Data Sets - AWS Enabled | Updated

To address gaps in how data is generated for certain fields in Brightspace Data Sets, this release includes improvements to the following Brightspace Data Sets and the supporting documentation:

• Awards Issued:

• Full and differential CSVs now include an IssuedId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now the singleton IssuedId (previously, a composite of AwardId, OrgUnitId, UserId).

• Attendance Details:

• Full and differential CSVs now include an AttendanceSessionId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now a composite of AttendanceSessionId and UserId.

• Chat Session Log:

• Full and differential CSVs now include a MessageId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now the singleton MessageId.

• Competency Activity Results:

• Full and differential CSVs now include a RubricId column (nullable BIGINT), which represents the rubric id attached to the competency activity (used for evaluation).

• Competency Structure

• Full and differential CSV now include an EntryTime column (INT).

• Primary key is now a composite of BaseObjectId, ObjectId, ParentObjectId, and EntryTime.

• Course Awards:

• Full and differential CSV now include an AssociationId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now the singleton AssociationId.

• Discussion Posts

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• Full and differential CSV now include a ScoreOutOf column (nullable Float), which represents the topic score used to evaluate the thread. Note: Score can exceed ScoreOutOf.

• Discussion Topic User Scores

• Full and differential CSVs now include a ScoreOutOf column (nullable Float), which represents the topic score used to evaluate the thread. Note: Score can exceed ScoreOutOf (depending on Scoring Method).

• Full and differential CSVs now include the ScoreCalculationMethod column (Nullable String). Strings are predefined, with the following possible values:

• Average - Calculates the score from the average score of each post in the topic made by a user.

• Max - Calculates the score based on the maximum score of any one post in the topic for a user.

• Min - Calculates the score based on the minimum score of any one post in the topic for a user.

• Mode Max - Given the number of posts, selects the score that is repeated the most. If there is a tie, it takes the highest score.

• Mode Min - Given the number of posts, selects the score that is repeated the most. If there is a tie, it takes the lowest score.

• Sum - Calculates the score from the sum of scores on each post in a topic for a user.

• Blank value (null) - The score is not calculated based on the scores of each post (Manual updates).

• Full and differential CSVs now include an IncludeNonScoredValues column (Boolean [True|False]). True posts that have not been scored are scored as 0. Otherwise, posts without a score are not included in the score aggregate (defined in the ScoreCalculationType).

• Grade Schemes:

• Full and differential CSVs now include a GradeSchemeRangeId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now a composite of GradeSchemeId and GradeSchemeRangeId.

• Rubric Assessment Criteria:

• Full and differential CSVs now includes a CriterionId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now a composite of AssessmentId, RubricId, and CriterionId.

• User Logins:

• Full and differential CSVs now includes a LoginAttemptId column (BIGINT).

• Primary key is now the singleton LoginAttemptId.

Impact of Change


Slight impact to administrators

Availability of full data sets: Brightspace Core clients in the following regions:

N/A

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Impact of Change


due to database table changes and updates to documentation.

• North America

• EMEA

• APAC

Availability of differential data sets: AWS-hosted Brightspace Insights and Brightspace Core clients in the following regions:

• North America

• EMEA

• APAC

To enable: N/A Microservices dependencies: Authentication Service and Landlord Service. Microservices location(s): Authentication and Landlord are services in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) location: U.S. East (N. Virginia). For more information, refer to the updated Brightspace Analytics - Administrator Guide and Data Hub - Administrator Guide when they are released.

Grades - Expansion of grade exemptions work | Updated

This feature is an expansion of grade exemptions work that impacts the Content tool, the Calendar tool, the Course Schedule, and the Updates widget.

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Figure: Grade exemptions work - Content tool

Figure: Grade exemptions work - Message displayed when a learner clicks on an exempted topic

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Figure: Exempting users from a topic - new Manage Exemptions page

Impact of Change


Slight impact to instructors who can now exempt / unexempt learners from content topics.

Instructors can also see a list of learners in the new Manage Exemptions page.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: The existing d2l.Tools.System.Features.IsExemptionsEnabled configuration variable must be turned on and the instructor role must have permission to view the Classlist and to Manage User Exemptions (under the Users tool) to see the new Manage Exemptions page. Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices locations: N/A

N/A

Slight impact to learners who can see the

Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: N/A

N/A

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Impact of Change


exemption flag on topics in the Content tool > Table of Contents. When a learner clicks on a topic they are exempt from, a new message displays stating that the learner is exempt from the topic and that the activity can be viewed but does not need to be completed.

The updated count of required topics in the Table of Contents now excludes the exempted grade items.

Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices locations: N/A Exempted activities are not due, therefore, not overdue and do not appear in the Overdue items list in Course Schedule. Exempted items are also not displayed in the learner's Calendar. Exempted quizzes are not required to be submitted and are excluded from the count of unattempted quizzes that appears in the Updates widget.

Groups and Sections - Improvements | Updated

This feature includes improvements that have been made to Groups and Sections, which include an update to the Org Unit Editor code and legacy Manage Courses to indicate that sections are not groups, and the correct use of role settings for groups and sections when users are auto-enrolled.

Impact of Change


Slight impact to users due to the improvements made to Groups and Sections.

Availability: These improvements are available to all users. To enable: N/A Microservices dependencies: N/A

Ensure that your Administrator checks the groups and sections role properties in the Roles and Permissions > Edit

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Impact of Change


Microservices locations: N/A

Role Settings > Course Access Options area.

Lessons - General availability - AWS Enabled | New

Lessons is now available to clients in all regions. Lessons is a new way for instructors and learners to experience the Content tool in Brightspace Learning Environment. It offers a simplified experience for organizing content, aligning to learning standards, managing the availability of course materials, and automatically scheduling content units as a pacing guideline. With Lessons, instructors can import from the Achievement Standards Network, and map content items to those standards. Instructors can also add their own materials from external sources, such as Google Drive, to supplement existing resources. To promote classroom engagement, the Lessons experience works with the Activity Feed, allowing instructors to easily post content materials to a course homepage.

Impact of Change


Moderate impact to administrators due to required configuration variables, tool changes, and permissions to make this feature available.

Availability: This feature is now available to clients in all regions. To Enable: To make Lessons available in Brightspace Learning Environment, the d2l.Tools.Content.IsLessonsEnabled, d2l.Tools.Content.UseLessonsExperience, and d2l.System.Services.DocumentConversion.IsEnabled configuration variables must be turned on. The Learning Outcomes tool must be turned on, and the Manage Outcomes permission is required to import standards from the Achievement Standards Network and to copy standard requirements between courses. Microservices Dependencies: The Lessons Experience depends on the Document Conversion Service, the Activity Feed Service, and the Learning Outcomes Registry Service (LOReS). These services

1. In the Config Variable Browser, set the Organization Value for d2l.Tools.Content.IsLessonsEnabled to on.

2. Turn on d2l.Tools.Content.UseLessonsExperience for all courses to use the Lessons experience. To enable Lessons for individual courses, set override values in the in the d2l.Tools.Content.UseLessonsExperience configuration variable for the desired courses.

3. Turn on d2l.System.Services.DocumentConversion.IsEnabled to activate Document Conversion Service for your organization.

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Impact of Change


depend on the Authentication Service. Microservices Locations: The Document Conversion Service is available in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) locations: U.S. East (N. Virginia), Canada Central (Montreal), Asia Pacific (Sydney). The Activity Feed Service is available in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) locations: U.S. East (N. Virginia), Canada Central (Montreal), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Sydney, Singapore). LOReS is available in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) locations: U.S. East (N. Virginia), Canada Central (Montreal), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Sydney, Singapore). The Authentication Service is available in the following Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) locations: U.S. East (N. Virginia).

4. From the Admin Tools menu, select Organization Tools and turn on Learning Outcomes.

5. Grant the Manage Outcomes permission for the Learning Outcomes tool to roles responsible for importing standards and copying standards between courses.

For additional information, visit the Lessons topics for instructors and Lessons topics for administrators on the D2L documentation site.

Lessons - Browse for HTML Templates when creating documents | New

When creating new documents in Lessons, instructors can browse for HTML templates to bring a more consistent feel to their course content. HTML Templates can be selected from Course Offering Files or Shared Files.

Impact of Change


Slight impact to instructors due to additional options available when creating documents in Lessons.

Availability: This feature is available to clients in all regions. To enable: N/A Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices location(s): N/A

N/A

https://documentation.brightspace.com/EN/le/content/admin/about_lessons.htm

https://documentation.brightspace.com/EN/le/content/admin/about_lessons.htm

https://documentation.brightspace.com/

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Impact of Change


If you attempt to navigate away from an HTML file that is not saved, a warning displays to prevent work from being lost.

Lessons – Compatible with exemptions | New

Exemptions placed on content topics are visible in courses using Lessons. When learners access materials in Lessons that they are exempt from, an exempt message displays. Learners can still access activities they are exempt from but they are not required to complete them.

Impact of Change


Slight impact to administrators due to configuration variables related to the use of exemptions.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: The existing d2l.Tools.System.Features.IsExemptionsEnabled configuration variable must be turned on. Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices location(s): N/A

N/A

Slight impact to instructors and learners due to exemptions being available in Lessons.

Availability: This feature is available to all clients. To enable: N/A Microservices dependencies: N/A Microservices locations: N/A

N/A

Lessons - Add content from 3rd party Content-Item Message tool providers | New

Existing Content-Item Message tool providers appear among the Add Materials tiles in Lessons to allow more options when creating course content.

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Impact of Change


Slight impact to instructors due to additional options available when adding materials in Lessons.


N/A

Lessons - Learners can download materials | New

Learners can download materials from Lessons if the required permissions are granted to their role. Learner roles with permission to Download Content Topics see a download icon when accessing individual materials in Lessons. Learner roles with permission to Compile and Download Content see a download icon when browsing units, lessons, and folders. This allows them to download multiple files simultaneously.

Figure: Learners with permission to Download Content Topics see a download icon when viewing individual materials in Lessons

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Figure: Learners with permission to Compile and Download Content see a download icon when viewing units, lessons, and folders in Lessons

Impact of Change


Slight impact to administrators due to learner permission considerations


Grant learner roles permission to Download Content Topics and Compile and Download Content.

Slight impact to learners due to the ability to download materials from Lessons.

N/A N/A

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Fixed Issues

To keep you informed about the product improvements D2L has made, the Fixed Issues List consists of issues that have been fixed in a specific release, unless otherwise noted.

Assignments

PRB0056125

Previously, in Brightspace Learning Environment, when you attempted to view a list of assignment submission folders, and if the first page of results corresponded to draft folders, the page did not display any folders.

Now, in Brightspace Learning Environment, when you attempt to view a list of assignment submission folders, all folders marked as hidden from users are ignored when determining page results.

Fixed in Brightspace Learning Environment 10.7.7.

Brightspace Developer Platform

PRB0055896

Previously, when you attempted to build a module hierarchy in the Content tool by calling the POST route of the Content API, you might have encountered an error.

Now, you can successfully build a module hierarchy in the Content tool by calling the POST route of the Content API, without error.


Calendar

PRB0052564

Previously, when you used the English (United Kingdom) (en-gb) locale, the short date format was set to m/d/yyyy.

Now, when you use the English (United Kingdom) (en-gb) locale, the short date format is set to dd/mm/yyyy, as expected.


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Lessons

PRB0055975

Previously, in the Lessons tool while using a Google Chrome browser, when you attempted to edit an equation, you might have encountered an error.

Now, in the Lessons tool while using a Google Chrome browser, you can edit an equation, as expected.


Import/Export/Copy Components

PRB0055494

Previously, in Brightspace Learning Environment, when you attempted to copy a course that contained a large amount of release conditions, the Copy Course Components process timed out.

Now, in Brightspace Learning Environment, you can successfully copy a course that contains a large amount of release conditions, without error.


Intelligent Agents

PRB0055781

Previously, in the Intelligent Agents tool, the number of users identified by an agent's run did not appear accurately for users on the Português (Brasil) language pack.

Now, in the Intelligent Agents tool, the number of users identified by an agent's run appears accurately for users on the Português (Brasil) language pack, as expected.


PRB0053470

Previously, in Brightspace Learning Environment while creating an intelligent agent, when you clicked on the What replace strings can I use in the subject and message? link, you could not view newly added replace string information.

Now, in Brightspace Learning Environment while creating an intelligent agent, when you click on the What replace strings can I use in the subject and message? link, you can view newly added replace string information, as expected.

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User Management

PRB0056116

Previously, in the Manage Users tool, the Display Options settings window, displayed options that were not available to users based on their roles and permissions.

Now, in the Manage Users tool, the Display Options settings window only displays options available to users based on their roles and permissions, as expected.


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Known Issues

At the time of publication, there were no known issues identified for this release.

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About D2L

A global leader in EdTech, D2L is the creator of Brightspace, the world’s first integrated learning platform.

The company partners with thought-leading organizations to improve learning through data-driven technology that helps deliver a personalized experience to every learner, regardless of geography or ability. D2L’s open and extensible platform is used by more than 1,100 clients and almost 15 million individual learners in higher education, K–12, healthcare, government, and the enterprise sector—including Fortune 1000 companies.

The company has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Singapore. www.D2L.com

Contact Us

Phone: 1.519.772.0325 (Worldwide)

Toll Free: 1.888.772.0325 (North America)

0.808.234.4235 (United Kingdom and Europe)

0.800.452.069 (New Zealand)

1.800.656.210 (Australia)

0.800.891.4507 (Brazil)

Fax: 1.519.772.0324

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Brightspace

Web: www.D2L.com

© 2017 D2L Corporation.

The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd, and D2L Brasil Soluções de Tecnologia para Educação Ltda.

Brightspace, D2L, and other marks ("D2L marks") are trademarks of D2L Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Please visit d2l.com/trademarks for a list of other D2L marks.

http://www.d2l.com/

http://www.d2l.com/

http://d2l.com/trademarks

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