Posted on Friday, September 4th, 2020
Common Questions at the Beginning of the Semester
- How do I perform a Course Copy? Click here for details on how to copy the entire course content or just selected areas of the course.
- I am posting new announcements in my 20F course I am wondering if they will be sent as an email. If the course start date is in the future, then your course will look greyed out. Students will see the course listed on their My Courses widget, but they won’t have access to course content. You can still send emails to your students from within the course, but, if you post a new announcement, it will NOT be sent as an email to your students.
- How can I change the start date for my 20F course? You can edit the default start/end dates for their courses. While in your course, go to Tools/Course Admin/Course Offering Information and edit the date and time when your course starts and/or ends.
- How do I add a user to my course? Students are automatically added to your courses, but you might want to add another teacher to your course and this is how you do it.
GOOD TO KNOW! There are times when you need to add other teachers to your courses, with the intention to have them do a course copy to their courses, but you would like to make sure that your course content does not get altered by mistake. Instead of adding them with the instructor role, please use the new course copier role. Don’t forget to remove them from the course once the copy is completed.
- I copied the wrong course! How do I delete the content and perform the course copy again? Click here for information on how to delete the course content and also the course activities and gradebook columns.
- I have access to a course as an instructor, but I would like to have the course removed from my list of courses. What should I do?
Option 1: If you also see this course on your list of courses in ACSIS, first you need to talk to your department and make sure you have not been assigned by mistake to that course in Genesis. Then you can remove yourself from the course, using the Classlist option, from the Tools menu. Click on the checkbox beside your name and choose Unenrol.
Option 2: If you have been added by another fellow instructor, just remove yourself from that course. No need to email our LMS support.
- I am teaching multiple sections of the same course and I would like an easy way to manage the common content. When teaching multiple sections of the same course, combining those sections into one shell might save you some time. A few things to consider:
We Need your Help
When emailing us your requests, we would appreciate if you could ensure that all information relevant to your issue is provided. Please take a moment to read our How to get assistance page for the Dos and Don’ts of opening a case with us.
- Please do not reply to closed cases. If you have a follow-up question, or if we have not completely answered this question, send a new email to brightspace@algonquincollege.com.
- Do NOT CC Brightspace on emails sent to multiple people, as every reply creates a new case.
- If you have already sent an email to us, please know that you are in the queue. We ask that you please don’t send a follow up email, as this generates another ticket in the queue.
Multiple Ways to find Answers to your Brightspace Questions:
Posted on Friday, August 28th, 2020
The Discover self-enrollment tool
As a new school year begins, we are pleased to announce the deployment of the Discover self-enrollment tool in Brightspace. This tool allows our students to self-enroll in various offerings like courses, spaces and resources that will help make their journey at Algonquin College a success.
Starting today, you will see a new Discover link on the Brightspace homepage navigation menu.
My Mediasite available in Brightspace
My Mediasite is a new tool, replacing TechSmith Relay, with a simple interface that allows you to create, record, share, and publish your presentations easily. Mediasite will host these videos and also has a Brightspace integration that allows you to embed video content directly within your courses. View help guides, tips, tricks and advice on our new LTS webpage, and sign up for info sessions and training sessions.
August system release
This month’s system release brings a few enhancements to the system:
Assignments – Copy assignment option
You now have the option to select the Copy Assignment option, in the drop-down menu for an existing assignment, to quickly create new assignments within a course.
This feature copies all settings of an existing assignment, except the associated grade item and Turnitin settings.
Checklists – Copy a checklist
Now you can now perform copy actions for checklists. You can copy a whole checklist, a checklist category (including all items within it), or individual items in a checklist.
Classlist – User experience changes
When adding users to a classlist (Tools/Classlist/Add Participants) search results now include users who are currently enrolled in the course. Previously, enrolled users were not displayed in these search results, suggesting that the user might not exist in the system. On the search results page, an icon displays beside an enrolled user’s name, indicating their enrollment status.
Grades – Unrelease all final grades
Grades features a new workflow to quickly undo the release of final grades for a course. You can easily select Unrelease All from the Final Grades drop-down menu.
Notifications – Deleted content links to message
Notifications for content that is subsequently hidden/deleted/conditionally released are now removed from the Brightspace notifications area on the minibar. Notifications that arrive via email or in Brightspace Pulse push notifications, now provide a link to the Course Table of Contents, with a message that states ‘Item not available’. Previously, clicking the link created a ‘404 Not Authorized error’.
Question Library – Attach files in “written response” type of questions
When creating a written response question, now you can allow learners to upload files in their answers and include embedded images. Learners can also record audio or video responses when answering written response question types.
Quizzes – User experience updates for editing quizzes with attempts
To improve the user experience for instructors who edit quizzes with previous attempts by learners, the following updates have been made:
- Points for past quiz attempts are no longer modified when edits are made that affect the overall points and/or the grading calculations for a quiz. A learner’s grade on previous quiz attempts must now be changed directly by the instructor using the ‘Update All Attempts’ workflow. Previously, the points for all past quiz attempts were modified automatically, which could alter a learner’s grade unexpectedly.
- Warning messages now appear when editing a quiz question with previous attempts, to clearly communicate to instructors that editing quiz questions does not affect the content or automatically change the score of learners’ past attempts.
Online Faculty Brightspace Support (Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm)
When emailing us your requests, we would appreciate if you could ensure that all information relevant to your issue is provided. For example:
- The complete course code, including semester and section number (20F_ABC1234_010).
- The user’s first name and last name (ideally user name, too), when asking us to add users to courses.
- For merged courses’ requests, specify if you need to keep the individual sections available or not.
- When asking to have coordinator access to a program, include list of all courses (codes and section numbers).
Multiple Ways to find Answers to your Brightspace Questions:
Posted on Friday, August 21st, 2020
My Mediasite available in Brightspace on Tuesday, August 25th
My Mediasite is a new tool, replacing TechSmith Relay, with a simple interface that allows you to create, record, share, and publish your presentations easily. Mediasite will host these videos and also has a Brightspace integration that allows you to embed video content directly within your courses. Attend one of the information sessions offered by LTS, to learn about the main features of My Mediasite, what type of learning content you might create with it, and have a chance to ask questions about possible ways in which it could be used. Stay tuned for more details and documentation in the next week.
Course Copier vs Instructor
As our Support Team receives every week a large number of requests to add users to Brightspace courses, we would like to provide some help and avoid the need of sending back emails asking you to clarify the request.
Ask us to use the Course Copier role when adding faculty to previously taught courses (new instructors or faculty taking over a new course, with the purpose of familiarizing with the content or copying it).
Users with the course copier role in a course:
- Have read-only access to all course content and NO access to students grades and assignments, protecting the integrity of the course and students’ privacy.
- Can copy content over to their own courses, where they have instructor access.
- Can export course components, with the purpose of importing them into their own courses.
- Note: There are times when YOU need to add other teachers to your courses (without asking our help), with the intention of having them perform a course copy or export some content. Instead of adding them with the instructor role, please use the course copier role. Don’t forget to remove them from the course once the copy is completed.
Ask us to use the Instructor role:
- When a Coordinator/Chair needs access to students’ grades or their assignments/quizzes.
- When there is an urgent need to add a faculty to a course, with the purpose of teaching it (note that the instructor still needs to be scheduled in Genesis, even if the urgent access was given in Brightspace).
- When a coordinator needs to load content for a new part time instructor, and requires the ability to add new content or modify existing one.
- When, from any reason, an user needs to have access to the gradebook or students’ work (discussion boards, assignments files, etc).
Question of the Week – How do I transfer content in between courses?
Course Copy
- Read the Course Copy article in our KB, for Step-by-step instructions describing how to copy the entire course content or only some components
- Avoid copying the announcements, as you might end up having them sent as emails to students in the destination course, depending on the availability of the course. We recommend using the Select Components button, and uncheck the Announcements option.
Export/Import Course Components Process
- Read the Export Course Components article, for step-by-step instructions on exporting content.
- Read the Import Course Components article, for step-by-step instructions on importing content. This option can also be used when importing a zip file containing test banks from publishers.
Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release introduced a new assignment create and edit experience, available across all your courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
Posted on Friday, August 14th, 2020
Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release introduced a new assignment create and edit experience, available across all your courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
The Release Conditions option will be added next week, followed by the Special Access next month.
Pinned Tab in the My Courses Widget
Any courses pinned, using the waffle icon, will now show on the Pinned tab in the My Courses widget, allowing you to more easily navigate to your most frequent courses.
New Evolve Link for Elsevier
We are happy to inform you that content acquired through Elsevier can now be added to the LMS by using the Evolve link External Learning Tool. You can add this link by navigating to your Course Content > Existing Activities > External Learning Tool and choosing the Evolve link from the list, or by following the instructions that came with the content you purchased from Elsevier.
A word on External Publishers and Brightspace
If you are looking to acquire content from an external publisher that offers an integration with Brightspace, please contact us before purchasing your content. Each publisher has to go through a security vetting process before their integration can be deployed. If you purchase content before contacting us, you run the risk of not being able to deploy the content that you already paid for. Vetting a new integration and deploying it to Brightspace can typically take a few months.
Brightspace Satisfaction Survey
The Brightspace satisfaction survey is coming, but it’s also changing. Since the response rate of the previous survey was very low, we are looking at ways to simplify the survey and boost the response rate. This survey is for you and will be used to make Brightspace and the Brightspace support better. I am interested in hearing from you: What would you like to see in this survey? How can we make you want to provide feedback? Is there a better way to get your feedback and comments on Brightspace than the survey model? I am open to anything – please let me know by emailing me at marchem@algonquincollege.com
Digital Learning Environment Knowledge Base (DLEKB)
Do you have a quick Brightspace question and support is closed? We have recently launched our knowledge base providing you with articles based on your most frequently asked questions.
This knowledge base does not replace our support team, who is still available to provide the assistance you require through brightspace@algonquincollege.com. Our goal for this is to augment our ability to easily get you what you need, when you need it.
Faculty PD
LTS will be offering several Brightspace sessions in the next couple of weeks.
Posted on Friday, July 10th, 2020
Tips on Quizzes, Turnitin Assignments and ZOOM…
Quizzes
Question: My exam contains sections of various type of quiz questions (multiple choice, written response and short answer). I need to shuffle the questions within each section, while keeping the order of the sections intact when students are taking the exam. How do I do this?
Answer: Our recommendation is to start by having your quiz questions organized in Sections, in the Question Library, for an easy work flow. Then follow these steps:
- Go to Activities/Quizzes/New Quiz to begin creating your exam.
- Click on the Add/Edit Questions button and then choose Import/Browse Question Library.
- Select all the sections (they look like folders) you need to bring over to your exam and click Add.
- Double click on the name of each Section and check off the Shuffle questions in this section option.
- Note that you could display extra information that comes up before the questions contained in each section, by using the Section text. Ensure you don’t have the Hide Section Text from students option checked off
- DO NOT check off the Shuffle questions at the quiz level option from the Properties tab.
Turnitin
Question: I have given my students feedback using the GradeMarks in a Turnitin Assignment, but the feedback is NOT visible to them.
Answer: Students view the Turnitin feedback by going to Activities/Assignments, then clicking on the Feedback (read/unread) in the Evaluation Status column for that particular assignment OR or by going to their Grades.
- Note that the assignment needs to be visible to students (it does NOT have to be available) so that they can access the Feedback.
- Ensure you have a grade entered for each submission in the Turnitin Feedback Studio where you used the QuickMarks for grading.
- Make sure you have the grades published by going to the Activities/Assignments/View Submissions screen, select all users and then click on the Publish Feedback option.
ZOOM
Question: My students have group presentations and I have split them in breakout rooms. How do I make sure I have a recording of each breakout room?
Answer: Set up the ZOOM meeting to record on your computer and NOT in the cloud. You will need to have one student from each room record the breakout room session. You can designate one person in each Breakout Room to record locally and then share that file with you after the meeting. Multiple students can record locally if allowed by the host.
Note: Need to know how to set up your Zoom account and get familiarized with the security and privacy guidelines around hosting and recording meetings? Check the LTS’s Tools for Delivery website.
D2L Fusion 2020 – Virtual Event
D2L Fusion 2020 is starting on July 20th and it is FREE. This virtual Fusion conference will take place three consecutive days each month, from noon to 3:45 p.m., over a few months period.
Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2020
Brightspace Refresher – 2 more PD sessions offered on July 6th and 7th
Need some tips and reminders on how to use Brightspace effectively? Get a refresher on how to upload and organize content, how to communicate with your learners, how to create and deploy assessment activities and how to configure the grades page for you and your students. Register for the sessions offered by LTS, by visiting their Faculty PD offerings.
Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
Posted on Friday, June 26th, 2020
Question of the Week – Quizzes in Brightspace
We have made a summary of our documentation on quizzes, hoping that this will provide you with a quicker answer before you set up an appointment with one of our LMS Faculty Support Team members:
- All you need to know about Brightspace Quizzes – Learn about the recommended workflow to create quizzes, find short answers to common questions (how to create a practice quiz, regrade students’ submissions, or how to hide the grades and print a quiz).
- Ways to provide Quiz Feedback to your learners – There are multiple ways of providing quiz feedback to your students, and also different ways of accessing the feedback. Learn about the overall, attempt or question type of feedback.
Q. While taking an exam, if the screen freezes, or there is a short moment of no Internet connection, how will my students and I deal with this situation?
A. Once the problem is fixed, students will need to login again to Brightspace, access your course and click on the exam link. They will be allowed to continue the exam from where they left off, as answers are automatically saved, but the quiz timing will still go on while the student is out of the quiz. If they won’t be able to continue that quiz attempt, in an “one attempt” quiz situation, they will need to contact you, the teacher, and you will need allow them a second attempt, using the Special Access options, OR to reset the current attempt and allow them to retake it.
Update on Video Note – NEW!
In a continued effort to support learner engagement and connection, D2L is happy to announce that the 30-minute Video Note extension will remain permanent, with a default limit of 30 minutes and 1 GB uploads.
What is a Video Note?
A Video Note allows a simple way to record video using your computer’s webcam and instantly publish it in your courses. You may find this feature helpful when you want to personalize your course interactions or improve engagement with your students. Watch this video for a short overview on a Brightspace Video Note and read the documentation from D2L on how to use Video Notes in your courses.
Fall 2020 Courses in Brightspace
Shells for Fall 2020 courses will be made available to you around August 10th. The 20F courses availability will be advertised in the LMS Weekly Update email for that week.
Meanwhile, if you would like to start developing 20F course content and learn more about some of the tools in Brightspace, please send us an email at brightspace@algonquincollege.com and ask for a development course (please include the code/name for the course you are developing). Development courses in Brightspace are identified by an “X” in the course code/name. For instance, all development courses created this year (2020) start with 20X.
Brightspace Refresher
Need some tips and reminders on how to use Brightspace effectively? Get a refresher on how to upload and organize content, how to communicate with your learners, how to create and deploy assessment activities and how to configure the grades page for you and your students. Register for the sessions offered by LTS, by visiting their Faculty PD offerings.
Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
Posted on Friday, June 19th, 2020
New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.
Eventually, D2L will make this new experience view as the default one for assignment creation, but for now it is OPTIONAL.
How to Turn OFF or ON the New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
TURN IT OFF: If you would prefer to continue using the old assignment creation view at this time, you can opt-out of the new experience with a single click. When you go to create a new assignment, you will see a welcome screen and some options. Simply select ‘Turn it off’, and this will be applied across all of your courses.
LEAVE IT ON: If you would like to look at the new view and test it out (by selecting Leave it on) before switching back to the old view, or if you clicked Leave it on by mistake and now want to turn it off, you can do so by clicking the chevron in the top right corner, and then selecting Turn it off.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
- Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.
Feedback on the New Assignment Create and Edit Experience
D2L will use the feedback that they receive to make improvements to this tool as they go. You will be prompted to provide this feedback to D2L when selecting “Turn it off” and we would also appreciate it if you could share any feedback with us at brightspace@algonquincollege.com.
Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
More H5P sessions offered by LTS
H5p is a new tool, now integrated within Brightspace, that allows you to create interactive, graded or non-graded digital learning activites, to help students master content, or build interactive videos and other rich-media elements in your Brightspace course. Sign up here for PD sessions on H5P offered by LTS and go to their website for information on how to use H5P.
Posted on Friday, June 12th, 2020
Over 100 Articles in Our DLEKB!
We are proud to announce that our Digital Learning Environment Knowledge Base (DLEKB) has now OVER 100 articles on various Brightspace tools and activities. Please explore its content and offer us your feedback by sending an email to brightspace@algonquincollege.com.
PD Survey
There will be two Brightspace PD sessions next week – an open questions session about the online proctoring tool, Honorlock, and a session on Communication and Engagement. LTS would also like your input, through this survey, on the types of PD that you would like to see on offer later this semester, in the Fall and beyond.
Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
More H5P sessions offered by LTS
H5p is a new tool, now integrated within Brightspace, that allows you to create interactive, graded or non-graded digital learning activites, to help students master content, or build interactive videos and other rich-media elements in your Brightspace course. Sign up here for PD sessions on H5P offered by LTS and go to their website for tutorials on how to use H5P.
Quiz Tip: Screen readers do NOT work with “Disable Right Click” option turned ON!
When you set up a quiz in a Brightspace course, please know that, if you turn on the Disable right click option from the Properties tab, it will prevent screen readers from working.
Posted on Friday, June 5th, 2020
Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020 – Save Your Content NOW!
Some of you have reported over the last year a challenge with the Turnitin QuickMarks and Rubrics, where you would either lose your Turnitin content (QuickMarks and/or Rubrics) or see another Instructor’s content when accessing Turnitin. This was caused by a configuration issue which has been fixed last February. The configuration change fixed the issue for Instructors that were linked to Turnitin moving forward, but didn’t fix the issue for Instructors linked to Turnitin prior to February 2020.
The only way to permanently fix the issue for everyone is to reset the Turnitin Mappings, which we are planning to do on August 21, 2020. After the reset, you will lose access to your Turnitin Content (QuickMarks and Rubrics). You have the option to recreate your content after the reset, or you can export your content and import it back once the reset is completed. The procedure to export and import your content is easy, and we want to take advantage of being between semesters to do this reset.
Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:
Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.
Product Idea Exchange (PIE)
Have you noticed any features in Brightspace that don’t quite work the way you hoped they would? Do you have ideas for how specific tools could be enhanced? The Product Idea Exchange (PIE) allows you to share your improvement ideas for Brightspace and vote for those you would like to see developed. To contribute to PIE, visit the Product Idea Exchange website.
Algonquin College is following the progress of a list of PIE items that were raised by our faculty. If you have something that you think should be added to the list, please reach out to us at brightspace@algonquincollege.com.
Digital Learning Environment Knowledge Base (DLEKB)
We invite you to explore our knowledge base and let us know what you think!
H5P Digital Learning Activities
H5p is a new tool, now integrated within Brightspace, that allows you to create interactive, graded or non-graded digital learning activites, to help students master content, or build interactive videos and other rich-media elements in your Brightspace course. Sign up here for PD sessions on H5P and go to their website for tutorials on how to use H5P.