D2L Brightspace is a cloud-based, learning management system. One of the many excellent features of Brightspace is that it updates near the start of each month with new features and improvements. Updates occur automatically with no system downtime.
The monthly update process is called Continuous Delivery. Regular software updates allow for new features, settings, and configurations to be applied to Brightspace without any system outage.
Updates help ensure that any needed security patches are applied and new features are available to the campus. Carleton is on the Wave 3 update schedule. Visit the D2L 2024 Wave Schedule to see when Carleton’s next update will be. Significant changes to Carleton’s instance of Brightspace are also announced monthly via the TLS Newsletter. Subscribe to receive monthly updates.
NOTE: In addition to the Continuous Release notes, D2L Brightspace provides a Known Issues List to share problems found in the learning management system. Known issues are problems that have been identified by Brightspace users and confirmed by D2L product staff. In many cases, these issues are the basis of future product developments.
New Automated Course Deactivation Service
Starting May 15, 2024, Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) is introducing a new automated course deactivation service for Brightspace courses. This initiative is designed to streamline the management of course environments and ensure a clutter-free and up-to-date learning platform for both instructors and students.
Service Rollout
- Initial Deactivation: On May 15, we will deactivate all Brightspace courses that began before Fall 2023. This process will clear the platform of older course contents that may no longer be relevant or in use.
- Annual Deactivation: Each May, TLS will systematically deactivate Brightspace courses from the previous academic year. For example, in May 2025, we will deactivate courses from Fall 2023, Winter 2024, and Summer 2024 sessions.
Benefits
We believe this new service will enhance the Brightspace experience by making it more manageable and user-friendly for everyone involved.
- Simplicity: Instructors no longer need to remember to manually deactivate their old courses—TLS will handle it for you.
- Clarity: Students will benefit from a more organized and less confusing course list, helping them to focus on their current studies without the clutter of past courses.
Reactivation Option
If you need to access or reuse any of the deactivated courses, you can easily reactivate them through your instructor dashboard. This flexibility allows you to maintain control over your course content while benefiting from an optimized learning environment.
If you have any questions or need assistance with managing your courses, please don’t hesitate to reach out to TLS for support via the TLS Support Portal.
Brightspace Quarterly Updates: Winter 2024
Brightspace Community Site
- Navigation and content improvements: New and improved search functionality. This improved search uses natural language processing AI to iteratively improve the accuracy of search results and supports the use of search synonyms for terms often used interchangeably (for example, Dropbox and Assignment).Additionally, this new federated search indexes and surfaces content from external sources such as corporate blogs, the Brightspace Tutorials YouTube channel, Brightspace Learning Center, and Developer (Valence API) documentation.
Quizzes
- Improved experience for generating Quiz Reports: A faster, more stable and more intuitive experience for instructors when running and exporting quiz reports with large amounts of data.
- Arithmetic Questions available in Quizzes: 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
- Written response questions remain as pending evaluation until being manually graded: When instructors grade quiz attempts, any ungraded written response questions remain as pending evaluation until the instructor manually grades them. Previously, when instructors clicked Publish or Update for a quiz attempt, the written response question’s pending evaluation status would be removed.
Brightspace Editor
- Consistent link creation with the ability to choose link format: changes to the link adding process provide users with a consistent workflow and control over how links respond in their content. This includes plain language setting descriptions, updated Insert Quicklinks button and the ability to choose when the link opens in a new window.
- Insert Stuff uses new file picker when uploading from users’ computer.
Widgets
- Custom Hosted Widget Replacement Service: This feature enables the identification and replacement of all instances of custom hosted widgets with equivalent system widgets.
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.
Analytics Builder
- New Analytics builder powered by Amazon Quicksight: The Analytics Builder, which was previously announced in the December 2023/20.23.12 release for launch in April 2024/20.24.4 is now being released with limited availability to new clients with the Performance+ package. With the new Analytics Builder, there is an easy-to-use visualization interface, a streamlined report creation workflow, enhanced reporting capabilities, global infrastructure support, and better accessibility features than what was previously available in Insights Report Builder.
If you have questions about these updates, or anything else related to Brightspace, reach out to us at tlssupport.carleton.ca.
D2L Release Notes
All changes to D2L Brightspace are documented and explained in the Brightspace Community site and indicated month by month: All Release Notes
Note that the Brightspace Community site includes every product and tool available within D2L’s product options. Carleton’s instance of Brightspace may not include all products indicated on the Community site. If you have specific questions about Carleton’s Brightspace instance, please connect with the Digital Learning team via the TLS Jira portal: tlssupport.carleton.ca.