Brightspace Activities

LMS Weekly Update: Quizzes in Brightspace and the Availability of the Winter 2020 Courses

ALL You Need to Know on Brightspace Quizzes

This week we have some tips on the Quizzes tool, in addition the documentation that exists in the Essentials for Faculty course in Brightspace that is available to all instructors

  • RECOMMENDED workflow to create quizzes: There are two ways to create quizzes in your Brightspace course: 1. By adding new questions directly to your Quiz (Activities/Quizzes/New Quiz), either from scratch or imported from a .csv file created with the Test Questions Generator and 2. By adding questions first to the Question Library (Activities/Quizzes/Question Library tab/New Section) and then importing them into a quiz. Note that by creating a new Section first in the Question library, and then adding or importing questions there will keep the questions organized and easily to filter.

The second option is the one we highly recommend, as all the questions created or imported into a section in the Question Library will be saved there and you will be able to reuse them later in another quiz or final exam.
Important: The questions created directly in your quizzes will NOT be available for you to import in another quiz or the Question Library.

  • What to do if your students completed a quiz, but you don’t see the grades under Grades? Go to the quiz’s properties, to the Assessment tab and check if you have a Grade item linked to the quiz. If not, create one using the Add Grade Item link. Also, make sure that the Allow automatic export to grades option is checked off.
  • Need to distribute an unique set of quiz questions to each of your students? This video explains how to to create a quiz with a randomized set of questions. Make sure that your questions exist under a Section, in the Question Library. Also, you can have multiple randomized sets of questions in one quiz, by extracting a number of questions from different Sections from the Question Library.
  • Need to set up practice quizzes, but without the associated columns in the course gradebook? When you set up the quiz, on the Assessment tab, leave None for the Grade Item, but check the box to “Allow attempt to be set up as graded immediately upon completion.” No column will appear in the gradebook, but students will be able to view their score and any other options that you set up under the Submissions View tab.
  • Need to change the answer to a quiz question and regrade student submissions? From the Activities/Quizzes click on the chevron for that particular quiz and then on Grade. On the Questions tab, click Update All Attempts and then on the question you need to regrade. You have the options to give to all students points value for that particular question or re-grade only the attempts that have a particular answer
  • Need to hide the quiz grades from your students view? Make the quiz unavailable (from Activities/Quizzes) AND also hide the gradebook item from Grades: Enter Grades view, click on the chevron for the title of the column and choose Edit. Click on the Restrictions tab and then on Hide from Users.
  • How to set up quiz feedback for your students? When students complete quizzes, they will be eager to see their results AND feedback. The default quiz settings show only the overall grade, and nothing else. In order to release more information to students (i.e. questions, correct/incorrect answers, class averages, etc.) you need to either edit the default submission view or set up an additional submission view. Click here to learn more.
  • How to print a quiz? There are times when you would like to have a paper copy of an online quiz. Currently, there is no option in Brightspace to allow you to do that, but this work around might save you some time. Access the quiz from Activities/Quizzes and make sure you have the quiz setup so that all questions are displayed on a single page. Preview the quiz and then click on the Start quiz button. Copy the entire quiz (Ctrl+C), paste the content (Ctrl+V) to a Word file, and then print it from there.
  • Need to clear an attempt for one of your students? Go to Activities/Quizzes, and from the Manage Quizzes, click on Grade from the context menu for that particular quiz. Select the check box for each attempt you want to reset and then click on Reset Icon (trash bin).
  • How to submit an “in progress” attempt on behalf of a student? When a learner takes a quiz but fails to submit it, Brightspace shows no submission or grade. The learner’s quiz becomes an “attempt in progress.” You can search for the attempt and then submit it by “impersonating” the learner so that the quiz can be graded.

Winter 2020 Course Shells NOW Available in Brightspace

Winter 2020 course shells have been created and made available in Brightspace as of today, Friday, Nov 29th. If you don’t see your courses in Brightspace, check ACSIS and/or with your support officer to ensure your course(s) are assigned to you. Email us at brightspace@algonquincollege.com if you still don’t see them listed in 48 hours.

Also, check out the Brightspace Course Readiness Checklist in the Brightspace Essentials course for steps you need to get your course ready for your students! If you don’t have access to the “Brightspace Essentials for Faculty” course, please send an email to brightspace@algonquincollege.com.

Combined Courses: When teaching multiple sections of the same course, combining those sections into one shell might save you some time. To learn more about the two options available and also how to deal with the content of a combined course, click here.

Reminder: End of Life Internet Explorer (any version), starting January 1st, 2020

As previously announced in the August release, Microsoft Internet Explorer is approaching End of Life (EOL) status as a supported browser. To provide more visibility about this upcoming change, when you login to Brightspace using Internet Explorer, a banner informs the user about the approaching EOL date. The banner also includes a recommendation to upgrade your browser. We recommend using Chrome while working with Brightspace.

Stay tuned for the next week’s update on Tips on Gradebook.

LMS Weekly Update: Letter Grade Scheme Correction and Much More

Algonquin College Letter Grade Scheme correction

It has been brought to our attention this week that the Algonquin College Letter Grade scheme present on Brightspace was incorrect. By design, the Brightspace Grade Center does not round up percentage grades up, which caused some grades to be incorrectly displayed in Brightspace when the letter grade scheme was used to display the final grade. The grade scheme has now been fixed in Brightspace, and will round up correctly.

Note that this had no impact on official final grades – Students’ grades are correctly rounded up when using the College Letter Grade Calculator before entering grades in ACSIS.

Hiding Gradebook Columns

There are different types of gradebook columns in Brightspace, and each has a different way of hiding its content from student view.

  1. Hide Final Calculated Grade/Final Adjusted Grade columns – Click here for detailed instructions on how to hide these columns.
  2. Hide a gradebook column that it is NOT associated with any online activity (for instance, when you need to enter grades for participation) – While in Grades/Enter Grades view, click on the chevron for the title of the column and choose Edit. Click on the Restrictions tab and then on Hide from Users. You can also use dates to restrict the view of the grades for a limited amount of time.
  3. Hide a gradebook column associated with online activity (quiz/assignment/discussion) – As these activities are linked to gradebook columns, just hiding the columns in the gradebook won’t actually hide the grades from students. They still have the option to view their grades by going to the Activities menu and then to that particular activity, if that activity is still visible. Follow the steps from number 2., but also make sure you hide the quiz/assignment/ discussion, or have the grades set up as draft and not published.

Look out for more PD sessions on Brightspace Grades in the coming weeks.

Did you know?

As D2L is always improving the system through monthly system updates and system fixes, we are expecting that some of these current issues will soon be addressed. Meanwhile, please make sure you are aware of these issues:

  1. No Space in the name file – If you are trying to upload an image in one of quiz questions and you are getting an error message, make sure that there is no space in the file name.
  2. Rubric attached to a grade item is not updating the numerical grade – Users reported that when they were using a rubric attached to a grade item, the numerical grade was not being transferred from the rubric to the grades column, despite repeat attempts. Following investigation, the issue could only be replicated when the course was set to ‘Inactive’. The solution is to go to Course Offering Information (under Tools > Course Admin), set the course as Active, use the rubric to set the grade, and then if necessary, go back to Course Offering Information to make the course inactive again.
  3. Text pasted in a rubric (during editing of the rubric) appears as being saved, but actually the text is not being retained – Using “ctrl +shift+v” when pasting text during the creation or the editing of a rubric is to be avoid. Use “Ctrl +V, or just type the text directed into the rubric.

So You Think You Can Brightspace

Thank you for your interest in this contest! We received 15 submissions, and judging will take place next week. This will be followed by the announcement of the winning submission in early November, along with a showcase of the excellent work that was shared with us through the contest. Watch this space!

 

 

LMS Weekly Update: Tips on Brightspace Quizzes

Quiz Feedback

When students complete quizzes, they will be eager to see their results AND feedback. The default quiz settings show only the overall grade, and nothing else. In order to release more information to students (i.e. questions, correct/incorrect answers, class averages, etc) you need to either edit the default submission view or set up an additional submission view. Click here to learn more.

Printing a Quiz

There are times when you would like to have a paper copy of an online quiz. Currently, there is no option in Brightspace to allow you to do that, but this work around might save you some time.

Access the quiz from Activities/Quizzes and make sure you have the quiz setup so that all questions are displayed on a single page. “Preview” the quiz and then click on the “Start quiz” button. Copy the entire quiz (Ctrl+C), paste the content (Ctrl+V) to a Word file, and then print it from there.

Student Persona

Switching between the “instructor” and “learner” roles helps you understand how students see the course content. If you feel that you need to take an extra step in making sure your course activities (quizzes, assignments, discussion boards, etc) are perfectly set up or you want to become a pro in setting up that special access for a quiz or assignment, request a student persona by emailing us at brightspace@algonquincollege.com. Click here to learn how to use a student persona account.

LMS Weekly Update: Helpful tools for end of term

As we approach the end of term, your LMS team has prepared a useful list of items for you to get ready to wrap up the semester. To access these tutorials you need to be logged in to Brightspace and be enrolled in the Brightspace Essentials (Faculty) course.

  • Submit your final Grades. Learn how to download your grades from Brightspace and upload them into ACSIS by clicking here.
  • Need to hide/release your final grade? Click here for more information.
  • If you want to make your course inactive to prevent learners from accessing it, remember to uncheck the Course is Active box in your Course Offering Information Settings. Read more by following this link.
  • Need a better workflow for grading finals? Access the Quick Eval tool on the navigation bar on the homepage of Brightspace, which allows you to see a list of unevaluated submissions from across courses and tools in one single place. This tool will save you time and clicks. Learn how to use this efficient tool here.
  • We are offering a one hour face-to-face walk-through for using Quick Eval on Thursday, April 25 at 1 p.m. To register, go here.

LMS Weekly Update: Creating and managing quizzes

Are you aware of all the features that are available to create and manage quizzes? Today’s tips from your LMS team provide insights into how to create a question pool with a unique random bank of questions, how to reset a quiz attempt, and how to submit quizzes that are still in progress. You also can access the Brightspace Essentials module about quizzes here.

In addition, we want to remind you that Blackboard will be decommissioned by the end of this month. Check out the FAQs about the Blackboard decommission here.

LMS Weekly Update: Streamlining the grading process for discussions

The LMS team recently published a video providing Brightspace users with a recommended best practice for grading assignments, quizzes and discussions.

The team has since found an improvement to the recommended grading workflow for discussions that allows faculty to streamline the grading process even more. The tips for this improved process can be found here.

The goal of these updates is to provide a consistent, intuitive Brightspace experience for all users.

Questions or comments about the video, tips or any aspect of Brightspace should be directed to brightspace@algonquincollege.com

Are your students looking for Brightspace help? The Brightspace Ambassadors student support program continues in Student Central (Lower Level, DARE District) through Dec. 13. Help is available Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

LMS Weekly Update: Tips for Quizzes

Are you having issues with quizzes in Brightspace? Your LMS team is here to help.

If you are looking for quizzes training sessions, you can register here.
We have online resources for how to use quizzes that can be accessed here.
We also offer one-on-one support for quizzes. Faculty can book an appointment with us here.

Keep in mind these four quick tips when working with quizzes:

1. Quizzes are still visible to students under Activities > Quizzes when they are hidden or deleted within a Content module.

2. Blackboard quizzes were imported into Brightspace as Active and are visible to students. Make them Inactive.

3. Check off Automatic Grade and Auto Export to Grades in order to see student quiz results in the Grades Centre.

4. Set default Submission View to what you want students to see upon finishing the quiz.

View the Quick Tips: Important Quiz Settings document for details.

LMS Weekly Update: Discover the recommended workflow for grading

A new video has been posted to YouTube here outlining the recommended workflow for grading in Brightspace.

The LMS team created the video in response to numerous inquiries from faculty. It incorporates experience gained in a pilot project where the team observed that individual faculty members were providing feedback to learners in different ways. This inconsistency made it difficult for students looking for grades and comments related to their assignments, discussions and quizzes.

By providing a recommended workflow, the LMS team is showcasing what it considers the best grading process based on the results of the pilot project. Faculty should find the workflow intuitive, and learners will have consistent, easy access to feedback.

Questions or comments about the video or Brightspace should be directed to brightspace@algonquincollege.com