Using Other Brightspace Tools

Brightspace D2L

Summary

D2L Brightspace offers many useful tools that you might not know about, including Attendance, Checklists, Intelligent Agents, Groups, Release Conditions, Replacement Strings, Rubrics, and Surveys.

Information Applies to

Faculty

Attendance

The Attendance tool enables you to create attendance registers and schemes in your Brightspace courses. Attendance registers are defined by the instructor and, using attendance schemes to define attendance statuses, record student activity and track attendance within your course. The Brightspace Attendance tool includes customizable thresholds for alerting the teacher when attendance issues arise.

There are three major pieces that must be considered when using the Brightspace Attendance tool.

Defining and selecting the proper attendance scheme The attendance scheme defines the states of attendance you use in your attendance register.
Creating the attendance register for your course Attendance registers define when attendance will be taken. You can define your register to include every class meeting or only special days like exams, project presentations, or group work.
Recording attendance Once the scheme and register are in place, the teacher uses the Attendance tool to record student attendance.

Creating a New Attendance Register

Attendance Registers are the entries created to track attendance. You can create multiple registers. Select New Register to begin.

Add name for register.
Add Description, if needed.
Select Scheme, if needed.
Identify Cause for Concern percent, if needed.
Decide whether students can view their own attendance.
Identify which users will be included.
Name Sessions (for example, class dates).

Defining and Selecting Attendance Schemes

The attendance scheme defines the states of attendance you use in your attendance register. There is a default attendance scheme that comes with the Attendance tool that supports the recording of students as "Present" or "Absent." Instructors have the option of creating a custom scheme that could include additional attendance states like "Tardy" or "Excused."

You can create as many schemes as you like, but only one attendance scheme will be used with each attendance register.

To access the attendance schemes, go to the Assessment menu and select Attendance tool. The registers will be located on the Attendance Schemes tab. You will go here to:

Create new attendance schemes
Select a new default scheme for this course
Edit the content of the scheme (by clicking on the scheme name)

Creating and Maintaining Attendance Registers

Attendance registers define when attendance will be taken. Attendance registers include a list of students and a list of sessions (class meetings), arranged in table. Also in the table is a recap of the attendance for each student by states in the scheme, and the percentage of attendance. If the student's percentage of attendance is below the Cause for Concern threshold, a triangle with an exclamation point appears after the percentage.

To access the attendance registers, go to the Assessment menu and select Attendance tool. The registers will be located on the Attendance Registers tab. You will go here to:

Create a new register
Change the definition of the register (click the arrow after the Register name and select Edit) - these changes could include adding sessions, changing the Cause for Concern threshold, changing the scheme, granting/denying student view access to their own attendance, or updating the list of students in the register

Recording Attendance Data

Attendance data is recorded in the Register. Clicking the tablet-and-pencil icon after the name of the session brings up the Set Attendance Data dialog. In this window you can:

Use the Set Status for All Users button to change the status universally for all students in the register
Set individual attendance by changing the value in the pulldown in the Attendance Status column (The values in the pulldown come directly from the attendance scheme.)

To access the attendance registers, go to the Assessment menu and select Attendance tool. The registers will be located on the Attendance Registers tab. You will go here to:

Take attendance (click on the arrow after the Register name, select Attendance Data. and then the tablet-and-pencil icon after the Sessions name in the top row of the table).

Checklists

A checklist contains important or required assignments, readings, or other items to complete. Each checklist contains one or more categories, into which checklist items are organized. For example, you might have an “Assignments” checklist with categories for written assignments and quizzes, both of which could have multiple items that must be completed.

To create a checklist, select Checklist from the Course Admin menu. Select New Checklist.

For more information on Brightspace checklists, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Class Progress

The Class Progress tool provides instructors a way to monitor student access to the course as they access the course, work through Content, meet program Objectives and provide a quick snapshot of their overall grade for the course.

Access the course you wish to view Progress tool and select the Assessment menu. Once in Class Progress, you will see your students listed and this provides you a snapshot of the class and their progress in an easy to read spreadsheet.

class progress

Intelligent Agents

The Intelligent Agents tool monitors an org unit to find activity that matches criteria that you set. The criteria that the agents search for are log in activity, course activity, and release conditions in Brightspace.

Example uses for agents include:

Emailing users with grades below a certain level
Checking for users that have not logged in within a specific number of days
Checking for users that view a specific content topic

For more information on Brightspace intelligent agents, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Groups

Groups are a means of organizing learners within a course into smaller units for the purpose of managing...

Student interactions with each other (e.g., establishing a discussion forum or topic that can only be accessed by members of a specific project team)
Student access to content (e.g., adding lab materials to a content module available to only the members of a specific lab group)
Your communication with students (e.g., sending an email message to only the members of a specific group)

Setting Up Groups

From the Communication menu in the navigation bar, select Groups.
Click on New Category to create a new group category.
Name the category and add a description.
Select the Enrollment Type.
- # of Groups - No Auto Enrollments: the instructor will manually enroll students into a specified number of groups
- Groups of #: Students will be auto-enrolled into a specified group size
- # of Groups: Students will be auto-enrolled into a specified number of groups
- Groups of # - Self Enrollment: Students will enroll themselves into a specified group size
- # of Groups - Self Enrollment: Students will enroll themselves into a specified number of groups
- # of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment: Students will enroll themselves into a specified number of groups, with a specified capacity
- Single-use, member-specific groups: Individual groups will be created for each student
Restrict Enrollments, if needed.
If needed, check the box to make the description visible to students.
Create Workspaces as needed.

Managing Categories and Groups

Once a category has been created, groups will be created within that category. If you selected an auto-enroll option, students will be assigned to a group. To see the members of the group, click on the number next to the group name or click on the group name and then View Enrollment.
If you have multiple categories, select the appropriate category from the drop-down menu.
To manage the category, click on the drop-down menu next to the category name. From here, you can edit the category, add a group, enroll users, delete the category, or email students.
If workspaces were created, they will appear in the right-most columns.

For more information on Brightspace groups, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Managing Dates

Use the Manage Dates tool to view, manage individual dates, bulk edit dates, bulk offset the date availability, and set the calendar status of all content topics and modules, discussion topics and forums, assignment submissions folders, grades categories and items, announcement items, quizzes, checklists, and surveys in your course from one central location.

These course objects display in a grid that you can sort by any of the column headings. You can also use the Type column to sort the Manage Dates page based on the tool-specific order and use advanced filter options to work with smaller sets of objects. If you filter your course objects, any bulk changes you make apply only to the filtered results. This enables you to update multiple availability dates based on specific criteria.

In addition to managing dates, you can open each course object in a new window by clicking on its name. This launches the object's edit page where you can edit additional properties for that object without leaving the Manage Dates tool.

In Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions, you can edit dates in the Availability Dates menu. You can reset the dates by clicking Clear.

You can edit individual dates in the Manage Dates tool by finding the date to update and clicking on the date itself. (They are all hyperlinks.) You can also remove dates by clicking the "X" after the date itself.

On the navbar, click Course Admin.
Click Manage Dates.
Click the desired date to edit it. Click the "X" after the date to remove it. (See Figure 1 below.)
Click Save.

Release Conditions

Release conditions allow you to create a custom learning path through the materials in your course. When you attach a release condition to an item, learners cannot see that item until they meet the associated condition. For example, you could attach a release condition to the second topic in your course’s content area that would hide that topic until learners viewed the topic before it. Or you could create a condition that required learners to view a content topic before gaining access to a quiz, or one that required them to post to a discussion topic before they could see a content module.

setting release conditions

For more information on Brightspace release conditions, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Replace Strings

You can use replace strings to customize course content and communications in Brightspace. Replace strings automatically incorporate your learner's personalized information, such as their name or user ID. This enables you to developer better relationships with your learners, increase engagement levels, and improves the overall learning experience.

Useful Replace Strings

{OrgName} - Replaced with "Winona State University"
{OrgUnitName} - Replaced with the name of the course (e.g., "Intro to Educational Tech (EDFD 352-01)")
{OrgUnitCode} - Replaced with the Course ID (e.g., "20205000239")
{UserName} - Replaced with the student's StarID username (e.g., "ab1234cd")
{OrgDefinedId} - Replaced with the student's Tech ID
{FirstName} - Replaced with the student's first name
{LastName} - Replaced with the student's last name

For more information on Brightspace replace strings, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Rubrics

A scoring rubric communicates expectations of quality around a task in a way that lends itself toward consistent, objective assessment. Rubrics are generally shared between teachers and students prior to the assessment to clarify the desired outcomes of the activity. Rubrics in Brightspace take the form of a matrix with each row of the table used to assess one of the major objectives of the work.

To create a new rubric:

Go to the Course Admin menu in the navigation bar and select Rubrics. Select New Rubric.
Title your rubric.
Select either Analytic or Holistic and the point scheme.
Create your criterion, grading levels, and associated points. Additional items can be added with the + (plus) sign.
Adjust any options as needed: availability to students, score visibility, and description.
When finished, Publish the rubric.

Analytic rubrics are a 2-dimensional layout of the expectations of the assignment. (The example to the right is an analytic rubric.) Requirements are divided into several categories, represented by the phrases in the first column of the rubric. Each category is defined by the levels of success across its row. Brightspace also supports a special type of analytic rubrics called a weighted rubric in which the assessor weights the various criteria differently based on their relative importance.

Holistic rubrics are identical to analytic rubrics with one exception. Holistic rubric assess the submission at an overall level, having only one category and one column in the matrix.

For more information on Brightspace rubrics, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Surveys

Surveys are an excellent way to solicit feedback from participants regarding any aspect of a course. You can gather anonymous or non-anonymous opinions and information from users. Unlike quizzes, survey questions do not require right or wrong answers and can include Likert-style rating questions.

Creating a Survey:

From the Course Admin menu, select Surveys.
Select the blue New Survey button.
Add a name and category (if desired).
If you want to provide instant feedback, check the box for instant feedback. This option will remove the Submit option and provide immediate feedback to the student.
If you want to make the results anonymous (such as for a course evaluation), check the box for anonymous. Once selected, this can not be undone.
Add survey questions.

Setting Up Survey Reports:

From the Edit Survey menu, select Reports Setup.
Add Report to create a new report.
Name the report.
Identify the Report type. A Summary Report will aggregate all results. An Individual Attempt will show each student's responses. You can hide the students' names by checking the Hide box.
Select the date for survey Release.
Identify who will be able to see the survey report. Select any boxes that apply.

Statistics will show who responded to the survey and the date/time of submission.

Reports will show the data based on the report setup (aggregate or individual responses). Reports can be exported or viewed online.

For more information on Brightspace surveys, check out the D2L Brightspace Community or YouTube channel.

Learn More

Need additional information or assistance? Contact WSU TLT by email, phone (507.457.5240, option 3), or Zoom.

0 reviews

Print Article

Updating...