May 2024 Updates

To improve security when issuing certificates, instructors can now use a new replacement string field when creating their certificate templates to add an automatically-generated numeric ID. This ID uniquely identifies the issued award, which can be verified using the new Brightspace API.

The feature introduces a new replacement string {CertificateID} that instructors can add to their PDF templates. A unique ID is generated and populated into the replacement string {CertificateID} on an ongoing basis when released.

The unique generated ID is 12 numeric characters long and is stored in the Brightspace database as CertificateID, along with other data for the issued award.

Note: The {CertificateID} replacement string follows existing rules of other current replacement strings and is marked read-only.

To support this change, the new Awards Brightspace API has been introduced, which allows the verification of issued certificates:

• /d2l/api/bas/(version)/issued/certificates/(certificateId)

The feature is only available on certificates issued with this release when the Certificate ID replacement string is added to the certificate template. The Certificate ID does not have to be added to a certificate template to be auto-generated, but the ID has to be added to be visible to the learner.

Previously, the {CertificateID} replacement string was not available.

Technical Details

Impact:

• Slight impact to administrators due to the ability to verify issued certificates.
• Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to add the {CertificateID} replacement string.
• Slight impact to learners due to the ability to use an additional layer of uniqueness and security of their certificates.

Availability:

• This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

• This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

This feature allows instructors to ensure that learners can easily review feedback from the Grades tool.

Instructor feedback added in Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions is now visible to learners under Grades.

Figure: Learners can review feedback from the Grades page.

Previously, feedback files were only available to the learner by accessing the activity.

Technical Details

Impact:

• Moderate impact to instructors since feedback files added to specific activities are discoverable to learners directly from the Grades tool.
• Moderate impact to learners due to the ability to discover and review feedback from Assignments, Quizzes, or Discussions directly from Grades.

Availability:

• This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

• This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

To improve user experience within the Grades tool’s Mastery View, this feature addresses user feedback regarding the Publish All and Retract All actions.

Previously, a time delay could occur between initiating Publish All or Retract All actions and the visible update of the action’s status in the Mastery View table. This delay sometimes made it unclear whether the action was successfully applied.

To provide immediate feedback that a publishing or retracting event is in progress, the Mastery View page now displays as pending or updating immediately after a user clicks Publish All or Retract All. Updates can take several minutes to complete. Users can navigate away from the Mastery View page while updates are ongoing to perform other tasks. Upon returning to Mastery View, the page clearly displays the status for the Publish All or Retract All actions.

Figure: After clicking Publish All, the screen updates and the Publishing in progress pop-up displays until the publishing action is completed.

Technical Details

Impact:

• Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to view the pending or updating status of Publish All and Retract All in Mastery View.

Availability:

• This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

• This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.

As of this release, whenever users add (zip) or extract (unzip) one or more files to a ZIP archive in Manage Files, a new dialog confirms that files are being zipped or unzipped in the background. Once the process is complete, a notification appears in Update alerts (the bell icon).

Previously, adding files to a ZIP archive was not a background process and thus there was no notification after zipping. In addition, the notification for unzipping files appeared in the Subscription alerts area.

Figure: A notification dialog appears when zipping or unzipping files. Click Close to resume work.

Figure: Once files are successfully zipped or unzipped, a notification appears under Update alerts.

Technical Details

Impact:

• Slight impact to instructors due to the ability to add files to or extra files from a ZIP archive in the background, as well as to receive notifications.

Availability:

• This feature is available to all clients.

To enable:

• This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
• This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.