October 2019 D2L Updates

Posted in New Features

As part of our continuous release schedule, D2L has updated a handful of tools to improve the user experience across tools. For instructors, this means that certain workflows and/or iconography you are used to may have changed. This month’s update included more changes than usual, so we have compiled a summary for you to see what things have changed.

PLEASE NOTE
Because we are notified of changes less than one month prior to its release, not all of the changes listed below are updated on our documentation site (teachingcommons.depaul.edu). We apologize for any confusion; we are working quickly to update our guides to reflect these new changes.

 

Tools have consistent behavior, language, and controls.

  • If you want to hide an item in Submissions, Discussions, Quizzes, Surveys, or Grades from users, you will now use a checkbox that says “Hide from users.”
    In the restrictions tab of a tool, you can check the box "Hide from Users" to hide the item from students.
  • Availability and locking dates for discussions are now located in the Restrictions tab, instead of the Properties tab.
    Availability and locking dates are now located in the Restrictions Tab of the Edit Topic or Edit Forum page.
  • Content is no longer labeled as “draft” vs “published.” It is now changed with a switch, next to a striked-eye icon. Instead of saying “draft” it is labeled as “Hidden.” The visibility icon appears when the topic is hidden, when you are doing bulk edit, or when you are editing in place. The visibility icon always appears for (sub)modules.
    The visibility icon of a module or submodule is shown with an eye icon. The visibility of a module or submodule can be changed with a toggle labeled "Visible." An icon of an striked-through eye now appears with the word "Hidden" if a module is hidden from students.
  • If you want to hide or unhide a topic from users from content, you can now do so from the dropdown context menu, you don’t need to bulk edit or edit properties in place. You can also do this for a Quiz, Survey, Discussion topic/forum or a Grade item/category (from Manage Grades).
    Select "Hide from Users" in the dropdown menu of an item in Content
    From most item's drop down menu, you can select option "Hide from Users" to hide the item from students.    Select "Make Visible to Users" in the dropdown menu of an item in the gradebook
  • Surveys will appear in lists the same way Quizzes do. This means they will be sorted by date, with categories for past and future surveys.

New and improved icons.

  • Previously, if you assigned special access in Quizzes there were two separate icons for each type of special access. Now there is a single icon to denote that a quiz has special access set up for one or more students.
    There is now one icon for special access, a key.
  • The special access icon now appears for submission folders as well.
  • All tools will be using the new Daylight icons (except for the bonus grade item icon, the yellow star, which will be updated in a future release). The Daylight icons are the flat, dark gray, and minimalistic ones.
    A new icon appears now for items with exemptions
  • All tool pages now have an icon if there are any students exempted from an item.
  • All the icons now have consistent alt-text.
    Hovering over an icon now displays a descriptive alt text.
  • The Completion Method icons are new. They now appear as follows:
    For completion tracking, the icon for "Not Required" is now two dashes. → Not Required
    For completion tracking, the icon for "Required: Automatic" is now a check box. → Required, automatic
    For completion tracking, the icon for "Required: Manual" is now a check box with a hand icon. → Required, manual

A tool’s restrictions tab actually makes more sense now.

  • Remember that dates for Discussions is moving to the Restrictions tab.
  • The visibility (whether or not the item appears to students) of an item is controlled with the “Hide from Users” checkbox now.
  • The sections formally known as “visibility” in Surveys, Grades, and Discussions are now called “Availability.”

More bulk processes.

  • In Quizzes, Surveys, and Grades, you can hide or unhide multiple items at a time by checking their boxes, choosing “More Actions,” and selecting “Hide from Users” or “Make Visible to Users.”

New things for building activities in content.

  • If you create an activity from Content, the “Hide from users” checkbox now appears under the title field.
    When creating a new quiz, submission, discussion, or checklist, you can check the box "Hide from Users" to hide the item from students.
  • When you are creating an activity from Content, there is now a single button “Save” instead of the separate “Publish” and “Save as Draft” buttons.

The gradebook is getting some love too.

  • In the gradebook, a grade item’s dropdown is now instead of “Enter Grades” instead of “Grade All.”
    Select "Enter Grades" in the dropdown menu of a grade item in the gradebook
  • In event log for a specific Grade Item/Category, there are new logging properties: “Visibility Status” shows “Hidden” or “Not Hidden” based on the availability set on the item. Additionally, “Availability End Date” and “Availability Start Date” shows the changes made to an item or category’s dates.

Would you like to know more?

You can view the documentation directly from D2L:  Activity Visibility Improvements – Part 1 and Activity Visibility Improvements – Part 2. You can also contact our office with any questions by emailing fits@depaul.edu.