On the blue navigation bar, on the far right click on ‘more’ drop down menu and click on ‘ATTENDANCE’
Click New Register
Enter the Name of the attendance register and other optional properties as needed
NOTE: Students are able to see these attendance registers from your course in Brightspace from the Course Tools menu unless the visibility setting is unchecked.
Enter a session name: This example uses attendance for Class Meetings.
To add additional sessions to the register, click SAVE, enter the number of sessions to be added, and click ADD SESSIONS.
To return and add or remove sessions at a later time, click the drop-down icon to the right of the register and select EDIT REGISTER from the drop-down.
ENTER ATTENDANCE:
From ‘MORE’ on the navigation bar, Click Attendance:
Click the name of register.
Click the Calendar icon beside session to enter the attendance:
Click the Attendance Status drop-down to set each student’s status:
Alternatively, set the Attendance Status for students in bulk by selecting multiple students and clicking ‘SET STATUS’
D2L is a cloud-based learning management system that updates each month with new features and improvements. This page summarizes these monthly improvements to keep instructors up-to-date and provide information to improve course content.
November, 2023
Announcements
D2L implemented the ability to copy announcements to other courses.
September, 2023
Synchronous Quiz
Instructors can facilitate quizzes where learners take their attempts simultaneously, which is convenient for in-class sessions.
When setting up the D2L Quiz, under Timing and Display, select Time Limits, then Synchronous.
Students will take their quizzes in-class, either in a computer lab or using their laptops. When students begin taking the quiz, they will all receive a pop up message telling them when the quiz will begin.
Virtual Assistant Introduced
A contextual help tool is now integrated into D2L. Students and instructors can ask help questions anywhere in D2L.
August, 2023
Announcements
When an instructor creates an announcement in their D2L course, that they want to stay at the top of their announcement list, there is now an option to “in it to the top”.
July, 2023
Quizzes
Students:
Students can elect to Hide the Timer when taking a quiz. This may reduce anxiety during quiz taking.
Warning are displayed at certain times to support awareness of time left.
1 minute remaining on quiz.
5 minutes remaining on quiz (only on quizzes with 10 minutes or longer time limit)
Half of the elapsed time (only on quizzes with 20 minutes or longer quiz time limit)
Submission View has been changed to Quiz Results Page. After students submits a quiz, they will see the Quiz Results Page.
The Quiz Results page shows learners the status of their quiz and their score.
Students can now see information about the quiz, while they are taking the quiz.
Quiz Information option on the quiz page to view instructions and other information. This does not leave the quiz.
April, 2023
Discussions
Discussions have been improved to look similar to Assignments and Quizzes.
Example of New Discussion Look and Feel
Quizzes
Previously, when a student accidentally exited a quiz, there was not a dialog or warning.
Students are now shown a context-based confirmation dialog message.
Students now see one of the following:
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with no time limit, no end date, or a time limit that expires before the end date.The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date.The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires.The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past.
February, 2023
Quizzes
Instructors can now add quiz availability dates to the Calendar tool in the Availability Dates & Conditions menu in the new quiz creation experience.
Instructors can select the Add availability dates to Calendar checkbox when creating a quiz to add quiz availability dates to their Calendar.
Previously, only the Due Date was automatically added to the D2L Calendar.
Instructor have more options now on how many questions are presented to students; all questions displayed together, 1 question per page, 5 questions per page, 10 questions per page, or add page break after each section of questions.
January, 2023
Equation Editor
The Equation Editor has been improved with better rendering features.
When creating assignments, discussions and quiz questions, within any textbox, instructors can insert equations.
Example of inserting an equation into D2LExample of inserting an equation into D2L
December, 2022
Assignments
Under Available Dates and Restrictions, Instructors can choose what students see of the assignment before submission using the visible with access restriction feature. See it in Action
November, 2022
Media Library Update
The new Media Library (assess is wheel icon next to profile name in D2L) now has a record video/audio option.
Videos uploaded to the Media Library or video/audio recorded by instructors can be used in multiple courses.
An example would be a welcome video recorded by an instructor and easily placed in various courses.
October, 2022
Pulse Mobile App
To help improve the flexibility of push notification, users will be able to choose which push notifications they receive. Previously, it was not possible to limit or control push notifications.
ReadSpeaker Text to Speech Technology
This option is now available in Discussions.
September, 2022
Assignments
Instructors who teach multiple courses can now copy assignments to other courses. To copy assignments, select the down arrow next to the assignment name and select “Copy to Other Courses”.
Quizzes
“No Time Limit” is now a quiz timing option and has become the default time setting (previously default was 120 minutes). If a time limit is desired, instructors must manually select the desired time.
When evaluating student assignments using D2L’s annotation feature, instructor can now use the new undo/redo button. Previously, the only way to remove the annotation was to use the eraser tool.
Media Library Updates
Early updates shown below provide information on the new streaming Media Library.
Under Insert Stuff, the Media Library is now an option. This allows instructors to upload video in multiple places in D2L.
Quizzes
Instructors now have the ability to restore a quiz they may have deleted in error.
Under Quizzes > More Actions > There is now a restore option.
May, 2022
Video/Audio and the New Media Library
Under the advanced editing option on any video uploaded to D2L, there is now an optimize for streaming button.
Pulse Mobile App
Brightspace Pulse users can now use @mention push notifications. Originally, @mentions came through the LMS but were only visible if the user opened Pulse and viewed their Subscriptions tab under Notifications. Now, the new functionality sends a push notification to the user when they are @mentioned.
Updates and subscriptions in the Pulse App are now aligned to show the same items as the Alert Bell in D2L.
April, 2022
Intelligent Agents
The Create Agent page has a new modernized user interface.
Subject line of intelligent agent emails now supports 128 characters.
March, 2022
Announcements
Course announcements now have a copy feature.
New Media Library
A streaming media library is now available for D2L courses. New videos posted to a D2L course will be placed in this streaming media library. Videos previous uploaded to D2L will not be automatically transferred to this new media library, so instructors will have to manually transfer.
Workflow improvements for Media
When creating new video and audio, instructors no longer must wait for the uploaded media file to process. While the media file remains unavailable during processing, instructors can navigate away to work on other tasks. When processing is complete, instructor will be notified.
February, 2022
Content – Print and Download Buttons
The Print and Download buttons are now better positioned when viewing content within a module.
Print and Download
January, 2022
Video/Audio and New Media Library
What improved?
Table of Contents: Instructors can apply meaningful segments to larger videos.
Audio Generated Closed Caption: Instructors can select language, with the ability to edit.
Video Editing: Minor video editing is available – Seek, Mark and Cut.
How to implement?
Within a module in your course, select Upload/Create, then Video and Audio.
Video will take a few minutes to process after uploading.
Select Advance Settings after the video uploads to gain access to these new features.
Here is how to check to see if students have completed and submitted a quiz.
Click on ‘GRADES’ in the Blue Navigation Bar
Find the quiz in the Grade book you are looking to check submission for
Click on the drop down arrow, select ‘Enter Grades’
Scroll down to the students name. Under the Submission Column, select the question mark with red dot.
Under Attempt, select ‘Attempt 1’ and a new window will come up:
Where it says ‘Still in Progress’ is an indicator that the student has not yet completed or submitted the quiz. You can also click on the ‘Quizzes Event Log’ for more data. In this case, since the time to submit the quiz has passed, the student will not be able to finalize the submission process unless you provide special access to this student and change the availability date. You can also manually grade the quiz on this screen as well.
Because you are enrolled in a course using McGraw Hill Inclusive Access materials, you have the option to purchase a loose-leaf print version of the textbook through the campus bookstore using your financial aid, check, credit card, and cash. Purchases can be picked up in person or shipped. Contact the SSC Bookstore for additional information.
Within the McGraw Hill Connect platform, students can choose to purchase the loose-leaf print version textbook via credit card only, and materials are shipped directly to the students after purchase.
The cost varies by title.
PEARSON INCLUSIVE ACCESS
Because you are enrolled in a course using Pearson Inclusive Access materials, you have the option to purchase a loose-leaf print version of the textbook through the campus bookstore using your financial aid, check, credit card, and cash. Purchases can be picked up in person or shipped. Contact the SSC Bookstore for additional information.
Quizzes have always been used in College level courses to assess student knowledge of the course information. However, with the way courses are changing to a more online delivery, it has become a concern that students can use internet resources like ChatGPT, to write, answer, and turn in work that may not be original. Respondus Lockdown Browser can help with these concerns.
When a quiz or a prompt for an essay question is accessed from the Learning Management System, LockDown Browser can prevent students from using unauthorized resources.
Here are the simple steps:
1- Create the quiz in the LMS– in our case this would be D2L
EX: For a short essay, create a quiz and use the “ESSAY” question type.
2- From the Lockdown Browser dashboard in D2L {seen below}
Locate the quiz name and select “SETTINGS”
3- Then select “Require Lockdown Browser for this exam” and “Save + Close”
The assessment will now require students to use LockDown Browser.
When students access the quiz from the LMS, LockDown Browser will prevent them from switching applications, capturing screen content, or going elsewhere on the internet (unless the instructor allows it).
Turnitin users the link below may be of interest in helping with checking for AI writing detection capabilities:
It has come to our attention that sometimes students in the virtual classroom Bongo meeting sessions cannot hear the audio when an instructor is sharing a video in the screen share feature. Examples of these videos being shared are YouTube videos, or possibly web sites with videos that deal with particular instruction from a course. Below is a picture of the box an instructor must check in order for the virtual students to hear the audio with the matching video, when screen sharing presentations.
EX: Screen Share page in Bongo Virtual Classroom
By checking this box, the instructor has now shared the corresponding Audio with Video being played in the Screen Share feature.
Multi-Factor Authentication is now required for SSC cloud-based services like Office 365, Teams, D2L Brightspace, and the VPN. What is MFA and why is it important? Multi-Factor Authentication enhances our cyber security by requiring users to identify themselves by more than a username and password (which can be stolen). MFA requires an additional verification code sent via email, SMS or to a mobile app (Microsoft Authenticator). You may already use MFA with your bank or credit card company.
***PLEASE PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO STEP 5 OR THE SETUP WILL FAIL***
STEP 1: Visit https://www.office.com/, enter in your SSC email address, and click “Next”. If you are a student your email address will end in @student.ssc.edu, if you are an employee your email address will end with @ssc.edu.
STEP 2: Enter in your SSC issued password and click on “Sign in”.
STEP 3: If you are prompted to select an account type, select “Work or School Account”.
STEP 4: At the “More information required” screen, select “Next”.
STEP 5:****IMPORTANT****At the “Keep your account secure” screen, Do Not Select Next or download the Authenticator app. Select the option at the bottom of the window, “I want to set up a different method”.****
STEP 6: In the dialog box titled “Choose a different method” select the drop-down box, and choose “Phone”, then select “Confirm”.
STEP 7: Enter your cell phone number in the box to the right of the country code. Verify that “Text me a code” is selected, select “Next”.
STEP 8: On your mobile phone, you will receive a unique verification code in your SMS messaging app.
STEP 9: When prompted on your device, enter the unique verification code that you received via text message, then select “Next”.
STEP 10: A message will appear stating “SMS verified. Your phone was registered successfully”, select “Next”.
STEP 11: You have successfully registered your device for MFA, select “Done”. These steps only need to be completed once, unless you change your mobile number. Now that you have registered your mobile device, a unique verification code will be generated each time you sign into a service or site that requires Multi Factor Authentication, e.g., D2L, Office 365, AnyConnect VPN, and other college resources.
McGraw Hill Education platform has an app specifically tailored for today’s learner on the move. The ever growing demand for multiple strategies to help learners succeed in the constant change that is higher education, McGraw Hill’s ReadAnywhere® App is perfect for the learn anywhere, at anytime, college student of today. Take a look at the link below and click on the SEE IT IN ACTION box for a preview.
Wondering how to add some automation to your reminders to students in D2L Brightspace? Learn more about creating Intelligent Agents through this great TLC workshop on August 19, 2022 or through these step-by-step instructions.
At the beginning of each semester, and at midterm are important times to verify your class list in D2L Brightspace and SSC Self-Service. Not sure how? Check out this step-by-step video.
