November 2021 Updates for UCalgary Learning Technologies

November was a fairly quiet month in terms of updates to our learning technologies. However in December you can expect to see several changes, particularly in D2L including the permanent change to the New Assignment Creation Experience. We’ll have a few more updates on those changes between now and the end of the semester.

Brightspace/D2L 

D2L added image drag-and-drop to more tools in Brightspace, including feedback for quizzes and discussions and comments in the grades tool.

They also updated the reader which shows documents (such as word or pdfs) in Brightspace, primarily they’ve moved the controls to the top of the document, so they’re all in one consistent space.

YuJa 

YuJa added the ability to assign a grade in D2L based on the percentage of a video watched. We haven’t tested this thoroughly yet, and suggest caution if you are considering using it, from both a technical and teaching perspective.

They have updated the video chooser. When you are adding videos in to D2L, you will now be able to search and filter to find the video you want to insert.

They have changed the way they generate indexes working directly from the video rather than based on the transcript file. Indexes are now shown to the side, rather than in an overlay which obscures the video.

They have added a “Redo” feature to the video editor.

Zoom 

The most notable change in Zoom is the Zoom client will automatically update and must be updated to work properly.

Now if you are disconnected as host and reconnect, you will be given the option to reconnect as host, co-host or participant. This will make it easier to rejoin a meeting without disruption.

When you need to spotlight yourself, or another speaker, you can now do that from the Participant List.