December 2022 – 3900.54 Release

None of the changes in this release have an impact on Original courses.

Instructors:

• Question Banks Descriptions & Search
• Needs grading for first and last attempts
• Drag-and-drop improvements
• Course Links
• Single student progress report
• Improvements for copying content
• Readability/accessibility improvements copying or converting Original content into Ultra Course View
• Simpler Exit Actions for Student Preview

Question Banks Descriptions & Search – 3900.54.0

Instructors often use question banks to organize assessment questions. Reusing these questions creates efficiency and ensures consistency. Instructors can now add descriptions to question banks. These descriptions are useful for noting the topics or objectives the questions cover. The question bank description is displayed with the question bank title on the Question Banks page.

Image 1. Description for a question bank

Instructors sometimes have many question banks in their courses. To help instructors search for and locate a specific bank in the course, we added a search bar. The search functionality queries both the bank title and description.

Image 2. Search field for Question Banks; descriptions appear beneath the Question Bank name

Needs grading for first and last attempts – 3900.54.0

Instructors need to know what grading work remains for them to complete. When assessments have multiple attempts, the instructor may elect how to grade those attempts:

• average of all attempts
• first attempt with a grade
• attempt with highest grade
• last attempt with a grade
• attempt with lowest grade

When the instructor selects “first attempt with a grade” or “last attempt with a grade” sometimes the “needs grading” count was inaccurate or confusing.

We have updated the way that the “needs grading” count increments when more than one attempt is allowed. The “grade attempts” selection is honored for the following:

• last attempt with a grade – when the instructor grades the last attempt, previous attempts do not increase the “needs grading” count
• last attempt with a grade – if the student makes a new attempt after the instructor grades, that attempt does increase the “needs grading” count
• first attempt with a grade – when the instructor grades the first attempt, attempts that follow do not increase the “needs grading” count

Image 1. The assessment is set to grade using “last attempt with a grade.” The needs grading count does not include earlier attempts from this student.

Drag-and-drop improvements – 3900.54.0

Instructors organize and sequence their course materials when authoring. Contents are arranged by dragging and dropping them. In this release, drag-and-drop has been greatly improved, increasing efficiency. Instructors can grab items more quickly. When moving an item, it’s clearer to instructors where it will go when dropped.

Instructors can also use keyboard commands to reorder the content:

• tab to navigate to an item
• enter to select an item
• up/down arrows to move an item
• enter to drop the item

Image 1. Drag and drop functionality in Course Content

Image 2. Drag and drop utilizing keyboard commands

Course Links – 3900.54.0

Instructors may need to reference information contained in other sections of the course. For example, an instructor may want students to revisit an earlier activity to reinforce their learning. Course links provide access to content without excessive scrolling and reduce clicking. This new feature allows instructors to:

• Insert a link at the desired location on the Course Content page
• Browse the elements of a course to select an item
• Rename the link that will appear on the Course Content page
• Move a link on the Course Content page independent of the target item

To add a course link, select create from the plus option on the Course Content page. Select the Link option from the Course Content Items section. There are now two tabs:

• Create Web Link (the options on this page are unchanged)
• Create Course Link

Select the Create Course Link tab. Enter a keyword and/or select categories to locate the target content. Click search to view the search results. Select the desired content. Edit the Display Name as desired. Course links inherit the description of their targets, if one is included. Instructors may edit the description. Instructors can change the visibility and release conditions by editing the Course Link or the target content. A change made to one applies to the other. Instructors can use Batch Edit to modify linked items, but not associated Course Links.

Linking Exceptions

Instructors can create course links for most course materials and activities. There are exceptions:

• In this release, an instructor cannot create course links using the Content Editor.
• In this release, an instructor cannot create Course Links for Folders, Learning Modules, Discussions, and Web Links.
• We do not support Course Links with Learning Modules where force sequence is enabled. This is because links could allow users access to something they should not yet access. If a Course Link exists in a Learning Module, it will not be possible to enable forced sequence.

Copying Content

When a course is copied into a new course, Course Links are updated to link within the new course. There are exceptions:

• In this release, instructors cannot copy Course Links for Documents and third-party content (LTI).
• When copying or converting from an Original course, the copy process will exclude Course Links for Folders, Learning Modules, and Web Links.

Image 1. Adding a new course link to an Ultra document

Image 2. Course Link created on the Course Content page

Single student progress report – 3900.54.0

Please note, this is only available if Progress Tracking is turned on for the course.

Instructors often desire insight into the progress students are making in their course. This information helps instructors to engage early with students or adjust the course content. We have created a new single student progress report. This report focuses on the path each student is taking on the course. In this new report instructors can view:

• The content they have created for their students
• The progress the student has made with relevant date/time stamps
• The current visibility status of each item

Instructors can access this new report:

• By selecting a single student from the Student Progress report on a content item
• By selecting a single student from the gradebook list view, Students tab, Student Progress tab
• By selecting a single student from the gradebook grid view, Student Progress tab

Image 1. Student progress report

When grading anonymously, the student progress status is hidden until the instructor posts grades. This ensures the student’s identity remains anonymous during the grading process.

Image 2. Anonymous test progress information hidden

Improvements for copying content – 3900.54.0

When building and managing courses, course content reuse provides an important efficiency. We continue to make the copy process for courses and organizations simpler and more effective. In this release, we have changed the following:

• A larger item selection page shows selected items and items that can be selected at the same time. In the past, instructors would need to switch between two views.
• Tabs now separate courses and organizations. This makes it easier for instructors to find the correct source location.
• Breadcrumbs make navigation easier. Using breadcrumb links, instructors can return to a higher level of the course or organization structure. This prevents instructors from having to start again from the top level.
• The course and organization lists are displayed in alphabetical order. This makes it easier for instructors to find the correct one.

Image 1. Previously, copy actions were managed in a small panel.

Image 2. Copy actions are now more efficient in a larger panel.

Readability/accessibility improvements copying or converting Original content into Ultra Course View – 3900.54.0

In Original Course View users can choose any color for text. Content could be hard to read or not accessible—for example, yellow text on white background. The Ultra Course View has a curated selection of font colors to ensure readability. Users choose from black, gray, purple, blue, and green font colors. We now remove any unsupported font colors during a content copy or course conversion from an Original course.

This release focuses on announcements, discussions, assignments, and documents (not file attachments). We plan to remove unsupported font colors for tests, journals, and other item types in a later release.

Image 1. The last paragraph of light gray text is difficult to read when viewing in Original Course View.

Image 2. When copied, the light gray text is changed to improve readability and accessibility.

Simpler Exit Actions for Student Preview – 3900.54.0

Student Preview helps instructors experience their course contents and settings. Saving the preview user on exit retains the user in the Roster and Gradebook. Discarding the preview user on exit removes this user from the course. Previously, the two options were displayed with a default selection and a confirmation action. This was confusing. Now when exiting Student Preview, only the two choices are displayed as actions.

Image 1. Student Preview – Exit function