Video Assignments Available in BOLT

Video Assignments is now available in BOLT!

The Video Assignments tool by YouSeeU is available within BOLT for instructors to create video assignments for students to complete.


Video Assignments allow instructors to assess demonstrated skills, applied knowledge, and competency by reviewing student video submissions. Instructors can provide direct, focused feedback in time-stamped comments, and grades from the tool sync to the Grades tool in the course.


Instructors can find the Video Assignments tool in the Assessments menu in their courses, and must link to the assignments in Content for students to access and submit to them.

Improvements to the New Quizzing Experience and Short Answer Questions

This release introduces further improvements to the new quizzing experience for True or False, Multiple Choice, Long Answer, and Short Answer quiz questions, which include the following:

• If instructors opt out of the new quizzing experience, they are prompted to provide a reason why they are opting out.
  
  
  
  
• An option (Save and Copy) has been added that enables instructors to save the current question and copy the content to a new question that can be edited.
  
  
  
  
• Short Answer questions have been enhanced. Instructors can select the new Students must answer all blanks correctly grading option, which is an all or nothing grading option, or Students will receive part marks, which divides the total points by the number of answers possible.
  
  

New Quizzing Experience: Short Answer Question Updated

As another stage in the visual redesign of the Quizzes tool, the Short Answer (SA) question creation and editing layouts have been updated.




Short Answer Question Creation Updated

Instructors can opt in or out of this new look and feel. For more information, please see the New Quizzing Experience module in the BOLT Help Course in BOLT. (In the BHC, Click Content > Coursework Help > Quizzes Help > New Quizzing Experience )

Are You Using or Want to Use Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor? Join This Webinar!

Respondus is offering a webinar on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.


"How I Prevent Cheating During Online Exams" is a special webinar with instructor Tammi Kolski and Respondus. The webinar will include strategies and best practices for using Monitor with online exams, and include information on student feedback.


If you are using or thinking of using Respondus security tools for your online quizzes in BOLT, you can sign up to attend the webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3084618679281039361?source=license

New: BIG Improvements to Group Discussions

Are you ready for something that will make your life easier with grading group discussions?

A new way to create group discussions is available. Instead of creating multiple topics, instructors can create one group restricted topic. You can create one topic with threads separated by group.



In Discussions:



When you are creating a new topic, on the Properties tab, the topic type defaults to Open topic. Instructors can select the new Group or section topic option instead. Once you create and save the topic, you cannot change the topic type. (If you selected the topic type as open, you can access the original Group Restrictions area on the Restrictions tab.)

In Groups:


To create a new group topic the original way, select the Create one topic per group radio button. To create group categories the new way, select the Create one topic with threads separated by group radio button.

If you create one topic with threads separated by group :
One discussion topic is created for an entire group category and threads within it are associated with specific groups. As a result, instructors observe less scrolling on the discussion list. Instructors can use the new All Groups filter on the topic to view all posts or to only view posts for a specific group. Inside a discussion thread, users can see which group the thread belongs to.

If you create one topic with threads separated by group :
Only one grade item is required. This makes assessing discussion topics faster as instructors do not have to navigate in and out of topics to complete an assessment.


If you create one topic with threads separated by group :
Now, when instructors copy groups to new courses, the group setup (grade item, assessment option, etc.) is also copied over.


Also, and importantly: There is no change in workflow for students as they can only see one discussion topic and the posts within it that are associated with their group, as expected.

NEW in BOLT: Grade Exemptions

Instructors can now use an exemption as a reason why a student has not completed a grade item. Previously, a blank grade could mean the student hadn’t submitted the item, and a zero (0) could mean either exempt, ungraded, or failure.




Having a specific exemption setting supports the differentiation for learners. Instructors can now exempt numeric, selectbox, pass/fail, calculated, formula, and text item types; however, instructors cannot exempt a learner from a final calculated grade or a final adjusted grade.




To exempt a student from a grade item, go to Enter Grades for any grade item and:


1. Select the checkbox beside the student's name.
2. Click Exempt.
3. Click Save.




To remove an exemption, go to Enter Grades for any grade item and:
1. Select the checkbox beside the student's name.
2. Click Unexempt.
3. Click Save.

When an instructor exempts a grade item for a learner, the following pages are affected:
Instructor pages: Enter Grades, Grade User, Grade Category, Grade Item, Import Preview. 


Student pages: My Grades, Class Progress: Summary and Grades tabs

Did you know... we have Examity?

If you are teaching online, you can have high stakes online exams proctored through Examity!


Examity is an online proctoring solution that aims to preserve academic integrity when students take exams online.

There are no extra costs.
Students do not have to pay any extra fees to use Examity to take their online exams at Bloomsburg University.

Easy set up for instructors.
The IMDC has information and documentation for you and for your students.

Hands on help from Examity.
Examity personally assists all instructors using the tool to proctor online exams.


If you would like to use Examity this Spring, contact Julie Wolfe NOW to get started. 

Are You Using Graded Discussions?

D2L has identified a bug where feedback entered in rubrics via the Discussions tool is not being displayed to students in Grades.

 

But there is good news: there are two workarounds so students can see the feedback you are providing them in rubrics.

 

To find out more, please follow the jump cut.

Coming Soon to BOLT: Examity

Instructors who would like to use a live proctoring service for high-stakes assessments in online courses will be able to use Examity beginning in 2016 Fall. Examity will be integrated with BOLT and will be available at NO COST to students. We will provide greater detail at a later date, but for now are here some important items to note:

 

• Only for use with high-stakes assessments (mid-terms/final exams) in online courses
• Students will need to schedule the proctoring service at least 24 hours prior to their scheduled exam
• Students will need to have a web cam in order to use the service
• NO COST to students to use the service
• Integrated with BOLT

 

We will provide more detailed information prior to the fall semester. We will be offering trainings as well as providing necessary documentation/directions for both instructors and students. Please keep an eye out for more information prior to the start of the fall semester.

Coming Soon to BOLT: Audio Note 2.0 and Video Note

Desire2Learn has improved the Audio tool and removed its dependency on Flash. Instructors will now be able to add audio without using Flash or encountering any dialogs requiring them to allow Flash to access their microphone. The new improved audio tool will be available in BOLT in time for the 2016 Fall semester.


Also, a new tool, Video Note, will be available for 2016 Fall. Video Note, also not dependent on Flash, allows instructors to record short video clips and attach them to items in their courses, or as feedback for student submissions. Instructors will be able to easily record short video clips and insert them into course items in BOLT.

Improvements to Rubrics and Grades

On June 17th, instructors will be able to transfer the overall score on rubrics to grade items.


The rubric assessment interface has been updated to a modern look and feel as well.


To use this new rubric grading experience, instructors will:
1. Go to Manage Grades
2. Select Enter Grades a grade item's context menu
3. Click on the icon in the Assessment column of a student's row on the Enter Grades page.

4. Grade using the rubric. Add feedback as you go.
5. Click Save and Record to transfer the overall score and feedback to the grade item.

Pearson MyLabs & Mastering for BOLT 2016Fall

Do you use Pearson MyLabs & Mastering products in your course?


Are students completing graded work in the MyLabs system? Would you like to be able to sync those grades over to BOLT easily?


We now have an integration in BOLT to easily sync grades from Pearson MyLabs & Mastering to BOLT Gradebook.

If you want to add the integration to your 2016Fall BOLT course, please request it with our web form here: http://goo.gl/forms/tG38b35eS3


If you want to know more about this integration, search for "Pearson" in the BOLT Help Course.

Did you know you can restore grade items you accidentally deleted?

If you accidentally delete a grade item, you can use the Event Log feature in Manage Grades to restore it.


Go to Coursework > Grades > Manage Grades.


1. Click the More Actions button.


2. Select Event Log.

3. On the Event Log page, look for the name of your deleted grade item.


4. Click the Restore link beside the grade item ID number.

The grade item and its student and grades data will be restored.

BOLT Best Practice: Grades

Best Practices for Working with Grades

	Use simple names. Use simple names for grade items in BOLT. Avoid using special characters and punctuation in grade item names. If you have an assignment you want to call Research Paper - 3, call it Research Paper 3 instead.
	Backup your gradebook. You should back up your gradebook each time you make changes. Do this in BOLT via the Export feature in Grades. If you need to revert to the gradebook prior to changes, you can import your backup.
	Save each page view and save frequently. If you have multiple pages of students in your gradebook, you need to save changes on each page before navigating to the next page. Save your changes frequently to avoid losing any grading work.
	Release final grades. Students will not see their final grades until you release them. You can release a final calculated or final adjusted grade in BOLT. You can release final grades at the end of the semester, or release at the beginning and opt to automatically update final grades as items are graded.

New feature: Export quiz event log of all quiz attempts

Previously, instructors were able to view the event log of individual attempts to look for patterns or cheating.

Now, the Export Event Logs button on the Grade Quiz page enables instructors to export the quiz event log of all quiz attempts made by students of a quiz to a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file for offline analysis. The IP address of all students' actions is included in the event log.

This feature will be available March 18th when the version 10.5.7 update occurs.

To use this feature:

1. Go to Coursework > Grades
2. Click the drop down arrow beside the name of a quiz with attempts.
3. Select Grade.
4. Click the new Export Event Logs button and download the CSV file.

5. The CSV file will contain event log data for all attempts on the quiz. You can compare IP addresses for events that occurred during students' attempts.

Quizzes Special Access Display Fixed

Some of you may have noticed a display issue with special access in quizzes where the time displayed was four to five hours ahead of the time you had set for students' special access. This was a display only issue.

The issue has been fixed and you should now see the appropriate time after setting special access for students in quizzes.

Respondus LockDown Browser Available in BOLT

RLDB is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within BOLT. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, access other applications, or close a quiz until it is submitted for grading.

RLDB is available to all Bloomsburg University students and can be requested to be installed in computer labs on campus.

If you use RLDB, your students will need to download and install RLDB to any computer they take quizzes on. RLDB can be downloaded at http://www.respondus.com/lockdown/download.php?id=666246493

There is information in the BOLT Help Course (Tools Integrated with BOLT > Respondus LockDown Browser) to get you started using Respondus LockDown Browser.


For questions about Respondus LockDown Browser or any other BOLT topics, you can contact BOLT Support and the IMDC at bolthelp@bloomu.edu or by calling (570)389-2888.

Campus Pack Grade Sync

You can now create grade items and assess students from within blogs, journals, and wikis!

A collage showing the grade and assessment feature now integrated with blogs, journals, and wikis

Just follow the usual process to add a blog, journal, or wiki to your course content and set up the tool.

Dropbox - Track deleted submissions

The File Submissions area of Dropbox has a log that can be filtered to determine if and when a learner submitted a file, and whether the learner or instructor deleted the submission. If a submission was accidentally deleted, you can restore it from the submission log.

Dropbox Submission Log with the Restore option

From the File Submissions area of Dropbox, users can click Submission log to view the submission information. Users can sort by submitted, deleted, restored, or started to determine if there are any submissions that meet the criteria.