Academic Technology Updates for May 2024

IT News |

We have new updates for MyCourses, Respondus Monitor, and Pearson! See below for details, and please contact helpdesk@ggc.edu if you encounter any problems or have questions.

Reminder

MyCourses SMS Notifications will be deprecated by our Learning Management System (LMS) vendor, D2L, in July 2024. For additional details, please review End of Life for MyCourses SMS Notifications. 

MyCourses

Grades – Feedback files are now available in Grades for Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions

This feature allows instructors to ensure that learners can easily review feedback from the Grades tool.

Instructor feedback added in Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions is now visible to learners under Grades.

The image displays a user interface from a course, specifically the Grades section. The grades are organized into categories such as Grade Item, Completion Status, Points, and Comments and Assessments. Under Grade Item, there are two assignments listed. On the far right, there is an area labelled Comments and Assessments, where the overall feedback was provided. Beneath the feedback, highlighted with a red box, there is a section for Attached Files indicating that there is a feedback document named Feedback.docx
Figure: Learners can review feedback from the Grades page.

Previously, feedback files were only available to the learner by accessing the activity.

Manage Files – Receive notification when zipping and unzipping files

As of this release, whenever users add (zip) or extract (unzip) one or more files to a ZIP archive in Manage Files, a new dialog confirms that files are being zipped or unzipped in the background. Once the process is complete, a notification appears in Update alerts (the bell icon).

Previously, adding files to a ZIP archive was not a background process and thus there was no notification after zipping. In addition, the notification for unzipping files appeared in the Subscription alerts area.

The Zip Files notification dialog, with the message "Files are zipping in the background. This may take a few minutes. You will recieve a notification when this is complete." There is a single button, Close.
Figure: A notification dialog appears when zipping or unzipping files. Click Close to resume work.
An example of an Alerts notification from completing adding files to a ZIP archive. The notification appears as "Files zipped", followed by the file name, the location, and how long ago the notification was sent.
Figure: Once files are successfully zipped or unzipped, a notification appears under Update alerts.

Respondus Monitor

Instructors can now choose from three sensitivity levels in the Respondus Monitor settings; Strict, Standard (default), and Relaxed. Read Sensitivity Levels in Respondus Monitor for details on which level is appropriate for your exam.

Figure: Sensitivity levels in Monitor settings.

Access Pearson

After June 15, 2024, GGC instructors who use Pearson will need to set up new MyCourses courses with the Access Pearson (LTI 1.3) tool. The LTI 1.3 tool has the latest improvements, including grade sync enhancements and automatic student account creation.

After June 15, the MyLab and Mastering and Revel and eText (LTI 1.1) tools are no longer available to pair new MyCourses courses with Pearson content. IT will be disabling the LTI 1.1 tool from MyCourses after this date. For existing courses:

  • Already paired courses with Pearson content: Instructors and students can access any MyCourses courses that were paired with the MyLab and Mastering or Revel and eText (LTI 1.1) tool before June 15. Grade sync and assignment links will work until the end of the course.
  • Template courses: Template Owners can request access to any MyCourses template courses that were paired with the MyLab and Mastering or Revel and eTextbooktool (LTI 1.1) tool before June 15.

Access Pearson (LTI 1.3) should be used in all new MyCourses courses, including Fall 2024 courses.

Need to learn more?

Need to learn more about MyCourses, Zoom, Accessibility, or Classroom Technology?

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