Minnesota State D2L Brightspace System Status
Minnesota State Learning Technologies
Have a question or need help with D2L Brightspace?
Please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team by:
- Using the Contact Us page located on the D2L Support site (check out the how to login PDF for help), or
- Submitting a request via the Minnesota State IT Service Desk website.
For escalation of D2L Brightspace technical questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
D2L Brightspace Announcements
D2L Brightspace September 2021 (20.21.09) Update
Effective September 16, 2021, Minnesota State D2L Brightspace sites will be updated to the September 2021 Brightspace release (version 20.21.09). Release highlights include:
- Teachers can now set file submission restrictions to specify file extensions that students can upload to an assignment folder.
- When using the new assignment creation experience, teachers can select from updated grade options to connect an assignment folder to grades.
- Teachers and students can set personal pronouns to appear on their profile cards in Discussions and Assignment Submissions.(Note that personal pronouns do not appear in other course tools in Brightspace, such as the Classlist or Grades.) Learn more about this feature in the September 2021 release.
- Release conditions can now be exported from and imported in to Brightspace course packages.
- Teachers now have the ability to copy or delete criteria groups when editing rubrics, and rubric statistics are more easily accessible when evaluating student work in assignments and discussions.
For a comprehensive list of features, learn more in the September 2021 release notes for features relevant to students and teachers at the D2L Support site.
(Note that if prompted to login to the D2L Support site, check out the how to login PDF for help.)
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
D2L Support Articles for Faculty, Staff, and enrolled Students
The Minnesota State Learning Technologies team offers the D2L Support site for our D2L community. The Minnesota State D2L Support site is available to faculty, staff, and enrolled students at all Minnesota State schools. (Note that if prompted to login to the D2L Support site, check out the how to login PDF for help.)
The D2L Support site contains a variety of help documents (knowledge articles) including: frequently asked questions, how-to steps, and best practices using D2L Brightspace for teaching and learning. The knowledge articles are searchable within Microsoft SharePoint, providing individuals with on-demand availability.
D2L Support Articles for Other Individuals
For individuals who do not have StarID credentials, access relevant Knowledge Articles at our D2L Knowledge public web page.
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
A variety of training is offered or coordinated by the Minnesota State system office for D2L Brightspace users, including: faculty, trainers, admins, and campus support staff. Training is provided in a variety of venues, including, but not limited to: written documentation, short videos, on-demand recorded webinars, and hands-on workshops.
D2L Brightspace for Teachers
From Minnesota State:
Academic and Student Affairs has an events calendar that brings together faculty development opportunities to a single location. Join us for the webinars and short courses offered throughout the year!
Recorded training webinars are available on the D2L IMS site, including managing course dates and marking up assessments. Faculty, trainers, campus admins, and support staff can log in to the site using your StarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password. Check out the how to login PDF for help.
View the Minnesota State Learning Technologies channel on MediaSpace for D2L Brightspace help videos. Playlists are dedicated for teachers, including getting started with Online Assessment with Quizzes, and Assessment with Discussions.
D2L Brightspace for Students
From Minnesota State:
Check out the Minnesota State Learning Technologies channel on MediaSpace for D2L Brightspace help videos. Playlists are available for students, including getting started with Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions.
From D2L (vendor):
The following YouTube channel videos were developed by D2L (our vendor). The videos may include features, tools, add-on products, and integrations that are not applicable for us at Minnesota State.
- Basic Navigation: Navigate Brightspace Learning Environment - Navigation - Learner
- Classlist: Classlist - Overview - Learner
- Course Content: Course Content - Overview - Learner
- Grades: Grades - Overview - Learner
D2L Brightspace Monthly Update Schedule
Continuous delivery updates for D2L Brightspace are implemented on a monthly basis, typically on the third Thursday of the month. These dates are scheduled by D2L (our vendor). Any changes to this schedule (such as delays in receiving the monthly update) will be updated here and communicated to campuses. Note that on occasion D2L will also deploy hotfixes between monthly updates. Typically, no downtime is required for the monthly software updates.
*Note: D2L's product versioning number for Brightspace monthly updates. The base number, 20.21, represents the year and .01 represents the month, which will increment with each monthly release.
| Prod Update | Version* |
|---|---|
|
January 21, 2021 |
20.21.01 |
|
February 18, 2021 |
20.21.02 |
| March 18, 2021 | 20.21.03 |
| April 15, 2021 | 20.21.04 |
| May 20, 2021 | 20.21.05 |
| June 17, 2021 | 20.21.06 |
| July 15, 2021 | 20.21.07 |
| August 19, 2021 | 20.21.08 |
| September 16, 2021 | 20.21.09 |
| October 21, 2021 | 20.21.10 |
| November 18, 2021 | 20.21.11 |
| December 16, 2021 | 20.21.12 |
Minnesota State D2L Reported Issues
Reported issues within D2L Brightspace is available from the D2L IMS site. A Known Issues document is provided by D2L at each software version release. The list is updated by the Minnesota State Learning Technologies Team when new issues are discovered and reported by our Minnesota State D2L Community.
Faculty, trainers, administrators, and support staff can access the site to view the Known Issues document. When prompted to login to the site, use your StarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password. Check out the how to login instructions.
D2L Brightspace Contract and Software Licenses
A number of software applications can be used to build course materials that can be used in D2L Brightspace. Software applications that are licensed for Minnesota State schools is provided at System-wide Academic and Student Affairs Educational Innovations.
For administration of the D2L Brightspace software license and academic issues within the Minnesota State colleges and universities, contact the System Director for Educational Technology and Development.
