Minnesota State Learning Technologies
Have a question or need help with D2L Brightspace? Please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies Team:
- From the Contact Us page located on the D2L Knowledge Base (view the how to login instructions PDF), and
- From the Minnesota State IT Services customer portal (login with StarID credentials).
D2L Brightspace Announcements
D2L Brightspace April 2021 (20.21.04) Update:
Effective April 15, 2021, Minnesota State D2L Brightspace sites will be updated to the April 2021 Brightspace release (version 20.21.04). Release highlights include:
- Instructors: An icon displays beside a student name in the Classlist and User Progress to indicate accommodations have been set for that student.
- Instructors: When setting special access for an individual quiz, the page now includes options to set a multiplier and designate number of minutes (consistent with Accommodations settings). Learn more in the April 2021 (20.21.04) knowledge articles.
- Instructors: When creating a new link topic in Content, the URL link is now set to open in a new window by default, but you may uncheck the box so the link opens in Brightspace rather than a new window (if desired).
- Students: Use YourStarID@go.minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password.
- Faculty and Staff: Use YourStarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password.
- View the PDF for how to login instructions.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
D2L Knowledge Base for Faculty, Staff, and enrolled Students
The Learning Technologies Team offers a D2L Knowledge Base for the Minnesota State D2L community, including students, faculty, trainers, administrators, and other support staff. A variety of knowledge articles are available including, commonly asked questions, how-to processes, and best practices within D2L Brightspace. The knowledge articles are searchable within SharePoint, providing users with on-demand support 24x7.
The D2L Knowledge Base is available to faculty, staff, and enrolled students at all Minnesota State schools. Navigate to the D2L Support SharePoint site (https://mnscu.sharepoint.com/sites/D2Lsupport).
Use the following username format to log into the D2L Support SharePoint site:
- Students: Use YourStarID@go.minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password.
- Faculty and Staff: Use YourStarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password.
- View the PDF for how to login instructions.
D2L Knowledge for Other Users
For users who do not have StarID credentials, you can view select Knowledge Articles (e.g. FAQs) at our D2L Knowledge public page.
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
Requests or questions about using D2L Brightspace
For requests or questions about D2L Brightspace, please contact the Learning Technologies Team:
- From the Contact Us page located on the D2L Knowledge Base (view the how to login instructions PDF), or
- From the Minnesota State IT Services customer portal (login with StarID credentials). Additional instructions are listed below.
For escalation of D2L Brightspace technical questions, please contact the Minnesota State Learning Technologies team.
Minnesota State IT Service Desk
Minnesota State provides a IT Services customer portal for Minnesota State students, faculty, and staff. If immediate assistance is required, please call the IT Service Desk (1-877-466-6728) and provide detailed information to allow our staff to provide efficient support. The IT Service Desk is available during their business hours listed the IT Services customer portal page.
IT Services customer portal
You can access the the IT Services portal by logging in with their StarID credentials.
After logging in, you can submit a request:
- Navigate to the Submit a New Request/Ticket link on the homepage.
- Enter D2L in the window, and click OK.
- On the search results page, select the role-specific link to submit a request for D2L Brightspace:
- Faculty or Campus Staff: click Request Assistance - Faculty or Staff.
- Students: click Request Assistance - Student.
- Complete the required fields (highlighted in red).
- When reading, click Submit.
- After submitting your request, a prompt window will provide your Request ID number. Please provide this number when referring to your request.
- You can view your submitted request from the View My Submitted Requests/Tickets link on the homepage.
A variety of training is offered or coordinated by the Minnesota State system office for D2L Brightspace users, including: faculty, trainers, campus admins, and other 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 SharePoint site, including managing course dates and marking up assessments. Faculty, trainers, campus admins, and support staff can log into the D2L IMS SharePoint site using YourStarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password. View how to login instructions.
View the Minnesota State Learning Technologies channel on MediaSpace for D2L Brightspace help videos. Playlists are dedicated for teachers, including getting started with Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions.
D2L Brightspace for Students
From Minnesota State:
View the Minnesota State Learning Technologies channel on MediaSpace for D2L Brightspace help videos. Playlists are available for students, including getting started with Assess Students with 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
- Assignments (i.e. Dropbox): Assignments - Overview - Learner
- Classlist: Classlist - Overview - Learner
- Course Content: Course Content - Overview - Learner
- Discussions: Discussions - Overview - Learner
- Grades: Grades - Overview - Learner
- Quizzes: Quizzes - 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. Typically no downtime is required for the monthly software updates. If downtime is required, users will be notified in advance.
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.
Monthly Update Schedule
| 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 SharePoint 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 YourStarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password to log. View the PDF for 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 (https://www.minnstate.edu/system/asa/innovations/index.html).
For administration of the D2L Brightspace software license and academic issues within the Minnesota State colleges and universities, please contact the System Director for Educational Technology and Development.
