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 May 2022 (20.22.05) Update
Effective May 19, 2022, Minnesota State D2L Brightspace sites will be updated to the May 2022 Brightspace release (version 20.22.05). Release highlights include:
- In D2L Brightspace, the default font and color styling has been updated for improved accessibility. The new font is darker and meets the WCAG link contract criteria for accessibility.
- When uploading files in D2L Brightspace, an improved error message appears for students and teachers when one or more invalid characters are in the uploaded file name.
- In the Brightspace Pulse app, @mention push notifications are sent to the student or instructor when they are @mentioned in Discussions.
- When using the HTML Editor to create or edit text in D2L Brightspace, a new and improved context link menu is available to students and instructors, making it easier to preview quicklinks to pages in the course.
- In Grades, instructors can now view the link to the graded rubric from the student preview grades page.
For a comprehensive list of updates, learn more in the May 2022 knowledge articles. (Note that if prompted to log in, 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 Rescheduled to December 18, 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.
