Creator + and H5P
Creator+ and H5P authoring tools have been added to Niagara College’s Brightspace environment. These additions add a variety of easy-to-use tools that will allow faculty to better organize, design, style, and customize their content, as well as providing many new ways to make it more dynamic and engaging for students. 
Together, Creator+ and H5P offer faculty a range of tools for designing and organizing more interactive content, including: 
– Callouts, jumbotrons, and stylized quotes to highlight important concepts, definitions, or information 
– Inline questions to easily add formative assessment into course content 
– Tabs and accordions to organize lists, processes, or comparisons 
– Flip cards, click and reveals, and hotspots to increase interactivity and engagement 
– Layouts to structure and organize course content 
– Interactive presentations, branching scenarios, and augmented videos to make course content more interactive 
– Word searches, memory games, and guess the answer to gamify student learning 
These new tools are now available in Brightspace through the content creation interface and the text editor. If you would like to explore the new tool options, you can review these resources on working with the new tools. 
 
Brightspace Document Templates
Newly designed templates for sharing content are now available in Brightspace. These include easily selectable document templates as well as some elements not available in Creator+. These templates adhere to Niagara College branding standards and are an opportunity to easily and effectively arrange and design consistent and easily navigable course content. Information on starting to work with the templates can be found in the Brightspace Training Resources.  


Newly created Brightspace courses will now automatically use the new document page templates. If you have been using and need access to the original document template pages, please email the CAE at [email protected].
 
New Quiz Evaluation Experience
As part of ongoing updates to our system, D2L has recently launched the New Quiz Evaluation Experience in Brightspace. These changes are designed to optimize productivity and improve the quiz grading workflow for instructors.  
The new quiz evaluation experience is being rolled out in two phases: 
Phase 1 (April 23rd/24th): The new quiz evaluation experience has been toggled on automatically when viewing student quiz attempts. An option to disable the new quiz experience can also be found on student quiz attempt pages. Doing so will revert the page view to the previous grading experience.  
Phase 2 (June 25th/26th): The old quiz evaluation experience will be retired and the new quiz evaluation experience will become the permanent view in Brightspace for faculty and staff. 
This approach provides an opportunity for faculty and staff to become familiar with the new quiz evaluation experience through the spring semester. The only change for learners as a result of the new experience is that they will now be able to see evaluated rubrics for written response questions on the quiz results page. Additional details on the new quiz evaluation experience, including features and how to toggle the experience off and on, are available in the Brightspace Training Resources.  
 
New and Updated Training Resources 
Brightspace Training Resources continue to be added to and updated. Many resources now have updated information and style to improve their flow and navigability. Additional resources have also been added, including: 
– Creator+ Features and Instructional Design Best Practices 
– NC HTML Template 
– Working with Multimedia (video guidelines, working with ClipChamp, and recording in PowerPoint) 
– New Quiz Evaluation Experience 
– Creating Engagement and Recognizing Student Success (badges and certificates) 
 
A Fresh Look for New Content Pages Even Without Document Templates
While apply Document Templates offers enhanced, NC branded styling, even if you choose not to use them you may still notice something a little different – and a little cleaner – about your content pages. That’s thanks to a subtle but impactful update made possible by the addition of Creator+. 
 
What’s New?
Going forward, newly created content pages will automatically apply side margins that center your content on the page (see Figure 3). This small design shift replaces the previous flush-left placement (see Figure 2), bringing better visual balance and a more polished look to your content. It also aligns more cleanly with navigation controls and other page elements. 
 

Why it matters:
This change helps your pages feel more modern, spacious, and easier to read – even without using the document templates. And if you decide to explore Creator+, you’ll find your pages are ready to make use of its enhanced features while still reflecting NC styles and colours.
 
General Brightspace Updates 
Brightspace’s minimum for supported browser versions increases every January and July. The January update increases the minimum supported browser versions to: 
Chrome 129 
Edge 129 
Safari 18 
Firefox 130 
The minimum legacy browsers are now: 
Chrome 94 
Edge 94 
Safari 15 
Firefox 92 
The following browsers are no longer supported: 
Chrome 67 
Edge 80 
Safari 12 
Firefox 67 

Brightspace Editor – Updated Accessibility Checker icon | Updated 
This release updates the Accessibility Checker icon in Brightspace Editor to improve user recognition and understanding. 
 
Bulk feedback option added to Assignments and Discussions
This feature enables instructors to provide bulk feedback to learners directly within the Assignments and Discussions submission pages, enhancing efficiency and user experience.

Key capabilities:
• Add and save bulk feedback as a draft if none exists.
• Update existing drafts or published evaluations for multiple learners simultaneously.
• Apply feedback to selected learners using Add Feedback or to all learners using Add Feedback to All (See below).
 
General Microsoft Updates
 
Microsoft Teams: New setting enables meeting participants to move between breakout rooms
Now, meeting organizers can make the list of breakout rooms visible to all meeting participants and allow them to choose which room to join. Enabling this setting in breakout rooms allows participants to move freely from one room to another, simplifying breakout room coordination for meeting organizers and participants.


Improved access to MS Planner in Teams Channles
With this update, instructors can now add a Planner tab to any Channel in a Microsoft Team. Previously, this was only available in the General tab. Now, students assigned to specific group or work Channels can add and manage tasks in their own Planner tab.

 
Resources and Training 
 
Upcoming Webinar Schedule 
The CAE will be hosting some new workshops in the Spring 2025 semester. Upcoming workshops include:
Create with Confidence: Brightspace Design Made Easy with Creator + and NC HTML Templates
May 1, 2025 – 10:30am to 11:30 am
Transform your Brightspace content with ease using Creator + and branded HTML templates. Designed for instructors new to these tools, this one-hour webinar introduces the powerful features of Creator +, including how to build engaging content using Elements, Layouts, and Practices (i.e. inline questions). You’ll also explore how to apply your Niagara College’s branded HTML templates to ensure your course pages are consistent, accessible, and visually appealing. Learn how to embed reusable, professional-looking components that enhance learning and streamline your course design.
 
Bringing H5P to Brightspace: New integration, new possibilities
May 7, 2025 – 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
In this webinar we will explore the new H5P integration within Brightspace. H5P is a great tool for creating interactive presentations, adding interactions to videos (questions, clickable links, notes, etc.), gamifying learning, and much more. Feel free to explore the various creations from the H5P examples and downloads page.
 
During this session we will:
Access and explore the new H5P Integration.
Review common learning objects and interactive experiences that can be created using H5P.
Assign grades to H5P interactives.
Add already created H5P elements into your Brightspace library.
For information on future workshops and other professional development opportunities, please review the CAE’s events calendar.