3 Easy Ways to Create Quiz Questions in Brightspace

D2L Brightspace gives DTCC instructors several flexible options for building quizzes. Whether you prefer a hands-on approach or want to save time with bulk uploads, there’s a method that fits your style:

Use the Quiz Editor (Manual Entry)

Build your quiz directly in Brightspace by manually adding questions one at a time. This method:

• Gives full access to Brightspace’s question types, formatting tools, and scoring options.
• Is best for customizing individual questions and feedback directly in the LMS.

Quiz Question Converter Tool (Spreadsheet Import)

Speed things up with a bulk-upload option:

• Format questions in a spreadsheet (CSV file).
• Import them into Brightspace to avoid repetitive clicking.
• Download the tool and see formatting instructions on the D2L Brightspace Community site.

Test/Quiz Question Generator (Text-Based Tool)

Prefer typing your questions in a simple format?

• Use Algonquin College’s web-based tool to create questions in structured text.
• Export your file as a CSV and upload it to Brightspace.
• Great for quickly generating large sets of questions.

Quiz Evaluation Experience

This July, you will see a change in how to evaluate quizzes in Brightspace. Starting with the July 2025 (20.25.07) release, the new Quiz Evaluation Experience will become the default for all users, and the opt-out option will be removed. This update enhances grading workflows, improves consistency, and ensures a smoother transition to the improved experience. Be sure to take advantage of the remaining time to familiarize yourself with the new features!

Old Experience

New Experience

Writing Alt-Text Yourself 

The Poet Training Tool from The DIAGRAM Center website offers free, self-paced training to help content creators make image descriptions more accessible in digital educational materials. It provides practical guidance, examples, and assessments for writing effective alt text for charts, graphs, maps, and other complex images.

WebAIM’s Alternative Text guide provides comprehensive best practices for writing effective alt text to ensure web images are accessible to users with visual or cognitive disabilities.

Get Help with Alt-Text

​Claude AI, developed by Anthropic, includes an image analysis feature that allows users to upload photos for the AI to interpret and describe. While not specifically designed for generating alt text, Claude can provide descriptive insights about images, which can be helpful in understanding visual content. Be sure to verify the accuracy of its descriptions, especially when used for accessibility purposes, as AI can still make some mistakes.

Challenge

• Use the Accessibility Checker in Brightspace/D2L to locate images without alt-text.
• Use support from the Brightspace Community Alt Text for Web Page Images – Brightspace to correct any missing alt-text or to ensure that new images that are added have alt-text indicated.

CCIT wants to support you in creating accessible content. We invite you to check out our Instruction, Design & Technology (IDT) course, G19: Creating Accessible Content. Learn more about our IDT Certificate Program and course offerings on our website. You can also check out our Digital Accessibility MCC to earn a microcredential.

Zoom’s interactive tools can do more than just support your lectures—they can transform them. Whether you’re synchronously teaching online or in a HyFlex environment, here are two features worth exploring:

• Zoom Whiteboard – Use this collaborative space to spark creativity and engagement. Choose from templates, add sticky notes, draw diagrams, or even embed videos and documents to make your lesson interactive and visually dynamic. This tool is great for brainstorming, sequencing, or group activities.
• Polls and Quizzes – Want to check understanding or just energize your class? Zoom’s built-in polls (now with quiz options!) make it easy to gather real-time feedback, review content, or add a bit of fun.

In our recent Lunch & Learn, instructors explored these tools in action and shared ideas for making lessons more interactive. Try one in your next session and see how your students respond!

An all too common problem, broken links in courses are usually spotted when students try to access course materials or content and an error code pops up. Luckily, it’s easy to fix a broken link! 

Before your course begins, go through your course and test out all of the links to make sure they’re correct. If a link is supposed to bring users to content outside of the course, like an article or YouTube video, you may need to copy the link again. Go to the webpage, copy the URL from the address bar. Find the broken link in the content and open the HTML Editor. Select “Insert Stuff” on the editor bar, then select “Insert Link”. Paste the URL that you copied and click “Insert”. 

Sometimes, when a course is copied over from a previous course, the links will continue to send users to previous course content. If this is the case, you should find the broken link within your content and open the HTML Editor. Highlight your link and select “Insert Quicklink” in the editor bar. A pop-up will appear that will allow you to select the content within the course. Click the content and select “Save and Close”. Select your link to check if it is working correctly. It’s that easy!  

Summer classes move quickly—but with the right strategies, you can help students keep up and stay engaged. Here are a few ways to support learning in shorter terms:

1. Prioritize and Trim

Focus on essential learning outcomes. Streamline content to emphasize core concepts, skills, and assignments that deliver the most impact. Less really can be more in a compressed timeline.

2. Set the Pace Early

Use the first class or module to clearly outline expectations, due dates, and workload. Encourage students to map out their calendars so they’re ready to hit the ground running.

3. Chunk the Content

Break up large topics into smaller, focused segments. Use microlectures (5–10 minutes), checklists, or quick comprehension checks to keep students moving steadily through the material.

4. Stay Present

Frequent, low-stakes communication—like weekly announcements, check-in emails, or short videos—helps students stay connected and reduces the sense of isolation that can come with fast-paced online courses.

5. Build in Reflection

Even in a short course, reflection is powerful. Quick prompts like “What’s one thing you learned this week?” or “What’s one question you still have?” help reinforce learning and encourage metacognition.

View the accessible version of this interactive content

Have you ever tried to look for a file in your course and had to search through the hundreds of files that have accrued over the semesters? We are pulling out one of our favorites from the archives this month: Course Cleaning Trick. 

This video walks you through the process of cleaning up your course in D2L’s Brightspace to remove all the old videos, images, and documents that are no longer used, but still living in your courses.

This interactive ThingLink provides a quick and accessible overview of Open Educational Resources (OERs). It answers common questions such as what OERs are, where to find high-quality materials, how to properly attribute OERs, and how to evaluate them for your courses. Use the hotspots to explore tips, tools, and resources that can support your use of OERs in teaching. 

Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content