Brightspace Updates

Updates to Visual Table of Contents Widget in Brightspace

by

Updates to the Visual Table of Contents were applied by D2L the week of January 13th. This update resolves the issue where widget images do not appear in Firefox or other browsers that disable third-party cookies by default.

New default image for Visual Table of Contents

As a result of this update, if no image is present in the module description the Visual Table of Contents widget (located on the course home page) uses the course image as the default image for all displayed modules. Previously, the default image for all modules or units was always an image of a mountain unless otherwise specified.

New module description icon

Previously, if a user selected the information or “i” icon the card flipped to display the module description. Now, users will find this information under the Show Description or “?” icon.

To learn more, visit the Brightspace Release Notes available on the Brightspace Community. Please note, release notes include updates for all products and some products may not be available on our platform.

The Academic Community is Now on Brightspace

by

The FCTL Academic Community site is now available to faculty on Brightspace. The FCTL Academic Community offers a curated collection of materials to enhance your teaching that are aligned with research-based best practices. Faculty will also find technology resources and resources from the Showcase on Teaching and Learning keynote speakers.

To access the FCTL Academic Community, faculty will need to self-enroll in the community on Brightspace.

Instructions: How to Enroll in a Community Site on Brightspace

Brightspace Back to School Checklist

by

With the start of the semester next week, you might find the following information about Brightspace helpful.

Run the Grades Setup Wizard

Grades Setup Wizard needs to be run for each course and will help you configure Grades to suit your approach to evaluation. This is also where you would provide your students with access to the Final Grade column so they can track their progress throughout the semester.

When you access Grades within your course for the first time, the Setup Wizard loads, however if it doesn’t, click Setup Wizard tab in Grades.

Learn more about setting up your gradebook in Brightspace

If you have already run the Setup Wizard, you may not have been aware of a new feature that was recently added called Automatic Zero. This feature allows a score of zero (0) to automatically be applied when a student does not complete an activity after the due date has passed. To apply this setting, you may need to re-run your Setup Wizard. Learn more about Automatic Zero on the Brightspace Blog.

Activating your Course

Once the semester begins you will need to make your course active so your students can access the course materials.  Learn how to make your course available from the Knowledge Base article: Activating your Brightspace Course.

Turnitin

With the move to Brightspace the university had to select a new tool for checking plagiarism. Turnitin is now integrated into Brightspace. For instructions on how to apply Turnitin to an Assignment visit Assignments and Turnitin. You may also be interested in these additional resources:

Where to Get Help

Brightspace Virtual Assistant

The Brightspace Virtual Assistant is a 24/7 support tool that is integrated directly into the platform. It provides immediate access to help documentation, step-by-step guides, and video tutorials for all Brightspace users. You can also connect directly with live agents and open support tickets.

The Knowledge Base:
Brightspace articles and how-to guides housed on the Missouri State website.

Brightspace Guided Training
Located on the institutional navigation bar when you first access Brightspace. The Brightspace Guided Training is a self-paced program that includes instructional videos and step-by-step walkthroughs for many of the features you will use as an instructor.

Brightspace Tips: Automatic Zero – New Feature Alert!

by

Recently Brightspace has added a new feature, the Automatic Zero feature.

This feature allows a score of zero (0) to automatically be applied when a student does not complete an activity after the due date has passed. This setting is a better alternative to “treat ungraded items as 0” and will eliminate the need for you to manually record zeros for missing work. Additionally, it provides students with a more accurate view of how they are performing overall in the course.

Automatic Zero is applicable to file and text-based assignments, quizzes, and LTI tools that have gradebook associations. The tool respects any exemptions and release conditions set for an activity. Automatic Zero is triggered within one minute of the due date and is based on local time zones for both instructors and learners (Brightspace, 2024).

This feature is available to you on Step 3 when you run the Setup Wizard in the Gradebook. Simply check the box to enable. Keep in mind, if applied after the semester has begun, the setting is not retroactive and will only impact future assignments.

Automatic Zero for Missing Submission dialogue box on Step 3 of the Brightspace Setup Wizard.


 

 

 

 

 

 



Once a due date has passed, you will see the auto zero applied. If you hover over the score a tooltip displays showing it was automatically applied by the system.

Automatic zero applied to a missing submission with an explanatory tooltip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:
Brightspace (2024). Release Notes for July 2024. https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/26098-july-2024-20-24-7


Final Access for Blackboard is Right Around the Corner!

by

Now that the spring semester has officially ended there are a few housekeeping things you may still need to do in Blackboard before access ends on May 31, 2024.

You may need to download your gradebooks. Depending on your department’s specific accreditation requirements, you should download at least the past academic year (Summer 23, Fall 23, and Spring 23). Check with your department if you need to keep more than one academic year.

Migrating content from Blackboard

While the past academic year will be migrated by Computer Services, courses older than Summer 2023 and master courses will not be migrated by default. You will need to migrate those manually. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when migrating content:

You need to request a source course before you migrate content into Brightspace. DO NOT migrate content into a live course. Here are three reasons why:

  1. The settings from Blackboard are retained when you import content so you could inadvertently make your course available once you have uploaded the course zip file to Brightspace.
    • If announcements were included in your export file and your course is switched to “active” your students will start receiving notifications of those announcements as soon as the import process has finished. This could cause quite a bit of confusion.
  2. Students would be able to access to your course before you have had a chance to make changes and do any necessary clean-up post migration.
  3. There will be clean-up post migration.
    • It is completely normal to have some clean-up to do after migrating content from one platform to another. Using the Transitioning to Brightspace Checklist can help.

Need to make your course active (or inactive)? Learn how from the Knowledge Base article: Activating your Brightspace Course

Incomplete Grades

If you were using Blackboard during the Spring 2024 semester and have assigned an incomplete grade for a student and they will need longer than May 31st to complete work, you will need to submit a request to Computer Services to have them added to the next semester offering of your course in Brightspace.

Requesting Brightspace Access for students with Incomplete Grades

If you have questions or need to contact the MSU Help Desk, please do so by submitting your question/request directly to the Help Portal.

Are you ready to teach with Brightspace?

by

You should have heard by now that the university adopted Brightspace as our new learning management system (LMS).

Beginning with summer intersession, all faculty will be teaching with Brightspace.  The Brightspace Course Readiness Checklist is constructed to align with the expectations outlined in the university wide LMS use policy, to help you self-assess your readiness to use Brightspace in your courses. The checklist covers logging into Brightspace and organizing course materials, setting up your gradebook, communicating with students and where to get support when needed.

If in doubt, Migrate!

Now is the time to request your Brightspace source courses and migrate any content you would like to keep that is currently in Blackboard over to Brightspace. Computer services will only be migrating content from the past academic year (Summer 2023 to Spring 2024). Master courses will not be migrated. If you have content from courses older than Summer 2023, you will need to migrate that content.

As you migrate content from Blackboard to Brightspace you may find the following resources helpful:

Download Your Gradebooks

Student data will not be able to be migrated from Blackboard into Brightspace, so it is vital that you to download your gradebooks from the past academic year courses.

Key dates to remember:

  • The use of the Blackboard LMS for teaching classes will end May 12th.
  • Beginning with Summer Intersession – May 13th, the Brightspace LMS will be used for teaching all classes.
  • Faculty access to Blackboard for course migration will end May 31st. 
  • Faculty will need to download gradebooks and final data from Blackboard by May 31st.
  • The Blackboard LMS will be retired on June 1st.

Tip #3: Using the Welcome Widget

by

When you first access a course on Brightspace you will encounter a pop-up window, this window is referred to as the Welcome Widget. The Welcome Widget is a great tool to introduce your learners to the course. It can include text, images, and even videos. The Welcome widget can also be used to provide an overview of the course, to introduce yourself as the instructor, or to share important announcements.

Adding content to your welcome widget is just like adding content to a regular module. (If you haven’t done this yet or need a refresher visit Create Course Content.) While instructions for how to create your Welcome widget are also included on the initial pop-up window, I have included them here as well:

  • First you will need to create a module for your course that includes the word “Welcome” in the Module title.
  • Next, access your newly created Welcome module and add content by selecting the Upload/Create button and choosing “Create a File”. Each file you create is a page in your Welcome Widget.

That’s it!

Sample first page of a Welcome Widget in Brightspace.
Sample first page of a Welcome Widget.

The widget will appear when learners access the course and will reappear each time they visit the course homepage unless they dismiss it using the Dismiss Button, located on the last page. It will also appear any time new content is added (even if they have dismissed it previously).

Students do not see the Welcome Widget until you create content for the widget. If you decide not to use the Welcome widget, simply do not create a module with “Welcome” in the title. You can dismiss the Welcome Widget by paging through to the last page and clicking “Dismiss”. To relaunch the Welcome Widget, scroll to the bottom of your course home page and locate the Welcome Widget and select “Relaunch the Welcome Window”.

Tip #2: Know Your Training Options

by

As we move toward campus-wide use of Brightspace beginning summer 2024 semester are you aware of the various training opportunities available this spring?

On Demand Training

Did you know there is a training available within the Brightspace platform? Once you log into Brightspace, select the Brightspace Guided Training link in the navigation bar. The Guided training is a self-paced training option that includes videos, step-by-step walkthroughs, and access to webinar recordings.

Brightspace Live Virtual Trainings

These sessions are facilitated by a Brightspace trainer via Zoom. There is a total of seven 2-hour sessions:

  • Instructor Essentials 
    • Focuses on accessing and navigating the Brightspace Learning Environment
  • Session 1: A Student’s Life
    • Focuses on the student experience in Brightspace. Introduces a variety of instructor tools and features that are used to create engaging learning experiences for students.
  • Session 2: Grading a Course
    • Focus is on how an instructor grades a variety of assessments in Brightspace. Includes effective practices for grading as well as student progress reporting.
  • Session 3: Communicating
    • Focuses on using Brightspace to communicate with students, support learning and apply communication strategies that can motivate and engage students.
  • Session 4: Can We Build It?
    • Focuses on building key course elements, setting up the gradebook, copying existing content into courses and building new content materials.
  • Session 5: Yes, We Can!
    • Focuses on building course activities and assessments. Includes effective practices and how to use the assignment, quiz, and discussion tools to reflect course objectives.
  • Session 6: The End is the Beginning
    • This session is designed to take your course to the next level. Dive deeper into practices and tools that are of high interest to participants and answer questions that may not have been covered in earlier sessions.

The entire series will be offered twice throughout the spring semester, providing multiple opportunities to attend each session within the series. Sessions begin January 31st and end April 15th.

Brightspace FLCs

Brightspace Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) will be available throughout Spring 2024. FLCs will be facilitated by faculty members who served as early adopters of Brightspace during Fall 2023.
FLCs offer an opportunity for faculty to collaborate within a peer community supporting each other in transitioning to Brightspace.

Just the Basics: Getting Started with Brightspace

This training, facilitated by the FCTL instructional designers will focus on meeting the university LMS minimal use policy. You are encouraged to bring your own device and follow along.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

  • Login and navigate to their courses on Brightspace.
  • Create a module and upload their course syllabus.
  • Use communications tools within the Brightspace platform.
  • Set up a gradebook for their course. 

Visit My Learning Connection to view available dates and times and register for these training options.

One-on-One Consultations

You can also schedule time with an instructional designer in the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning if you have questions about Brightspace or need help migrating content.

View availability and schedule an appointment:

Schedule with Stacy Rice, or Schedule with Eric Taylor

Brightspace Tips: The Virtual Assistant and Other Support Options

by

In this first series of Brightspace tips, I want to introduce you to your support options to help you navigate the Brightspace platform.

The Brightspace Virtual Assistant:

The Brightspace Virtual Assistant is a 24/7 support tool that is integrated directly into the platform. It provides immediate access to help documentation, step-by-step guides, and video tutorials for all Brightspace users. You can also connect directly with live agents and open support tickets.

To access, select the speech bubble icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the page when you are logged into Brightspace.

Brightspace Virtual Assistant Icon

  1. You can select from one of the question topics available or simply type your question in the text box.
  2. Type a Brightspace-related question into the text box and click Send.
  3. Read the articles suggested based on the question asked; you can toggle between the two to preview what information is included in each.
    • Click Read Article to read the resource(s) in full screen within the widget.
    • Click the ← arrow button to return to the search results.
    • Click the Open in new tab button to view the resource in Community.

Not seeing the results, you want? Do one of the following:

  1. Select Yes, I have another question to ask another question and receive additional help articles.
  2. Select Ask the Community to be directed to Brightspace Community to post your question in a discussion forum and receive answers from other Community members.
  3. Select Contact Support for further assistance. The following options appear:
    • Call us: users will be given the correct phone number for their organization.
    • Email us: a case will be created from the tool and will be sent to the D2L end user support team.
    • Chat with us: users can chat with a live D2L support agent while navigating through different areas of Brightspace.

Other support options and resources include:

The Knowledge Base:
Brightspace articles and how-to guides housed on the Missouri State website.

Brightspace Guided Training
Located on the institutional navigation bar when you first access Brightspace. The Brightspace Guided Training is a self-paced program that includes instructional videos and step-by-step walkthroughs for many of the features you will use as an instructor.

Brightspace Community
The Brightspace Community is a repository of resources for using Brightspace as well as opportunities to collaborate and network with other Brightspace members. You will need to create a free account to access many of the features available.

Brightspace Instructor Documentation
Included in the Brightspace Community, the instructor documentation contains detailed instructions for how to use the many Brightspace features and tools for instructors.

Brightspace Data Update Spring 2024

by

We wanted to provide an update that courses and enrollments have been added to Brightspace. You should see all students reflected in your classes that were enrolled as of yesterday evening. However, students who have dropped classes have not yet been processed, that work is still underway, so there is no action needed at this time and your classlist will continue to update as we finalize the enrollment sync between Brightspace and Banner. We will continue to process enrollments additions daily while we finalize the process for removing users who have dropped.