Make Your Quizzes Smarter with Question Pools in Brightspace

Brightspace

Creating a quiz in Brightspace? Take it to the next level by using question pools! This feature lets you pull a set number of questions from multiple sections in your Question Library. With this, each student gets a slightly different version of the quiz, ensuring academic integrity.

To create a question pool, start by editing your quiz and selecting “Create New” followed by “Question Pool.” From there, name the pool, decide how many questions you want to include, and set the point value. Then browse your Question Library to select the questions or sections you want to pull from. Once you’re done, click save.

Question pools make your quizzes more secure without requiring you to manually build multiple versions. You also get to reuse questions you’ve already created, keeping your course materials organized and efficient. To learn more about Question Pools, check out this KB article!

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Without students, we could not DoIT!

Academic Technologies, Technical Support, Wednesday Wisdom

When I was an Undergraduate at Stony Brook, I applied for and accepted a position as a student consultant in the Library SINC Site. Back then, there were only 15 student employees. My supervisor , Nancy Duffrin and our CIO , Rich Reeder, recognized the power of empowering students. They supported growth of the program so that 30 years later, the Division now employs over 200 students a year in all forward facing support areas.

If you have reached out for assistance or attended a workshop, chances are you have spoken with one of our superstars! Please share how awesome they are by submitting a nomination today for our Star IT Program.

Our student technologist are: Aidan, Logan, Jingyu, Michelle, Rin, Aaron, ZB, Krisha, Mysha, Ava, Tom, Perry, Martin, Raymond & Christopher. I am so proud of the work that they do!

Nominate a student for STAR IT program

Mid Semester Grade Check

Academic Technologies, Brightspace, Grades, , ,

Thinking of what you could do this fall break?
How about previewing your grades in Brightspace!
Make sure grades are accurate for your students before they return from break!

Use the Preview option to see exactly how a student sees his/her grades.

  1. In Brightspace, click the course selector near the top center and select the course
  2. Once in the course, in the Navbar select Grades
  3. Near the top left, select Enter Grades

Scroll down (or use the View By or search tools) to find the student whose grades you want to preview grades for and select the dropdown next to the student’s name and select Preview

Collecting Data in a minute

Academic Technologies, Attendance Verification, Brightspace

During class this week, students participated in a leadership compass activity**. As part of the activity, I wanted to collect the responses so everyone could see the overall results as well as use the data to figure out how much “space” was needed in the room to have students move to their most dominant direction.

Current image: Dominant Decision Making styles - Pie chart
Vevox Results after students connect via Brightspace

I decided to try Vevox and was pleased with how easy it was to collect & post the results.

Vevox Results published in Brightspace Gradebook

The only action the students had to take was to scan the QR code with their device OR access the link in Brightspace.

I now have the participation results in my gradebook & can also use this activity in future semesters to continue to collect information on dominant decision making styles of all WISE student leaders.

**Adapted from the Northwest Leader Corps training curriculum written and compiled by Nicole Trimble. An EnCorps resource.

Get Organized with Brightspace Categories

Brightspace, Grades

Did you already set up your Brightspace grade book?

If so, go in and make sure you used Categories for all of your grade items. Using Categories in your grade book allows you to organize your grade book and weight your grade items so that everything is aligned and adds up to 100%.

Are your quizzes all in the quiz category? Do you see a homework assignment that has no category and is currently an outlier? Follow the instructions in this short video to get organized today and save time at the end of the semester!

Introducing FeedbackFruits: A Toolkit for Interactive Learning in Brightspace!

Academic Technologies, Brightspace

Integrated within Brightspace, FeedbackFruits makes it simple to boost student emgagement with interactive course design. It enables you to build peer feedback sessions, group evaluations, interactive video and document assignments, and much more. For both synchronous and asynchronous modalities, the activities can be adapted to their learning contexts. FeedbackFruits takes away the strain of designing engaging activities, allowing you to focus on teaching and inspiring.

Remove the guesswork with group work and use Feedback Fruits to track student progress and provide actionable feedback with ease. It’s also important to note that some activities like Peer Review, Group Member Evaluation, and Team-Based Learning have automatic assessments, while others like Interactive Document and Interactive Video require grading to be manually added by you.

Want to learn how to use it? We’re holding training workshops to get you started. Sign up for a session through our Workshops page and see how FeedbackFruits can brighten up your course!

We’re excited for you to start using FeedbackFruits! For more info and FAQs, visit our FeedbackFruits service page.

FeedbackFruits banner with activities listed

Introducing Vevox – Our New University-Wide Polling Solution!

Academic Technologies

We’ve switched from Echo360’s PointSolutions to a new, more integrated polling tool: Vevox!
Vevox lets you run live polls, Q&A sessions, and surveys right inside your presentations. It works seamlessly with Brightspace, PowerPoint, and Zoom to make classes and meetings more engaging.

Want to learn how to use it? We’re holding training workshops to get you started. Sign up for a session through our Workshops page and see how Vevox can transform your teaching and presentations.

We’re excited for you to start using Vevox! For more info and FAQs, visit our Vevox service page

Stay on Top of Your Academics with Brightspace Pulse

Brightspace

As you gear up for the semester, downloading Brightspace’s Pulse app is a must to stay on top of your academics! Rather than constantly checking your courses or waiting for an email notification, Pulse provides real-time notifications for updates on grades, content, and announcements. You’ll never miss out on urgent information like room changes, class cancellations, and new material.

Pulse also provides an easy calendar view for deadlines and course events–no last minute cramming! You can anticipate and plan your busiest times at a glance. You can also view and organize your tasks on the go with the mobile app.

Download Brightspace Pulse today!

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Unlock Your Potential: Free Tech Workshops from DoIT

Academic Technologies

Ready to get a handle on that software you’ve always wanted to learn? DoIT is excited to announce our upcoming tech workshops, led by our very own student technologists. These workshops are a fantastic opportunity for anyone to build valuable skills in a friendly and supportive environment.

We believe that technology should be accessible to all, and our workshops are the perfect place to start. Whether you’re a student, faculty, or staff, you’ll learn the ins and outs of popular tools like Tinkercad, Figma, Canva, Adobe Express, Git, and many more, all with hands-on guidance!

Ready to learn? Click on the flyer below or scan the QR code to secure your spot!

DoIT Technology workshops info flyer

Recording attendance in your class

Brightspace, Grades

I was disappointed to discover a few years ago that the “Attendance” register in Brightspace does not connect to grades so I made up my own solution which works well.

If you require attendance in your class, here’s how I manage attendance in my class.

Step 1.  In Grades, I create a scheme called “Weekly Attendance” that looks like this: New Scheme screen in Brightspace

Step 2.  Create a item for each date you want to record attendance AND apply the Weekly Attendance scheme to the item:

Add Grade Item screen

Step 3 :  Enter grades for that item and you should have a drop down box that looks like this:

Enter Grades screen