All posts by Diana Voss

Utilize Due Dates on Assignments

When talking about Brightspace with students and their experiences, a frequent request is for instructors to post assignments with due dates so that they appear on the student’s Brightspace google calendar & /or on the work to do widget like this:

Images of Work to Do widget & Course calendar

If you currently do not have the Work to Do widget , you can add it to your Homepage by following these steps:

  1. Click on Course Administration
  2. Select Homepage
  3. If you have never customized your homepage, you will need to make a copy of the existing one
  4. Edit the homepage and in the widgets section, select “Add Widgets”
  5. Scroll all the way down and select “Work to do”

For additional information, visit Brightspace’s “Manage widgets on your homepage” guide

Pre semester checklist for Instructors using Brightspace

Our Fall semester is quickly approaching!  If you are new, welcome!   If you are returning, welcome back!

In keeping with our back to school news tradition, our team has updated our Brightspace checklist which you can find here:

image of a checklist that links to: https://it.stonybrook.edu/help/kb/start-of-the-semester-top-10-brightspace-tips  when clicked on.
Start of the semester checklist

Over the next few weeks, we will posting updates here based on  questions we receive from you so please check back from time to time.

We look forward to working with you this Fall!

Stony Brook’s new LMS after 24 years…

After impacting the educational experiences of thousands of students since January 1999, Blackboard Learn is sunsetting during Fall 2023.

When it was initially implemented, we were looking for a tool that would allow instructors the ability to post their content online.  We were the first SUNY school to use Blackboard and never, did I imagine at the time, how much our campus would depend on the system years later.

Spring 2023 is the final semester .

As we transition from Blackboard to Brightspace, please know that the team is here to help.

 

Brightspace Grade Check

Over the weekend, I received a few emails from some of my students stating that Week 10 reflection in grades showed they had a 0 but on the assignment, they saw they received all 10 points.

I checked the Assignment and saw that I had attached it to the wrong grade item and resolved the issue

But then curiosity got the best of me and I wondered if there was a place that showed all my grade items and how they are connected.

In Grades / Manage Grades, you can see the Grade Items and which areas they are attached to but , it does not display the specific items.  Clicking on the ? mark next to the association will show the item.

So I submitted an Idea to the Brightspace Community  asking to add a column to Manage Grades that identifies the specific item at a glance

 

If you would like the same, please vote it up**: https://desire2learn.brightidea.com/ideas/D9813

** Brightspace Community account required…this is not the same as your Stony Brook log in …we encourage all members of SBU to join the Brightspace Community!

Copies of Blackboard courses are now in Brightspace from Fall 2021-Summer 2022

Stony Brook Instructors:
You do not need to submit requests to move Blackboard courses from Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, & Summer 2022 into Brightspace**.  This has been done for you! .  When you log into Brightspace (https://brightspace.stonybrook.edu)  ,  you should see your courses under the Conversions Tab In the My Courses box  …  All converted courses start with STB

 

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You should also have a sandbox under the NOTERM ongoing courses term
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AND
See your Winter 2023 & Spring 2023  courses as well!

 

**Fall 2022 Bb courses will be imported over after the semester ends
If there is a course that you teach that has not been offered since Summer of 2021, and you would like a copy of it in Brightspace, submit a service ticket at: https://service.stonybrook.edu

 

If you have content from an older semester for a course that has already been copied for you into Brightspace,  you will need to export the content that you need from Blackboard and import into an existing Brightspace course of your choice. See https://it.stonybrook.edu/help/kb/exporting-your-course-content-from-blackboard-and-importing-it-into-brightspace for details!

 

Visit our Brightspace Service  for additional support information!