All posts by Diana Voss

April Fool’s Day Challenge!

Brightspace, Technical Support, ,

April Fool's day - Is this a prank or not?

A few weeks ago,  Martin & Logan (2 of our student techs) asked me if they could write an article for the DoIT website on April Fool’s.  I laughed and shrugged it off.   The suggestion indeed sparked some creativity in our office.   Jokes were made like “we should answer “Joe’s Pizza” when the phone rings and a few other suggestions that, honestly I was concerned might stress those out who needed help so I refused to encourage the idea….UNTIL…

A KB article needed to be fixed and a lot of full time staff were out that day. I turned to one of our student techs and asked them to edit it, and they did so, perfectly.  They were so pleased with, not only the work they had done but that, we (DoIT) trust our students to publish information, that I felt inspired to revisit the “april fool’s article” idea.

I challenged Martin & Login to write a KB article on how to use Brightspace Glossary and promised that if it was well written, they could create a “GenZ glossary” edition for April Fool’s and they accepted & completed the challenge!

Displays how the Glossary tool in Brightspace looks like

To learn more about how to create a glossary AND to learn some “lingo” , take a moment to read our latest article: https://it.stonybrook.edu/help/kb/brightspaces-glossary-tool 

If you have a suggestion for a KB article for our website, please email us at: academictechnologies@stonybrook.edu

Utilize Due Dates on Assignments

Academic Technologies, Brightspace, Wednesday Wisdom

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

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…

Blackboard, Brightspace

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

Academic Technologies, Brightspace

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!