Sandbox access is available to ITC faculty, and access for other faculty and staff will be available soon. The UI and role configurations are in progress, and the first faculty training session is this week.
The university has made progress in its Brightspace implementation this week. Sandbox access was granted to the Instructional Technology Committee, allowing them to explore and familiarize themselves with the new learning management system. Access for other faculty and staff is currently in progress and will be provided soon.
ITS continues collaborating closely with D2L to refine the layout and widget configuration for courses within Brightspace. The initial sandbox environments may undergo further adjustments over the next few weeks as the setup is finalized. ITS is testing and configuring various user roles to ensure that each role has the appropriate level of access within Brightspace, aligning with their specific requirements.
In a session this week, ITS met with D2L to review the course migration processes in detail. Subsequent efforts will focus on determining which Moodle tools and items will not get migrated to Brightspace and exploring suitable alternatives within the new platform.
To facilitate a smooth transition and effective system management, designated Brightspace administrators from the ITS team have started attending Brightspace admin training offered by D2L, providing them with the information to support and maintain the new learning management system.
The university would like to remind all faculty and staff of the upcoming training opportunity for the new Brightspace learning management system. The first training session, titled "Brightspace Instructor Essentials," is scheduled for April 5th at 12:00 pm CST. This session aims to provide instructors with essential knowledge and skills to utilize the platform.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to visit https://brightspaceinfo.aurora.edu/training to access a comprehensive list of upcoming training sessions and resources related to Brightspace. This website serves as a centralized resource, offering a detailed schedule of training opportunities throughout April and beyond.
Next week, efforts will focus on developing a strategy for managing courses across multiple terms within Brightspace. D2L and ITS will also continue analyzing the migration process for various LMS tools. The initial phase is concentrated on the migration of LTI tools to provide a smooth transition to Brightspace. A meeting is scheduled to explore Brightspace's course uplift services, providing insights for leveraging D2L's offerings to facilitate the migration of existing course materials into the new LMS environment.
