Recent instructor training sessions covered content, assignments, and grade book features. ITS is actively configuring the grade book setup, refining the interface, and setting up a demo course for students to preview Brightspace.
The transition to Brightspace is progressing. Over the past few weeks, the university has conducted a series of instructor training sessions to help faculty navigate the platform. The most recent training, Feature 360: Content, explored how course content is added to Brightspace compared to Moodle, followed by a Feature 360: Assignments session held this past Monday. For those unable to attend the live sessions, recordings are available on the Brightspace landing page at https://brightspaceinfo.aurora.edu/training. Video recordings will continue getting added to the website after each training event.
The next training session, "Feature 360: Grades," is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, 2024, from 9:00 am to 10:00 am CST. All available faculty and staff are encouraged to join this session or access the recorded video if unable to attend. If you have any specific questions about the grade book, please email brightspace@aurora.edu, and your questions will be addressed in the recording of the upcoming "Feature 360: Grades" session.
As a reminder, all fall 2024 courses will be hosted on the Brightspace platform. The university's Moodle instances will no longer host new courses after the summer 2024 term. Brightspace is a cloud-based application available 24/7, providing faculty and students easy access to the platform. The on-campus Moodle app will remain accessible for a period of time, allowing faculty to reference previous Moodle courses.
If you have any questions or concerns, please send them to brightspace@aurora.edu. Your questions may also be added to the Frequently Asked Questions section on the Brightspace landing page.
ITS has been working closely with D2L to configure the grade book setup. ITS has chosen to keep the options open in Brightspace, giving faculty more flexibility when creating their grade books. Additionally, ITS continues to refine the interface and default layout of courses in Brightspace. Faculty may notice incremental changes as they access their Brightspace sandboxes. Now that faculty sandboxes are created, ITS will also set up a demo course that all students will be enrolled in, enabling students to preview the Brightspace platform.
