Commonwealth University Brightspace will be available to all end users starting Summer 2023!


Faculty and staff should request migration of non-academic courses/sites from the old Brightspace sites to the new one via https://forms.office.com/r/UgkTtARjL0 by April 1, 2023.


Two years of courses will be migrated (2021Spring through 2023Spring) from the old sites to the new one, but we will need faculty and staff to let us know what non-academic sites they want to migrate. Again, let us know at https://forms.office.com/r/UgkTtARjL0.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Important Changes to Note  

Please check back as this information may be updated often!


Course Availability and Visibility for Instructors and Students

  • Courses will have a start and an end date in the LMS. These start and end dates will control when the course is "made active". The course will start (be active) on the start date, and will end (be made inactive) on the end date.
  • Students and instructors will see all courses they are enrolled in, regardless of active status.
  • Students will not be able to access courses until the start date of the course, or after the end date of the course.
  • Instructors will be able to access courses they are enrolled in, regardless of active status or dates.


ePortfolio

  • Commonwealth University Brightspace will NOT have an ePorftolio tool available to any end users. (EXCLUSION: MANSFIELD EPORTFOLIOS ARE DIFFERENT AND NOT THE TYPE MEANT HERE)
  • Departments and programs are encouraged to recommend external portfolio solutions for student work and progress that can stay with students past graduation.


Zoom in D2L

  • Courses will include a Zoom Dashboard in the Communication menu.
  • Instructors will be able to associate attendance from Zoom sessions with a grade item which will sync from the integration.


Course Customization

  • Instructors will be able to select from a variety of homepages which give them access to publisher tools.
    • MANSFIELD FACULTY: If there is a particular widget you need added to your course homepage that you typically use, please reach out to imdc@commonwealthu.edu to request this get added to your course.
  • Instructors will be able to create a welcome widget for their course using a welcome module in Content. Any time content is updated or added to this module, the widget will pop up for course visitors on their next visit.
  • Instructors will be able to customize a single profile widget about themselves for the course homepage.


Inclusive Access (Bookstore)

  • Instructors and students will be able to easily access inclusive, first day access to course materials via the Inclusive Access link in their course navigation if the instructor is using Inclusive Access.
  • Instructors can select from a variety of homepages to add publisher tools for their inclusive access textbook courses.


Sharing Learning Objects and Creating Content

  • Instructors and departments will be able to leverage the brand new Learning Object Repository to share learning content with colleagues and departments.
  • Instructors will be able to easily add templated information to courses using the Learning Object Repository.
  • Stay tuned for more!


Important Items Staying the Same

Site and Course Navigation

We are keeping the site and course navigation mostly the same. All three schools have very similar course navigation, so we are keeping it as close to what the course navigation is now as possible. 


Tool Functionality

The new Brightspace will be the same learning platform with the same tool functionality all three schools have now. A few tools may have new improved features, but they are the same tools you are using now.


Zoom Integration

The new Brightspace will still have a Zoom integration for faculty and students in courses. It will have new and exciting features but it will look and mostly function the same as the tool you use there now.