Hi everyone,
First off, thanks to everyone who filled out the survey that I sent out earlier this month. Here are the results from the 18 faculty members who responded:
–81% prefer that Zoom be our default virtual classroom on Brightspace. 19% prefer Brightspace Virtual Classroom Basic.
–77% prefer Turnitin LTI 1.3 (the one that includes Peer Review), with 23% voting for version V2. Three people commented that they prefer neither version.
Zoom and Turnitin 1.3 were the clear favorites across all departments that solicited feedback. Therefore, both will be integrated into our Brightspace platform and available for you to use in Fall 24.
Secondly, I would like to share with you a few important takeaways from my meeting with the advisory committee last week.
- Committee representatives reported that some faculty in their departments are still unaware of the transition timeline. I would like everyone to know that Brightspace will go “live” in Fall 2024, which means that it will be the only LMS available. You will still be able to login to Blackboard to access past material until December 2025, but starting in Fall 24 it will be nonfunctional as an LMS and new courses will not appear.
- Your Fall 24 courses are available as empty course shells on Brightspace. HOWEVER, it is strongly suggested that you create your Fall 24 courses from one of your migrated courses, then course-copy them to Fall 24 (instructions here). The reason for this is that if your schedule changes at the last minute, everything in the course shell will be transferred to whomever the new instructor is, or disappear entirely if the class is canceled. Creating your fall courses from migrated course shells ensures that you will always have a backup.
- Software testing is ongoing, so at this moment some tools that you may have used on Blackboard are not yet available on Brightspace. They will appear eventually.
A few reminders:
Our English Dept-only Brightspace will take place at 9 am tomorrow, May 29, on Zoom. The training will be tailored to our departmental needs based on results from the survey that Annie sent out last month. Register here.
Dorina Tila from the Business Department will be offering a workshop called “Learning Brightspace: Gradebook Part I” through Zoom today, May 28, at 12:40 pm, and again on Thursday, May 30, at 10:20 am. Some KBCC faculty have reported difficulty acclimating to the Brightspace gradebook, so this might be of interest to you. You can register here. This training will not be recorded. CUNY-wide workshops are the only ones that are recorded and sent to those who register after the session is complete.
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at the training.
Best,
Neil
