Making Brightspace Courses Available to Students

smantleBrightspace

Course sites are empty and inactive by default, which prevents students from accessing unused courses. To ensure a course site is active and available for the start of the semester, instructors must make courses “Active” for students to access the course in Brightspace. The default start and end dates are based on the academic calendar; no start or end date input is required.

Making a Brightspace Course Available to Students [PDF]

Importing Content

smantleBrightspace

Each semester, a course space is created for every course offering listed in the timetable. Course sites are empty and inactive by default, allowing flexibility in case they will not be used. Instructors can import content from a previous course offering, provided they have access to the previous course site. While student data is excluded from the import process, all course materials, including resources, gradebook, and assessments, are included.

Importing Content [PDF]

We need to get online learning right before the next crisis hits

smantleTeaching and Learning

George Veletsianos recently contributed an article to The Globe And Mail about being proactive in investing the time and effort into online learning. Besides the COVID-19 Pandemic, climate-related crises have and are likely to continue disrupting the much-preferred mode of in-person learning.

“Design makes or breaks online learning, which is the exact reason why much of the online learning that happened during the pandemic – what researchers have dubbed emergency remote learning – was indeed awful. It was designed and delivered by professionals who were never trained for it, who never signed up for it and who were doing it while dealing with grief, loss, anxiety and the broader repercussions of the pandemic. What students need more than access to education is access to well-planned and purposefully designed education.”

Read the full article – https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-need-to-get-online-learning-right-before-the-next-crisis-hits/. George Veletsianos is a professor of education and Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology at Royal Roads University.

Adding/Editing Restrictions Dates, and Manage Dates

etdmadiyaBrightspace

Link to PDFAssociating dates with content release is a very effective tool for instructors to manage pace and minimize content overload for students. Release Conditions for a module are grouped with date restrictions, but they can also be applied to assessment items such as quizzes, assignments, and surveys. The advantage of adding a release conditions is that they allow students to access specific materials based on criteria that is not related to date. The manage dates tool gives instructors the ability to efficiently bulk edit and offset the date restrictions of each aspect of their course, such as discussion topics, assessments, announcements, and modules. This tool also gives instructors the option to edit the start and end dates of the course. This is very useful for instructors who wish to give students early or prolonged access to the course materials before the course has started or after the course has finished.

Adding/Editing Restrictions Dates, and Manage Dates [PDF]

What all academics should know about the growth mindset: your science-based superpower for success

smantleTeaching and Learning

Bailey Sousa and Alexander Clark (June 23 2022) recently published an article in University Affairs about mindsets and their influence over success and failure. “While most people reading this will still believe they have dominant growth mindsets, unless you devote at least an hour a week to your personal growth, be careful of this conclusion.” The authors list four simple changes one can make to strengthen a growth mindset:

  1. From proving to improving
  2. From better than others, to better than before
  3. From demonstrating to developing skills
  4. From failing to succeed to successful failure

“While we continue to luxuriate in reassuring ourselves that we embrace learning, many practices in academia both show and reinforce fixed mindsets in ourselves, our workplaces, and in our students. Yet, our cultural preoccupation with talent holds us back en masse from the very successes we seek.”

What all academics should know about the growth mindset: your science-based superpower for success, by Bailey Sousa and Alexander Clark – https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/effective-successfull-happy-academic/what-all-academics-should-know-about-the-growth-mindset-your-science-based-superpower-for-success/

Online Course Support for Faculty of Agriculture

smantleETD Updates

With the news that the Winter 2022 term will begin online, please note the following online teaching/learning supports and reminders available for the Faculty of Agriculture:

  • Copying content: ETD can assist you in copying content from last winter and checking permissions on Panopto videos so that current students will be able to view. Email etd@dal.ca
  • Synchronous sessions: Consider keeping your timetabled lecture times by offering synchronous sessions to connect with students. ETD can help you get up and running with Collaborate, or Teams. Email etd@dal.ca
  • It is suggested you keep your original scheduling of lecture and lab topics as much as possible, to avoid overloading the latter part of the term.
  • Communicating with students: You can easily email all currently registered students by going to the Brightspace course > Course Admin > Classlist > Email Classlist button. The classlist is refreshed with new enrolments each business day, and will be updated on weekdays over the holiday break as well.
  • Extended support: 
    • ETD will be available on a limited basis during the week of Dec 27th – 31st. Please email etd@dal.ca with requests for assistance, course building, content copying, etc.
    • Halifax’s ATS is also offering extended technical support hours over the holiday. See the announcement on the Brightspace homepage for hours. To access during open hours, click Help inside Brightspace and choose ‘Virtual Support Room’.
  • Last-minute support:
    • ETD will be available on January 4 at 10 AM for an optional Q&A, and to coordinate any last minute adjustments. Join the Teams meeting Click here to join the meeting on Jan 4 at 10.

If you have any questions or concerns about online delivery, you can also reach out directly to Brian.Lesser@Dal.Ca for additional support. Through this period of continued uncertainty, we’re here to help so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Wishing you all a restful, restorative, and safe holiday break. 

The ETD Team

End of Semester Reminders from ETD

smantleETD Updates

As we near the end of the semester and instructors work to prepare final assessments and grade student work, Educational Technology & Design can offer assistance along the way.  

Final Assessments 

Dalhousie Letter Grade 

 

Winter 2022
For instructors already keen to work on their winter courses, some of the things you can do now are covered in our Semester Start Checklist (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/08/20/semester-start-checklist-for-brightspace-courses/). Namely, the list includes: 

  1. Copying course content 
  2. Activating the course and setting dates 
  3. Formally requesting the cross-listing of multiple course sites 
  4. Preparing to reuse Panopto videos 
  5. Preparing to reuse Collaborate Ultra recordings, and 
  6. Adding users (not on the list but our blog post (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/05/20/adding-users-to-your-course-in-brightspace/) runs through the steps. 

Last but not least, ETD is again offering a Panopto Video Audit for instructors who wish to reuse Panopto videos. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible to take advantage of this service! Email etd@dal.ca to get your name on our list. Visit our blog post (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/07/30/successful-reuse-of-panopto-videos/) for more information. 

Why and How to Teach Teamwork

smantleBest Practice

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Why and How to Teach Teamwork written by Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn (November 15, 2021), provided some great suggestions on how instructors could improve the structure and design of group projects. “We ask students to exercise their leadership and interpersonal muscles, but we rarely offer any instruction on how to operate effectively in a group.” There is great value in improving students’ experience with working in groups, and adopting even one of their suggestions could make a huge difference.

The article requires a username and password (access is free), but the key takeaways are:

  1. Link group projects to future success on the job.
  2. Improvise a model of a dysfunctional group.
  3. Have students practice how not to cooperate in a group.
  4. Guide their group discussions with a structured list of questions.
  5. Dedicate precious class time to group projects.
  6. Enlist students to provide feedback to one another.
  7. Ask groups to rotate the leadership role.
  8. Conduct equity reviews at the end of major projects.
  9. Require self-assessment.

Why and How to Teach Teamwork, by Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn – https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-and-how-to-teach-teamwork?cid=gen_sign_in