Associating 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.
Author: etdmadiya
Importing Content
Each semester, the course created for the current academic year will be empty. Each instructor can choose how much material to import from a previous offering into the current course space. It is always possible to start from scratch, building a course with updated material. If you did not teach the previous offering of a course and you wish to import this content, you will require permission from the previous instructor to gain access to the old course, as well as any content within it.
Importing Content [PDF]
Finding Your Brightspace Course
Each semester, new course spaces are created. The following steps will guide you through how to find these courses, and pin them for ease of access.
Adding Ouriginal to your Brightspace Course
Ouriginal (formerly known as Urkund) is Dalhousie University’s approved plagiarism detection service and is available via Brightspace. The instructions below explains how you add the Ouriginal integration to your Brightspace course and how to turn on the Ouriginal submission within assignment folders.
Brightspace Rubric Tool
Rubrics are a useful tool instructors can use to define their expectations for students and can be used in providing feedback. The Brightspace Rubrics tool makes it easy for instructors to integrate rubrics into their online or blended courses. The following instructions will cover creating new rubrics and adding rubrics to an assignment or a discussion in Brightspace. A document on viewing rubrics for students has also been included. It is recommended that instructors intending to use rubrics circulate this document to their students.
Brightspace Rubric Tool [PDF]
Viewing Rubrics for Students [PDF]
Brightspace Gradebook Setup
The Brightspace Gradebook is a tool that stores and organizes student grades and calculates final marks based on the marking scheme established by instructors. Setting up a well-organized and balanced gradebook before the semester begins is essential and allows for ease of editing throughout the semester if adjustments are required.
Gradebook Setup [PDF]
Setting up Discussions
The Brightspace Discussion tool is very useful in enabling student interaction within online and blended environments. To set up discussions, forums must be created first. A forum exists to organize or group similar or recurring discussion topics. For example, to set up a weekly discussion, start by creating a forum titled “Weekly Discussions”. Within that forum, you would have weekly “topics”.
Setting up Discussions [PDF]
The New Evaluation Experience
Along with a change to the assignment creation experience, Brightspace has also released an accompanying change to the assignment evaluation experience. The new evaluation workflow has begun as optional, but as of August 2021 it will become permanent and mandatory. The following document will introduce the key changes from this update.
The New Assignment Experience
On Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, Brightspace revealed a change to the Assignment Creation experience. When new, major workflow changes are introduced in Brightspace, they often begin as optional workflows prior to becoming official and mandatory. The new experience has no impact on existing assignments, but if you make changes to an existing assignment or create a new one, you will note the optional change to the new experience. The settings within the new experience are identical to the current experience, however the layout and order has been streamlined. It is strongly recommended that instructors familiarize themselves with this new interface in preparation for future changes.
Uploading Videos to Panopto from Mobile Devices
Videos taken on an iPhone, iPad or any Android device can be uploaded into Panopto directly from the device and then edited, combined, or added to lecture videos through the Panopto site on a desktop device. This method is beneficial for taking short field videos or using whiteboard/drawing apps.