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.
Category: Brightspace Content
This section contains resources related to the Content tab in Brightspace
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]
How to Link Panopto Videos in Your Course
To ensure your videos are available to all students, the instructions available in the link below outlines the process of adding a Panopto-housed video to ensure ease of access to all users. You do not have to use Panopto for recording, but it is strongly recommended to use the system for embedding videos in your course.
How to Link Panopto Videos in Your Course [PDF]
Note: factors such as bitrate, aspect ratio, file size, and video length can all impact the time it takes for a video to upload and process. If you are uploading multiple videos at the same time, expect increased delays. This is simply the nature of working with video files. Please allow adequate time for this process.
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.
Replace Strings
Replace Strings allow instructors to customize their communication to students in Brightspace. For example, typing “Hello, {FirstName}” will show “Hello, Anne” to a student named Anne.
Adding Captions to a Panopto Video
In addition to making video content more accessible to viewers with impaired hearing, captioning can improve the effectiveness of video. Captions can:
- improve comprehension by native and foreign language speakers;
- help compensate for poor audio quality or background noise within a video;
- make video useful when a person is watching with the sound off or viewing in a noisy environment that obscures the sound; and,
- provide viewers with one way to search inside of videos.
Panopto has the ability to listen to your lecture videos and add ASR (automatic speech recognition) generated captions to your video. However, it is not foolproof, and it does not always do a great job in articulating scientific words. Because of these inconsistences, it is important to know how to edit the captions for accuracy.
Adding Captions to a Panopto Video [PDF]
Best Practice for Organizing Course Files
As many have learned through experience, good organizational habits are key in keeping online courses running smoothly. To assist with course file organization, each Brightspace course comes equipped with the Manage Files tool. This tool stores all files within the course and gives a useful overview of these files. The following document will outline the best practice for using Manage Files.
Brightspace Course Import Tips for Reusing Panopto Videos
The use of Panopto has grown steadily since becoming available on our campus in 2016. In the time since its introduction, we’ve determined which workflows work best with our unique instance of Panopto. If you are planning to reuse videos from a previous course offering, it’s important that your videos are linked as recommended, and critical that when importing a previous Brightspace course offering, that you import “All Components”.
Availability Options in Brightspace
Although by default, discussions are visible and open for all users to post and view, it is possible to restrict access by date and time. If all Discussion Topics within the same Forum require the same settings, you can apply your preferred restrictions at the Forum level.
Copyright and Brightspace Use
The Copyright Office at Dalhousie has an excellent section on their website that outlines best practices for uploading course resources to your Brightspace course site. To be sure you are following current guidelines, take the time to visit the website and make sure your course site is in compliance.