Carleton’s Learning Management System (LMS) is changing in May 2021. Starting May 1, all courses will be offered on Brightspace by D2L. Here are five things instructors need to know about migrating existing course content from cuLearn to the new LMS ahead of campus-wide access to Brightspace on Feb. 16.
1. Most cuLearn content will be migrated for instructors
ITS is working with D2L to migrate five years’ worth of cuLearn course content to Brightspace by June 1. If you’ve taught in the past five years using cuLearn, your content will be migrated for you and available for review in Brightspace. As of today, more than three years of content has already been transferred.
Your cuLearn content will be available as a backup course in Brightspace for you to access and review. Many basic activities and course resources migrate smoothly to Brightspace, while some do not. We recommend reviewing your migrated content to see if it makes sense to revise what’s there or to start fresh in the new LMS.
If you’d like to use your existing content, you will need to import the course components from the backup Brightspace course into your new Brightspace course. You can find instructions for copying course content on our Instructor Support site.
If you’d like help reviewing your migrated content, please reach out to Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) for support by filling out our course consultation request form.
2. Instructor support is available for migrated content
A new LMS offers an excellent opportunity to rethink your teaching and learning. In some cases, it may make sense to start fresh in your course and to bring in selected content, rather than trying to reuse and rebuild all older content. To help you with your course development, TLS has created a cuLearn (Moodle) to Brightspace Tool Crosswalk. Check out this page to see tool equivalencies, common issues and solutions to migration challenges.
Many basic activities and course resources migrate smoothly to Brightspace without issue. Some course elements do not. Plan to review your migrated content and decide whether it makes sense to use some, all or none of it in the new system.
Remember, TLS staff are available to help you find solutions to your course needs. If your course activities and content don’t migrate well, reach out to us to find alternatives.
3. cuLearn access will continue throughout 2021
Instructors, students and staff will be able to access data, content and files from cuLearn throughout the summer and fall terms. Access to cuLearn will continue through the regular cuLearn login portal using your MC1 credentials.
While you will still be able to access content and information, no new users or courses will be added to cuLearn past May 2021. Beginning May 1, all courses will be offered in Brightspace.
4. Migrated content should be reviewed and may need clean up
TLS is here to support you no matter what your course plans are. If you decide to fully migrate and revise your content, we can help you with a consultation. Perhaps you’d like to import some older course elements, but not all. We’d be happy to answer any questions you have. You might want to start fresh and explore the interface from a new perspective. Brightspace has new integrations and functionality that weren’t available in cuLearn. Regardless of your course setup approach, we’re here to answer your questions.
If you are thinking of using your migrated content, we recommend that you review the “backup- moodle2-…” course in Brightspace which contains your cuLearn content.
You’ll notice the migrated content looks different and some course elements don’t migrate well. You’ll want to review the content to see what has come across, how it looks, and what is missing. Use the cuLearn (Moodle) to Brightspace Tool Crosswalk support page to guide your review.
Prior to copying the cuLearn content to your Brightspace course, clean up the content by removing redundancies and broken links. If you want assistance with reviewing your content, please complete the Course Consultation Request Form.
5. Training is available
Brightspace Basics workshops will be ongoing throughout spring and summer 2021. Exploring the Brightspace interface in training will allow you to better understand your migrated content. You’ll see technical demonstrations, hear about available resources and get answers to your course questions. You will learn the new LMS and have a better sense of where to get started with your course design. In addition to Brightspace Basics workshops, TLS will be expanding workshop offerings to include intermediate/advanced training sessions as well. Check the TLS events page regularly and sign up for a session.
If the training topic you’re looking for isn’t listed yet, try visiting the Brightspace Video Tutorial YouTube channel for helpful videos on most topics. Remember, some navbars and menus in the tutorial videos may not be the same as Carleton’s menus and navbars. For instructions based on Carleton navbars and menus, visit the Brightspace Instructor Support site. We’ll be adding new topics and instructions regularly to support you.
If you have questions, feel free to reach out to us at tls@carleton.ca. We’re looking forward to showing you what Brightspace has to offer for your teaching and learning.