This troubleshooting document was designed to help instructors and course designers find and fix Moodle content that has been migrated into D2L Brightspace. 

If you need assistance with your Brightspace course setup, or with finding solutions to broken tools, please visit the TLS support portal to complete a support request. We are happy to help you find solutions that will work for your course goals!

NOTE:  Some tools do not migrate from Moodle to Brightspace. This means they disappear during the migration process and none of the material will transfer in any form. They will need to be recreated or reworked using Brightspace tools. Please see the table below for specifics on each tool.

Moodle Content Type Migration Result*  Solutions/Work Arounds 
Assignments

These are used to collect, assess and provide feedback on file submissions, including text, document and cuPortfolio submissions.

  • Assignments transfer to Brightspace with their description and date settings.
  • Brightspace Assignments allow for a variety of submission types: including online text, file submission, video submission, and Mahara submission. 
  • Assignment settings should be reviewed to ensure proper setup. 
  • cuPortfolio submissions: Students can submit links to their cuPortfolio via a regular assignment submission. When creating an assignment, under Submission & Completion, select Submission Type: Text submission.  
  •  Additional resource: Creating an assignment  (1:39) 
BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton was a web-conferencing tool used to host lectures or office hours, but is no longer available in Brightspace. It is recommended to use Zoom in place of BigBlueButton. For more information on using Zoom, visit our Zoom at Carleton support page.

  • BigBlueButton links, meetings, and recordings do not migrate* 
Books

CuLearn Books are a series of pages with chapters/sub-chapters to present information to students. 

  • Does not migrate; no equivalent tool in Brightspace 
  • All of the content will transfer and appear in a sub-module in Brightspace.  
  • All items will remain from the book, but the pages will be reordered in Brightspace.  
  • See example below 
  • There is no direct equivalent to Books. 
  • Depending on your content and how you wish to organize it, you could the book pages in separate files, as they have imported. The topics and submodules will need to be reordered 
  • Alternatively, create a file in Brightspace to organize multiple pages together. Use the HTML editor to change the font and add videos and use HTML Templates to add accordions, tabs and other organizational elements.  
  • Manually reorder the content pages or create sub-modules. 
Choice Tool

This tool allows students to vote or choose between subjects. 

  • Does not migrate; no equivalent tool in Brightspace* 
Database Tool

This tool allows the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of record entries about any topic. 

  • Does not migrate; no equivalent tool in Brightspace 
  • There is no direct equivalent to Databases.  
  • Creating a discussion forum is the closest equivalent to Databases in Brightspace. Students can interact with each other in similar ways on a Discussion Forum in Brightspace as with a Database.
    NOTE: If Discussions do not align with your use case for the Database tool, please reach out directly to TLS to find a solution that will work. 
External Tool

This is used to embed external tools such as  textbook publishers’ content or Poll Everywhere content.

  • External tools and tool contents do not migrate* 
  • Publisher’s content and Poll Everywhere links can be re-inserted using the External Tools link in Brightspace
Files (PDF, PPT, Excel, Word)

Files are used to upload file content for student viewing. 

  • Files embed in Brightspace and open in a new page.
Feedback Tool

Feedback is a survey tool used to get information from students, such as a midterm course review or end of course evaluation. 

  • Does not migrate feedback surveys
Forums

Forums are used to host discussions online for shared text based conversations between instructors, TAs and students. 

  • Forums in Moodle migrate into Brightspace but cause redundancies. In Brightspace, the word forum refers to a category or group of discussion topics. You must have a forum before you can add a discussion topic (i.e., the site for the posts and replies to appear).
  • Forum grading/gradebook association does not transfer to Brightspace and will need to be re-linked.
  • Access Discussions from Course Admin, delete any Discussions that have been imported without Description content. Review Forums and Discussions in Brightspace to remove redundancies.
  • Re-link the Discussion to the associated grade item in the gradebook
  • For more information on Forums in Brightspace, visit our support pages Discussions and Creating Discussion Forums.
Gradebook

The Gradebook is the place designed for an overview of the course evaluation items along with their weights and value. 

  • Basic gradebook items transfer. All grade items and categories should be reviewed to ensure all settings transferred.
  • See example below. 
Group Self-Selection

Works with the groups function in Moodle; allows students to select into groups or to create their own groups. 

  • Group self-selection tool does not migrate*
  • Group self selections will need to be set up in Brightspace Groups page.
  • Group self enrollment in Brightspace allows students to select their own groups, this is in the Groups tool. 
H5P

An external tool to add interactive content to your course. 

  • H5P interactive content must be manually transferred between Moodle and Brightspace (specific instructions are in development for this process).
  • H5P interactive content will need to be rebuilt.
  • Visit the Brightspace Support page for instructions on building H5P activities. 
Kaltura Videos

Carleton’s video and media platform to record, upload and host videos. 

  • Kaltura videos migrate to Brightspace. Depending on how the videos were added to the course, some video links may need to be re-established.
  • To embed a Kaltura video on modules and sub-modules, click on ‘Existing Activities’ and select ‘Insert MediaSpace’. This will link automatically to your MediaSpace account and you can select which video you want to embed from there.  
  • To add Kaltura videos on HTML pages, click Insert Stuff on the editor toolbar, and then select Insert Mediaspace. 
  • Recording media using Kaltura and uploading it to Mediaspace works in the same way.  
Labels

These are used to add text or multimedia to your course homepage, such as adding a heading to a topic, an audio clip, or videos.

  • Labels transfer to Brightspace as separate files. The content in a file does not appear on the Content page and will need to be revised or deleted.
  • See example below 
Lessons

The lesson tool allows users to create a guided learning path, including videos, assessments, and text. 

  • Lessons transfer as separate pages, but videos do not carry over and need to be re-inserted. Transcripts or attached documents do migrate. Questions transfer but not their associated options.  
  • Images transfer. 
  • See example below 
  • Lessons have to be rebuilt or reworked. You can create new files by selecting ‘Add a file’, which allows you to create a page of content. You can display multiple videos in one file. Explore the HTML templates on files for a clean design.
  • To insert questions, you can use H5P below each video segment or create a new file for the questions. 
Links (URL)

Direct links to external webpages or videos, such as YouTube content.

  • YouTube links embed the video within Brightspace or open on YouTube (this depends on the display settings). 
  • External links may break when taken into Brightspace.  
  • See example below. 
Pages

Pages are used to present larger pieces of text such as lecture notes or instructions. They can hold videos, photos and links. 

  • Pages migrate into Brightspace as Files. The formatting (font, size, spacing) may need to be reformatted for proper visual display
  • Any videos embedded using Kaltura will not migrate and need to be relinked. 
  • Edit the File in Brightspace to adjust any formatting. Use the ‘insert stuff’ button in the HTML editor to re-embed videos.  
Poll Everywhere Porter

Poll Everywhere was a student response system that allowed you to gather data from your students in real time, but is no longer available in Brightspace. It is recommended to use Wooclap in place of Poll Everywhere. 

  • The Poll Everywhere porter does not transfer to Brightspace.
  • Polls remain within your Poll Everywhere account and are fully accessible to you through the Poll Everywhere.
  • For more information on using Wooclap, visit our Wooclap support page.
Quizzes

Quiz is a tool used to create summative or formative assessments to assess learning and evaluate students.   

NOTE: See the Quiz Question Migration Guide for details on specific question types and how they migrate to Brightspace.

  • Quizzes transfer with questions banks and time/date settings.
  • Quizzes will transfer normally unless there are calculated or equation-based questions using equation editors (such as LaTeX).  
  • Quiz restrictions do not migrate.
  • All question libraries should be reviewed to check the accuracy of the quiz settings and questions.
  • Quizzes that have migrated from Moodle will need to be  linked to a grade item and weights will need to be added in Grades. You should also add it to a course module. 
Rubrics

Rubrics are grading grids to assess students on criteria and levels of achievement. 

  • Rubrics do not migrate* 
SAV and SPV files for SPSS

These are used in advanced statistics and Psychology for statistical analysis. 

  • Files of these type transfer normally and run as they do in Moodle 
  • No change required.
Scheduler

Schedule appointments with students or student groups. 

  • Does not migrate. However, users can rebuild your schedules using the Brightspace Scheduler tool. For more information on the Scheduler tool, visit our support page Using the Scheduler.
  • The Self-Select Groups option can be setup to allow students to opt into meeting times.
  • You may consider using a shared document in Teams, a discussion forum with anonymous posting enabled or taking appointments via email as a way to setup your groups. 
Voice Over ppt

Add an audio file to play with PowerPoint slides, usually used to record voice as you present slides. 

  • Voice Over PowerPoints will display in Brightspace, but not as an embedded video or an external link. Users will be asked to download these files in order to watch them.  
Workshop

This tool is used to anonymously provide peer assessments. 

  • Does not migrate; no equivalent tool in Brightspace 
  • There is no direct equivalent in Brightspace.  

Migration Results

Books

The content of your book will come over to Brightspace, but (similar to the lesson tool) the content will be separated into different files. In this book, you can see each page from the book is a new file in Brightspace, all kept together in a submodule.  

A book in Moodle:                example of a book in cuLearn

The same book, migrated into Brightspace:       example of the same book in Brightspace

Gradebook

All content from the gradebook will transfer, minus student data.  

Gradebook in Moodle: 

Gradebook in cuLearn

The same Gradebook in Brightspace: 

The same gradebook in Brightspace

You can see that the H5P assignments display, though below the News Reports. Graded items will need to be reordered in the gradebook in order to reflect their locations in Moodle. You can also edit their weights or remove assignments from the Gradebook as needed.  

Labels

Labels migrate into Brightspace as individual files. The text does not appear directly on the Content page. If you wish to display text on the Content page, consider adding a module or submodule description, or a description to a content topic.  

A label in Moodle: 

Example of a label in cuLearn

Corresponding Brightspace label File on the Content page: 

The same label in Brightspace

Corresponding Brightspace File when Opened: 

Opened Brightspace label file

Lessons

Though lessons transfer, information will display as separate pages in Brightspace because they display as sub-modules. Video content does not migrate. 

This is what a lesson looks like in Brightspace: 

A lesson in Brightspace

As you can see, each of the pages from the lesson display individually on Brightspace and a learner can click any of the pages, they are not forced to go through the entire lesson.

Kaltura videos do not transfer and should be re-embedded. You can see the link but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Lesson link for Kaltura video in Brightspace

Embedded questions display but not the options. The answers do display on the following page. 

Example of an embedded lesson question in Brightspace

You can rework lessons as Files in Brightspace. See table above for instructions and resources. Files will appear on your Brightspace course, here is an example 

Lesson file in Brightspace course

Links

Some links will migrate well and display embedded in a page on Brightspace. Here are two examples:  

A properly migrated link:        A properly migrated link in Brightspace

Broken link: 

A broken link in Brightspace

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