Courses have been hosted on Carleton’s new Learning Management System (LMS), Brightspace by D2L, since May 2021. For some students though, Brightspace might be new this fall. So, what’s the best way to support students through the transition to Brightspace? We have some easy resources and suggestions to help:
- Create a course overview: During the Brightspace pilot, students identified instructor-led course tours as the best resource to help them participate in a course. Even though students may be familiar with Brightspace as an LMS, they’ll want to know how you’ve structured your setup. A course overview shows students your course structure and content modules. Learn more about how to create a course tour and what to include by reading Allie Davidson’s blog.
- Share a link to the Brightspace Student channel in Mediaspace: Another resource you can share with your students is the Brightspace Student Mediaspace Channel. There they’ll find a short video tour of Brightspace and demonstrations of how to complete a quiz and how to submit assignments, among others. A grades overview will also be published before fall 2021.
- Direct students to the Brightspace Student Support website: Our Brightspace Student Support site is an excellent resource to share with your students. It’s available directly within your course under the Help menu in the Brightspace navbar. On the site, students can find instructions for basic course tasks, such as changing their notification settings, using the Brightspace Pulse app, submitting assignments and viewing grades. The site is a great starting point for technical questions.
- Encourage students to contact 24/7/365 support: The Brightspace Service Desk is available directly within the Brightspace course navbar for all instructors, TAs and students. Let students know they can click the Help menu and select the first option to connect with 24/7 technical support for quick answers to their questions via chat, email or phone.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate: Send an early message to your students from your Classlist before the first day of class. Let students know how they can get started in the course and when the first day of class will be. We suggest using the Classlist email function for any email prior to the first day of class/official course start date. Emails from the Announcements tool can be sent out weekly after the course start date, but won’t send prior to the first day of class.
If you’d like help adding these resources to your course, or with your course setup in general, complete the course consultation request form to connect with a TLS staff member. Remember: For fast, 24/7/365 technical support on Brightspace, the Brightspace Service Desk is available to assist you.