Brightspace Activities

DLE Weekly Update: More Brightspace Tips


Brightspace Tips – Answers to Common Questions this past Week

 

  • Q: I would like to create an assignment that allows students to offer feedback to each other’s work. Can I do this in Brightspace?
    A:     This article describes how to create and set up a PeerMark Assignment in Brightspace.
  • Q: I am trying to upload a new ZOOM recording to Brightspace and it looks like the existing Zoom recording gets replaced by the new one. What am I doing wrong?
    A:     We recommend that ZOOM recordings be stored in the cloud. If for some reason you need to save the recordings to your computer before uploading them to Brightspace, you must rename the videos on your computer prior to uploading. If you don’t, as by default all videos have the same name (Zoom_0), each new video will overwrite the previous one you loaded to your course. There will be nothing that can be done to restore previous videos.
  • Q: I am using breakout room in ZOOM when delivering my class lecture, but I would like to allow my students to choose the room they want to be in. Is there a ZOOM option to allow me to do this?
    A    : The “Let participants choose room” option is NOW available to select during a ZOOM meeting, ONLY for the versions 5.3 or newer. Update your software from your Zoom app or from your profile under the Algonquin College Zoom portal.
  • Q: Some of my students can not access their group assignment. Is there any easy way to view the groups’ enrollment at once?
    A:     On the “Manage Group” page, from the contextual menu for the group category, choose “Enroll Users”. The next screen will display all your students on one page, and the groups they belong to. This view will help you quickly identify students who are not part of any group. Click here for more tips on Groups. Make sure you use Replace Strings in the announcement for a personalized message.
  • Q: Can I post an announcement visible ONLY to the students who have not submitted yet to an assignment?
    A:     When creating your course announcement, under “Additional Release Conditions”, click on the “Create and Attach” button. Select the “No submission to folder” menu option, and then choose the assignment. The announcement will be visible ONLY to the students who have not submitted and it will also be sent as an email ONLY to those students.
  • Q: How can I add closed captions to My Mediasite presentations?
    A:     Closed captions are provided by a third party and you have to request closed captions by using the steps described in the My Mediasite FAQ page, on the LTS website.

Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience

The June Brightspace release introduced a new assignment create and edit experience, available across all your courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis. Eventually, this new assignment version will automatically be turned on for all of you.

  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
  • Read this article if you need to create an assignment in your course and you are not clear about all the assignment options.

So You Think You Can Brightspace

Are you doing something exciting or engaging with Brightspace (or other integrated technologies)? Are you willing to share your ideas with other faculty members? If so, please consider participating in the AC Expo: Rockin’ the Remote Classroom during the midterm break week, October 26th – 28th.

 

LMS Weekly Update: Brightspace Tips

Brightspace Tips – Answers to Common Questions this past Week

  • How do I link the Glossary into a content area? Go to Tools/Course Admin/Glossary and copy the URL that you see in the browser’s address bar. Then, navigate to the Content module where you would like to link the Glossary, click on Upload/Create button and choose Create a link from the drop down menu. Enter a title and paste the link to the Glossary.
  • When I am scheduling Zoom meetings in my combined/merged courses, the events show up in ALL students’ calendars. How do I restrict a Zoom calendar event to a specific course section? Go to your course calendar and find the Zoom occurrence you just created. Left click on it and select Edit. Scroll down to Attendees and change the drop down selection to the desired course section. Note that ALL students will still be able to join the meetings, by going to Tools/Zoom Classroom, but not having the notifications in their calendar, will make it easier for them to manage the upcoming events.
  • I am working with a combined course and I really need to make sure students are not seeing ALL Zoom meetings scheduled, by going to Tools/Zoom Classroom. How do I make sure only students from one particular course section view ONLY their own Zoom meeting link?
    • Set up a Zoom meeting outside Brightspace by going to the Algonquin Zoom Portal
    • Copy the link and password for the invitation to that Zoom meeting
    • Create a restricted announcement in your combined/merged course (that will be seen only by that particular section, and be sent as an email only to the students from the section)
    • OR create restricted course modules and upload an item that will contain only the Zoom link that you will be using for one particular section (for instance, you will create one module called Zoom 011, and include a link to their Zoom session, then Zoom 012, and include their own link, etc.
  • How can I offer my students extra help?
    • Remind your learners, who have accommodations, to let you know so that you can set up special access for them in quizzes, giving them extra time as required. Students can connect with CAL if they think they might be entitled to accommodations.
    • For your students who need help learning how to use Brightspace, please direct them to the Student Learning Centre – they are offering workshops next week.
    • Encourage your students to self-enroll in Success in Digital Environments. The link to this course is available to them on their Brightspace homepage.
  • Is there any way to start a Zoom classroom with pre-assigned break out rooms? Yes, but ONLY if students have Zoom accounts (through https://zoom.us), and they are logged into their account in order to be assigned to the breakout rooms correctly. Follow this instructions on pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms.
    Note: Students must use their Algonquin email address when they create the Zoom Basic accounts.
    Here are some recommendations to get your students in the habit of signing into Zoom:

    • Inform students that they will need to create a Zoom account and log into Zoom to access future meetings.
    • Edit upcoming meetings so that Only authenticated users can access them (it’s a checkbox when editing the meeting).
    • Give students an extra 5-10 minutes to get into your next meeting – they will inevitably run into difficulties and some may not have created an account.
    • The main thing is the communication piece. We’d recommend something like this: “To join this session, please see the Getting Started section of this Library guide, to create a free Zoom Basic account using your college email address. Accounts will be used to make group work easier in each session. You will not be able to access future class meetings without a Zoom account.

Faculty PD Sessions

For help setting up and/or grading quizzes, or grading any other learner activities in Brightspace, sign up for the PD sessions offered by LTS.

Important: Combined/Merged Courses in Brightspace

When asking for combined courses, please take a few minutes to understand the options you have.

We Need your Help

When emailing us your requests, we would appreciate if you could ensure that all information relevant to your issue is provided. Please take a moment to read our How to get assistance page for the Dos and Don’ts of opening a case with us.

  • Please do not reply to closed cases. If you have a follow-up question, or if we have not completely answered this question, send a new email to brightspace@algonquincollege.com.
  • Do NOT CC Brightspace on emails sent to multiple people, as every reply creates a new case.
  • If you have already sent an email to us, please know that you are in the queue. We ask that you please don’t send a follow up email, as this generates another ticket in the queue.

 

LMS Weekly Update: Summer News

Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020

Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.

Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:

Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience

The June Brightspace release introduced a new assignment create and edit experience, available across all your courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis.

  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.

The Release Conditions option will be added next week, followed by the Special Access next month.

Pinned Tab in the My Courses Widget

Any courses pinned, using the waffle icon, will now show on the Pinned tab in the My Courses widget, allowing you to more easily navigate to your most frequent courses.

New Evolve Link for Elsevier

We are happy to inform you that content acquired through Elsevier can now be added to the LMS by using the Evolve link External Learning Tool. You can add this link by navigating to your Course Content > Existing Activities > External Learning Tool and choosing the Evolve link from the list, or by following the instructions that came with the content you purchased from Elsevier.

A word on External Publishers and Brightspace

If you are looking to acquire content from an external publisher that offers an integration with Brightspace, please contact us before purchasing your content. Each publisher has to go through a security vetting process before their integration can be deployed. If you purchase content before contacting us, you run the risk of not being able to deploy the content that you already paid for. Vetting a new integration and deploying it to Brightspace can typically take a few months.

Brightspace Satisfaction Survey

The Brightspace satisfaction survey is coming, but it’s also changing. Since the response rate of the previous survey was very low, we are looking at ways to simplify the survey and boost the response rate. This survey is for you and will be used to make Brightspace and the Brightspace support better. I am interested in hearing from you: What would you like to see in this survey? How can we make you want to provide feedback? Is there a better way to get your feedback and comments on Brightspace than the survey model? I am open to anything – please let me know by emailing me at marchem@algonquincollege.com

Digital Learning Environment Knowledge Base (DLEKB)

Do you have a quick Brightspace question and support is closed? We have recently launched our knowledge base providing you with articles based on your most frequently asked questions.
This knowledge base does not replace our support team, who is still available to provide the assistance you require through brightspace@algonquincollege.com. Our goal for this is to augment our ability to easily get you what you need, when you need it.

Faculty PD

LTS will be offering several Brightspace sessions in the next couple of weeks.

 

LMS Weekly Update: Tips on Quizzes, Turnitin Assignments and ZOOM…

Tips on Quizzes, Turnitin Assignments and ZOOM…

Quizzes

Question: My exam contains sections of various type of quiz questions (multiple choice, written response and short answer). I need to shuffle the questions within each section, while keeping the order of the sections intact when students are taking the exam. How do I do this?

Answer: Our recommendation is to start by having your quiz questions organized in Sections, in the Question Library, for an easy work flow. Then follow these steps:

  • Go to Activities/Quizzes/New Quiz to begin creating your exam.
  • Click on the Add/Edit Questions button and then choose Import/Browse Question Library.
  • Select all the sections (they look like folders) you need to bring over to your exam and click Add.
  • Double click on the name of each Section and check off the Shuffle questions in this section option.
  • Note that you could display extra information that comes up before the questions contained in each section, by using the Section text. Ensure you don’t have the Hide Section Text from students option checked off
  • DO NOT check off the Shuffle questions at the quiz level option from the Properties tab.

Turnitin

Question: I have given my students feedback using the GradeMarks in a Turnitin Assignment, but the feedback is NOT visible to them.

Answer: Students view the Turnitin feedback by going to Activities/Assignments, then clicking on the Feedback (read/unread) in the Evaluation Status column for that particular assignment OR or by going to their Grades.

  • Note that the assignment needs to be visible to students (it does NOT have to be available) so that they can access the Feedback.
  • Ensure you have a grade entered for each submission in the Turnitin Feedback Studio where you used the QuickMarks for grading.
  • Make sure you have the grades published by going to the Activities/Assignments/View Submissions screen, select all users and then click on the Publish Feedback option.

ZOOM

Question: My students have group presentations and I have split them in breakout rooms. How do I make sure I have a recording of each breakout room?

Answer: Set up the ZOOM meeting to record on your computer and NOT in the cloud. You will need to have one student from each room record the breakout room session. You can designate one person in each Breakout Room to record locally and then share that file with you after the meeting. Multiple students can record locally if allowed by the host.

Note: Need to know how to set up your Zoom account and get familiarized with the security and privacy guidelines around hosting and recording meetings? Check the LTS’s Tools for Delivery website.

D2L Fusion 2020 – Virtual Event

D2L Fusion 2020 is starting on July 20th and it is FREE. This virtual Fusion conference will take place three consecutive days each month, from noon to 3:45 p.m., over a few months period.

Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience

The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.

  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.

Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020

Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.

Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:

LMS Weekly Update: Last chance for Brightspace Refresher until August!

Brightspace Refresher – 2 more PD sessions offered on July 6th and 7th

Need some tips and reminders on how to use Brightspace effectively? Get a refresher on how to upload and organize content, how to communicate with your learners, how to create and deploy assessment activities and how to configure the grades page for you and your students. Register for the sessions offered by LTS, by visiting their Faculty PD offerings.

Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience

The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.

  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.

Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020

Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.

Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:

LMS Weekly Update: Summer Updates

Question of the Week – Quizzes in Brightspace

We have made a summary of our documentation on quizzes, hoping that this will provide you with a quicker answer before you set up an appointment with one of our LMS Faculty Support Team members:

  • All you need to know about Brightspace Quizzes – Learn about the recommended workflow to create quizzes, find short answers to common questions (how to create a practice quiz, regrade students’ submissions, or how to hide the grades and print a quiz).
  • Ways to provide Quiz Feedback to your learners – There are multiple ways of providing quiz feedback to your students, and also different ways of accessing the feedback. Learn about the overall, attempt or question type of feedback.

Q. While taking an exam, if the screen freezes, or there is a short moment of no Internet connection, how will my students and I deal with this situation?

A. Once the problem is fixed, students will need to login again to Brightspace, access your course and click on the exam link. They will be allowed to continue the exam from where they left off, as answers are automatically saved, but the quiz timing will still go on while the student is out of the quiz. If they won’t be able to continue that quiz attempt, in an “one attempt” quiz situation, they will need to contact you, the teacher, and you will need allow them a second attempt, using the Special Access options, OR to reset the current attempt and allow them to retake it.

Update on Video Note – NEW!

In a continued effort to support learner engagement and connection, D2L is happy to announce that the 30-minute Video Note extension will remain permanent, with a default limit of 30 minutes and 1 GB uploads.

What is a Video Note?

A Video Note allows a simple way to record video using your computer’s webcam and instantly publish it in your courses. You may find this feature helpful when you want to personalize your course interactions or improve engagement with your students. Watch this video for a short overview on a Brightspace Video Note and read the documentation from D2L on how to use Video Notes in your courses.

Fall 2020 Courses in Brightspace

Shells for Fall 2020 courses will be made available to you around August 10th. The 20F courses availability will be advertised in the LMS Weekly Update email for that week.

Meanwhile, if you would like to start developing 20F course content and learn more about some of the tools in Brightspace, please send us an email at brightspace@algonquincollege.com and ask for a development course (please include the code/name for the course you are developing). Development courses in Brightspace are identified by an “X” in the course code/name. For instance, all development courses created this year (2020) start with 20X.

Brightspace Refresher

Need some tips and reminders on how to use Brightspace effectively? Get a refresher on how to upload and organize content, how to communicate with your learners, how to create and deploy assessment activities and how to configure the grades page for you and your students. Register for the sessions offered by LTS, by visiting their Faculty PD offerings.

Reminder: New Assignment Create and Edit Experience

The June Brightspace release includes a new assignment create and edit experience. This will be available to faculty immediately across all courses, on an opt-in/opt-out basis, providing an early opportunity to test and provide feedback ahead of the summer vacation.

  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for instructions on how to turn it off or on.
  • Access here the Knowledge Base article for on overview of the benefits and limitations of the new assignment experience in its current state.

Reminder: Turnitin Mappings to be reset on August 21, 2020

Please take a moment today to schedule a reminder for yourself to export the content you wish to keep before August 21st, 2020. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email brightspace@algonquincollege.com, with the subject line “Turnitin Export”.

Instructions on How to Export/Import your QuickMarks and Rubrics:

LMS Weekly Update: The Assignments Tool in Brightspace

We are repeating the LMS Weekly Update on the Assignments Tool, as this has been one of the most common questions you asked our LMS Team this past week.

  • How do I create an assignment? Click here for step by step instructions.
  • Why do I see my course Assignments under the Activities menu on the nav bar, but not under the Content area? Once in a while we see a bit of confusion about the area where you should make your assignments accessible for your students. Regardless of the way you create your assignments, they will ALWAYS exist under the Activities menu on the course nav bar. There is nothing wrong with directing your students to access the assignments from the Activities menu, but sometimes, depending on how your course is structured, you might want to make them available under one particular module, under the Content area. This is when you will be using the Existing Activities/Assignments to create a link to the existing assignments.

Important! Removing the link from the Content area and choosing the second option on the confirmation pop-up screen, will delete the assignment from your course.

  • I need to allow some of my students alternate time restrictions, due dates, etc. How do I do this? You can accomplish this by using the Special access option from within the Assignments properties screen.
  • How do I grade an assignment using a Pass/Fail scheme? An assignment can be associated only with the numeric or selectbox types of grade columns, allowing you to grade using numeric or letter grades. For a Pass or Fail grade, ensure that you use a selectbox type of grade column at the same time with a Pass/Fail Grade Sheme.
  • Can I make annotations when grading assignments? Assignment submissions will automatically load with the Annotation Tool bar withing the Evaluation Submission Screen.
  • I have different points possible for the assignment and for the grade column. What do I do?
    • If there are no submissions for the assignment, you only need to edit the associated column from Grades/Manage Grades and adjust the points.
    • If you already have graded the assignment, once you edit the grade column and change the points, the existing grades won’t get automatically adjusted. You will need to go to Activities/Assignments/View Submissions and Update the grade for each student (the same screen you use when you first graded the assignment and published the grades).
  • I deleted an assignment by mistake! To recover deleted assignments go to Activities/Assignments/More Actions/Event Log. The deleted assignment will have a Restore button available.
  • Need to grade assignment files offline? You have the option to download all the assignments files in a zip file, grade them, save the files, create a new zip file and upload all the graded files as a package file. Go to Activities/Assignments/View Submission and then the Submissions tab. Select all submissions and click Download. When you are ready to upload them, from the same screen, click on the Add Feedback Files tab and upload the zip file.
  • Grade Sync – When you enter a grade for an assignment submission in the standard or spreadsheet view of GradeBook, the grade will appear with the submission in the Assignment tool.
  • How do I check students’ assignments for plagiarism? When you create an assignment you have the option to enable Turnitin. Click here to learn how to do this.

Message from LTS on Honorlock

Honorlock is a remote proctoring solution that is integrated in Brightspace and can be used for final exams. If you are interested in using this tool, please first attend an information session. There are two sessions next week, and you can register for these sessions and the other remote teaching PD sessions offered by LTS via www.algonquincollege.com/lts/facultypd.

 

 

LMS Weekly Update: Upcoming Changes on Appointments and Grading Final Exams

Update on the LMS Faculty Support

Message from Michel Marcheterre, Digital Learning Environment Strategist, about the Appointments Upcoming Changes.

As we settle in this new way of providing support, I’m happy to announce that our support team is growing. With the additional support specialists, it allows us to make some changes to the way we deliver support through appointments.

As of Monday, April 20th, 2020:

  • Appointments will be for 25 minutes maximum. Our extra capacity allows us to spend more time with you.
  • We still ask that you limit yourself to one appointment per day. If you require more time, our support specialist will, at the end of your appointment, establish a strategy to provide you the help you need.
  • We ask you to please cancel an appointment ASAP if you can’t make it.
  • When you book an appointment, you will not be able to select which support specialist helps you – the system will assign your appointment to the next available support specialist.

You can schedule an appointment by clicking here.

You can still get help by emailing brightspace@algonquincollege.com. When you email us, make sure to use descriptive subjects (avoid generic titles like “Help!”, “Problem” or “Brightspace”).

Common Quiz Questions Asked AFTER the Exam Week

 

  • My final exam has questions I need to manually grade. How do I grade them? Many quiz question types will be graded automatically, as long as you have provided the answer key. In some cases, you may need to manually grade a quiz. Here are the recommended steps.
  • I have students who claim they have completed the exam, but did not get to submit it. How do I see and grade their attempts? When a learner takes a quiz, but fails to submit it, Brightspace shows no submission or grade. The learner’s quiz becomes an “attempt in progress.” You can search for the attempt and then submit it by “impersonating” the learner so that the quiz can be graded.
  • Some of my students could not take the exam when it was scheduled for the entire class. How do I reopen the exam only for those students? You will need to use the Special Access options, from the Restrictions tab. Click here to learn how to do it.
  • What do I do if my students have completed the exam, but I don’t see their grades in the Gradebook? Go to Activities/Quizzes and edit the quiz. Check if you have a Grade item associated with the quiz, on the Assessment tab. If not, create one using the Add Grade Item link. In addition to this, make sure that the Allow automatic export to grades option is checked off.
  • I need to hide the Final Calculated grade column. How do I do it? Click here for details.
  • I need to hide the grades until I finish grading the exam for all students. What is the best way to do it? Make the quiz inactive (from Activities/Quizzes, edit the quiz and hide it from the Restrictions tab) AND hide the gradebook item, as well. Go to Grades/ Enter Grades view, click on the chevron for the title of the column and choose Edit. From the Restrictions tab check off the Hide from Users option.

GOOD to KNOW! Displaying how the final grade is calculated will actually give away the hidden grades. From Grades, click on the Settings option and then on the Org Unit Display Options tab. Make sure that the Display how final grade was calculated to users is not checked off.

  • My final exam is graded and students can view their grades, but now I would like my students to have access to the exam questions and their answers. The submission view settings determine how students see their completed quizzes. Click here to learn how to show quiz results using submission views.

Zoom Security Changes

As already advertised by ITS, two features will become Zoom defaults as of Monday, April 20th – Password Protection and Waiting Rooms. These settings apply to all meetings scheduled through Outlook, Brightspace, and the web portal. The password, which is auto-generated and will display when you are setting up the meeting, will be embedded in the Brightspace link to join the session, and does not need to be shared, as long as students access the session through Brightspace.

For all other questions or inquiries regarding these Zoom changes, please contact ITS at 613-727-4723 x5555 or 5555@algonquincollege.com.

LMS Weekly Update: Quiz Questions, Update on Zoom Recordings and 2020 Spring/Summer Courses

Question of the Week – Quizzes in Brightspace

We have made a summary of our documentation on quizzes, hoping that this will provide you with a quicker answer before you set up an appointment with one of our LMS Faculty Support Team members:

  • Quiz documentation that exists in the Essentials for Faculty course in Brightspace – Find detailed instructions on how to create a quiz, how to import questions from the Test/Quiz Question Generator into a section in the Question Library, and available options for shuffling quiz questions. Also, you might find useful the step-by-step instructions on how to reset a quiz attempt, and how to submit an attempt in progress by impersonating the student.
  • All you need to know about Brightspace Quizzes (from a previous LMS Weekly Update) – Learn about the recommended workflow to create quizzes, find short answers to common questions (how to create a practice quiz, regrade students’ submissions, or how to hide the grades and print a quiz).
  • Ways to provide Quiz Feedback to your learners (from a previous LMS Weekly Update) – There are multiple ways of providing quiz feedback to your students, and also different ways of accessing the feedback. Learn about the overall, attempt or question type of feedback.

Q. While taking an exam, if the screen freezes, or there is a short moment of no Internet connection, how will my students and I deal with this situation?

A. Once the problem is fixed, students will need to login again to Brightspace, access your course and click on the exam link. They will be allowed to continue the exam from where they left off, as answers are automatically saved, but the quiz timing will still go on while the student is out of the quiz. If they won’t be able to continue that quiz attempt, in an “one attempt” quiz situation, they will need to contact you, the teacher, and you will need to reset the attempt.

Update to ZOOM – Where to Save the Recordings

We now have additional storage in the Zoom Cloud and are recommending that you save your recordings there – if done through the Zoom Classroom in Brightspace, the link will appear automatically and your students will have access to the recording from the Zoom Classroom, under the Tools menu. If your Zoom Meeting was hosted outside Brightspace and your need to share the link with the recording with your students, you may post it under the course Content or include it in a Brightspace Announcement.

Check the Zoom Security and Privacy Guidelines for Faculty Members file for recommendations on how to configure your Zoom account, how to conduct a meeting, and how to record and share online class sessions.

2020 Spring/Summer Course Shells NOW Available in Brightspace

2020 Spring/Summer course shells have been created and made available in Brightspace. In addition to the answers provided below, you might want to also check out the Brightspace Course Readiness Checklist in the Brightspace Essentials course.

Common questions at the beginning of the semester:

  • I don’t see my 2020 Spring/Summer course(s) when I login to Brightspace. First, make sure that you click on the 2020 Spring/Summer label in the My Courses widget. If no course displays there, then check ACSIS and/or with your support officer to ensure your course(s) are assigned to you. Email us at brightspace@algonquincollege.com if you still don’t see them listed after 48 hours.
  • How do I perform a Course Copy? Click here for details on how to copy the entire course content or just selected areas of the course.

GOOD TO KNOW! Existing announcements are sent as emails during a complete course copy

If you are performing a complete course copy after May 12th, when the Spring/Summer 2020 courses will automatically become available to students, be aware that all the announcements that are getting copied over into the new course will also automatically be sent as emails to all the students enrolled in your new course, as expected with announcements in Brightspace.

To avoid this, you could make the course temporarily inactive (Tools/Course Admin/Course Offering Information) for the duration of the course copy, or use the Select Components button when doing the Course Copy and exclude the announcements from the list of course components to copy.

  • How do I add a user to my course? Students are automatically added to your courses, but you might want to add another teacher to your course and this is how you do it.

GOOD TO KNOW! There are times when you need to add other teachers to your courses, with the intention to have them do a course copy to their courses, but you would like to make sure that your course content does not get altered by mistake. Instead of adding them with the instructor role, please use the new course copier role. Don’t forget to remove them from the course once the copy is completed.

  • I copied the wrong course! How do I delete the content and perform the course copy again? Click here for information on how to delete the course content and also the course activities and gradebook columns.
  • I have access to a course as an instructor, but I would like to have the course removed from my list of courses. What should I do?

Option 1: If you also see this course on your list of courses in ACSIS, first you need to talk to your department and make sure you have not been assigned by mistake to that course in Genesis. Then you can remove yourself from the course, using the Classlist option, from the Tools menu. Click on the checkbox beside your name and choose Unenrol.

Option 2: If you have been added by another fellow instructor, just remove yourself from that course. No need to email our LMS support.

  • I am teaching multiple sections of the same course and I would like an easy way to manage the common content. When teaching multiple sections of the same course, combining those sections into one shell might save you some time.

Option 1: Combine your course sections into an EXISTING course shell – For instance, if you teach 20S_ABC000_010 and 20S_ABC000_020, the 020 section will be merged into the 010. The 010 section will be renamed 20S_ABC0000_010_020 or 20S_ABC0000_AllSections. You and your students will have access only to one course section. Note that, if you already have content in both sections, merging them will ONLY transfer the student enrollment and not the content. It is recommended to ask for a merged course before the course start date.

Option 2: Combine your course sections into a NEW course shell (the way we used to combine them in Blackboard). A new 20S_ABC0000_010_020 or 20S_ABC0000_AllSections course shell will be created for you. Note that this option would work when multiple course sections are taught by multiple teachers. Students and teachers will have access to the combined course, at the same time with the individual section(s).

Send an email to brightspace@algonquincollege.com if you would like us to combine your courses and please include your preference in the request. Please make sure you give us the complete course code (include section numbers, too), the option you would like us to use when we combine them (into an existing shell or into a new one – read here details on this), and also if you would still need to keep the individual sections available to you and students.

 

LMS Weekly Update: March 30

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates and Resources

Algonquin College main Coronavirus page

For all Algonquin College Coronavirus resources, including a student online learning kit, FAQs, online services, the latest updates and more, visit our Coronavirus Information page.

LTS Academic Continuity page

The purpose of this resource is to provide faculty with support for the alternative delivery of course material. This is not a directive; it is a collection of resources for alternative delivery of content and methods of assessment.

Brightspace Updates

Brightspace Support

Open a case by Email: Brightspace@algonquincollege.com
Please use a descriptive subject line when emailing us. Avoid subjects like “Help!” or “Brightspace question”.
We reply to cases during our business hours; Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm.

There is no phone or in person support during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Use the appointment booking form for a desktop sharing session or to be called at a specific time.
Because of the high volume of bookings, we ask that you limit yourself to booking one session per day and respect the session duration (15 minutes).

Most asked Brightspace questions

Recalculating the final grade when exempting a grade

It has been my understanding that if an assignment is exempted (a course now out of a possible 85% – weighted grades) then the proper grade percentage has to be calculated manually, meaning that the weighted total column shows a percentage out of 85, but not 100. Can you please confirm whether manual calculations will be necessary and/or whether those who download final grades into ACSIS will have to take any additional steps?

Here’s the answer from Tamara:

I’ve created a short video in response to your question. If you change the way in which your grade book is displayed (from “Drop ungraded items” to “Treat ungraded items as 0”), Brightspace will perform the calculation (from 85% to 100% for you).

File size limit upload for assignments

The limit is 1GB per file. This limit cannot be changed. However, there is no limit to the number of files a Learner can attach to a submission, provided the Instructor has setup the Assignment to accept multiple files.

In other words, if an Assignment is setup to accept multiple files, a Learner could upload multiple files totaling over 1GB, as long as each of these individual files are less than 1GB in size.

I need help with Zoom!

LTS has developed a great set of guides and checklists for Zoom on their Tools for Delivery page.