We are continuing with our Learning Management System (LMS) migration from Blackboard to Brightspace. Our pilot is going well and we are discovering some useful information that will make it easier for others to adapt to the new system.
Starting November 30th, please complete the LMS Selection Form on the LeopardWeb Faculty/Staff Main Menu by January 6th to indicate whether you want to continue using Blackboard for Spring 2021. Complete the form in LeopardWeb by January 6th to indicate which LMS you want to use for each of the courses you are scheduled to teach. Based on feedback from our pilot faculty, the default system is Brightspace and you only need to respond if you want to use Blackboard. Submit Course Merge requests for the LMS you’ll be teaching in.
While we’d like all courses to migrate to Brightspace, we understand that moving courses between systems requires time and some instructors have asked that, given all the extra work needed to adapt to teaching during a pandemic, that they stay on Blackboard through the spring semester to give them time to learn the new system. With that in mind, we are giving all instructors of full-time spring 2021 courses the option to teach in either system. Starting in summer 2021, all courses will be in Brightspace because our contract with Blackboard ends in the middle of the summer term. All part-time courses are being migrated to Brightspace for the spring term.
We will be provisioning both Blackboard and Brightspace with sites for all courses and based on instructor selections, making the unused site unavailable to students. We will post instructions in both LMSs alerting students that they will have courses across both systems and linking to a list of courses and on which system they will be found. We anticipate spring 2021 courses will appear in Brightspace near the end of November or early December.
In the meantime, any instructor who wishes can start learning how to use Brightspace. All fall semester instructors have accounts on the system and have been provided with a sandbox course to learn how to use the system and to allow pre-planning of courses in Brightspace. If you want more sandbox sites in Brightspace, send a request to techspot@wit.edu, and we’ll add additional sandbox sites for your use.
Training opportunities
Faculty interested in using Brightspace subscription training should go to https://community.brightspace.com and sign up for an account using their Wentworth email address. Use of your Wentworth account is necessary to tie your account to our license which provides access to the subscription training package. Once logged into the Brightspace Community site, click on the link for the Learning Center – in the center of the navigation bar and click on the big blue Subscription Training button (or use this link: https://community.desire2learn.com/d2l/home/12987)
There are on-demand recorded live training sessions as well as a calendar listing live sessions. The announcements currently list an assortment of training sessions with different levels indicated so you can select appropriate materials.
Another option that has become available this fall are Brightspace Guided Training Webinars for Higher Education. These are also listed in the Brightspace Community (https://community.brightspace.com/s/article/Brightspace-Guided-Training-Webinars-for-Higher-Education?t=1603721586260) currently the October sessions are listed but I expect that sessions for November will be announced shortly.
Check out the LIT live training schedule. We are currently finalizing the curriculum based on our community and the training sessions will likely follow the structure we used for Blackboard but will be updated to focus on the recommended use for the LMS in Brightspace. We will not be offering live training sessions on Blackboard but will continue to provide support and individual consultations. We urge all instructors unfamiliar with either system to attend Brightspace sessions and learn how to use the new system.