This summer will bring a few changes to the digital learning environment at Wentworth. Our recent shift in learning management systems has changed how often we will see changes in our environments. Brightspace is a SaaS (Software as a Service) deployment and updates every month. We review the announced changes at the start of each month and will make every effort to delay the significant changes until the beginning of a semester. Minor changes or ones that we can’t override the settings, we’ll notify users before the changes go live. Our production environment for Brightspace updates mid-month and we see changes in our test environment earlier so we can judge how they will affect the community.

So what are the changes?

First, this semester will be the first that all courses will be on the new learning management system, Brightspace. With the retirement of Blackboard, we will be simplifying or shifting our integrations with a couple of tools. Panopto, our video streaming platform, has been connected to both Blackboard and Brightspace, causing a few usability problems due to multiple accounts created when accessing the system from the two LMS’s. On May 3rd, we’ll disable the integration in Blackboard, and on May 4th, we’ll be working with Panopto to consolidate the accounts. One LMS, one Panopto account. You should see all your content in one account. We’ll be reaching out to users and programs about better approaches to managing/using video content in the LMS as we move forward.

At the same time, we’ll be migrating our NuVu connection to Brightspace. Currently, Architecture courses using the tool have had to remain on Blackboard due to design constraints limiting us to one connection into the system. On May 3rd, we’ll disable the current integration with Blackboard and on May 5th, we’ll be enabling the connection on Brightspace.

There will also be some more minor changes. Brighspace has implemented new assignment and rubric workflows that have been in opt-in status. Users could opt-in to use the new interface. This opt-in option creates unnecessary complexity for supporting the tool because we have to support two interfaces. We’ll be turning both the new workflows on for the assignment and rubric tools for all users on May 3rd. For those not familiar with the new interface watch this video on the new assignment experience:

A change to note in Brightspace is the introduction of Accommodations settings via the class list tool. This feature will be useful if you have students that receive accommodations for quizzes/tests. The tool allows instructors to set allowable time for individual students across all quizzes/tests as a multiplier (1.5 X or 2 X, etc) of the time allowed for other students. Instead of having to set special access rules for every quiz/test, instructors only need to enter the information once. Accommodations will be made available on May 3rd.

Another change in Brightspace is the new WYSIWYG editor in most of the tools. The editor is changing for the Assignments and Rubric tools and is available for other tools, if we choose. For consistency, we are turning this on, so that most tools will use the same editor. There are a few exceptions, those tools that use pop-ups will use the old editor through the summer when the full conversion will be complete. The new editor will look like this:

The most notable change in this tool is the “Insert Stuff” button no longer looks like a gray version of the YouTube icon but has changed to suggest multiple insertion options:

 

A final Brightspace change that will be welcomed by students, the Work To Do widget. This new widget that students will see on their Brightspace home page lists any content items or activities with due dates. The widget shows upcoming dates and overdue work. All the more reason to add due dates to content and activities to help keep your students on track. This change occurred on May 20th after the monthly update.

 

And finally, another workflow change to a tool integrated with the LMS, VoiceThread. This summer the assignment workflow is scheduled to shift to a new interface. We have the option to turn this workflow on for all users before that date and will make the change ahead of the current semester, on May 3rd. Learn more about the VoiceThread New Assignments tool.

Let us know what you think about these changes and the scheduling of changes to our digital learning environment. We welcome your feedback.