Brightspace Blog
Updates to Brightspace for November and December 2021
Dec. 16, 2021—There are several highlights from the most recent Brightspace updates, and today we want to focus on three things that will be most helpful to Brightspace users. Links to the full release notes are available at the end of this post. Assignments – New Assignment Creation Experience Universally Enabled This feature sets the new assignment...
Updated Teaching Guide: Personal Devices in the Classroom (Formerly Wireless in the Classroom)
Dec. 2, 2021—The CFT first published a guide on considering how to work with wireless devices in the classroom in 2010. Given the rapidly changing digital landscape since then, this guide has been updated to better consider and account for the changes in how personal electronic devices are used, and how widespread they have become. It considers how personal electronic devices (especially laptops) can impact learning in...
October 2021 Updates to Brightspace
Oct. 19, 2021—There are several highlights from the most recent Brightspace update, and today we want to focus on four things that will be most helpful to Brightspace users. A link to the full release notes is available at the end of this post. Preview Activity in Evaluation mode for Assignments Previously, users who did not...
What’s New in Brightspace September 2021
Sep. 21, 2021—Here are the highlights from recent Brightspace updates. A link to the full release notes is available at the end of this post. Assignments – Restricting file extensions for submissions It’s now possible for instructors to restrict the types of files they accept for Assignments based on the file extension. This can be set...
A Survey to Assess Student Needs in Your Course
Aug. 20, 2021—As we near the beginning of a new semester, many of us are thinking about how we can make space in our classrooms to learn about our students’ needs. In higher education, the question of how we can support students coming back to campus after mostly online experiences is a hot topic in almost every...
Welcome to Vanderbilt, New Faculty!
Aug. 19, 2021—If you are new to teaching at Vanderbilt, I hope you got to attend the CFT’s new faculty orientation called Teaching at Vanderbilt (TAV). It’s always a wonderful opportunity to get to know new faces and learn some tips for success at Vanderbilt. I did a session at TAV this year called Tools for success:...
What’s New in Brightspace Summer 2021
Aug. 18, 2021—There have been several updates to Brightspace over the summer, so we wanted to share with you the highlights of new things you can find in Brightspace starting this month. While these are just the highlights, we will link to the full release notes at the end of this post. Brightspace Text Editor The...
Lessons from D2L Fusion: How to Support First Generation Students in Brightspace
Aug. 7, 2021—My name is Jenny, and I am a new instructional technologist at the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching. My colleagues and I recently attended the annual D2L Fusion Conference, which focuses on how to maximize the use and support for the Brightspace platform. I had the opportunity to attend sessions on how to support first generation...
Lessons from D2L Fusion: My Top 5 Tips to Improve Discussions
Aug. 4, 2021—By Michael Coley, Fall 2021 Over the month of July, the Brightspace Support team had the opportunity to attend the 2021 D2L Fusion Conference. While this annual conference usually is held in locations across North America each summer, for the past two summers it has been all digital just like much of higher education. Throughout...
Brightspace hours in July and August
Jul. 4, 2021—For many of us at Vanderbilt, August is the busiest month of the year. That is certainly true for us here at Brightspace support at the CFT! And to get ready for our return to campus in August, we have new guides and resources, new faces, and a new expanded schedule ready to unveil. August...
The Brightspace Support Team is Taking Time for Professional Development
May. 22, 2021—The Brightspace team normally provides support to the Vanderbilt campus Sunday through Friday, usually from 7am to 11pm. In particular over the last year at Vanderbilt, we have been proud to step up to the challenges of remote and online teaching and offer expanded hours and services. For the next 10 days, the Brightspace team...
Brightspace Support this Summer
May. 4, 2021—During the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, the Brightspace Team held drop-in hours each Thursday to allow faculty to meet with our team and discuss any questions they had about using the Brightspace platform. We’ve wrapped up our final drop-in session for the spring, and we’ll be dedicating our time during May, June, and...
What’s New on Brightspace? (Dec. 2020 + Jan. 2021)
Jan. 21, 2021—Every month, Brightspace will release new features and updates. You can get a comprehensive view of the updates here, but this blog post will give you a quick overview of what’s new on Brightspace! Updated video and audio player To improve accessibility and create a consistent user experience, a new audio and video media player...
New Feature – Allow students to retake only the quiz questions they answered incorrectly
Nov. 23, 2020—Brightspace’s November update included a new feature that many faculty may find useful. When students are allowed more than 1 attempt for a Brightspace quiz, instructors may now choose to have students only retake the questions they answered incorrectly. To enable this option, navigate to your quiz settings and choose the Assessment tab. Set the...
Don’t Forget These Grading Setup Steps!
Oct. 27, 2020—As instructors give assignments, quizzes and discussions, there are some key grading setup elements to check before opening these activities to students. Start with the Gradebook If you intend to use the Brightspace gradebook, then I would start with this setup. Step 1: How do I set up my gradebook? Step 2: How do I...